Surviving Lock Down

A year ago today I signed up for Zoom and attended the first of many group meetings. As the time went on I attended many more such meetings with many different types of groups. With things advancing quickly with restrictions it was so nice to have a means of communicating and learning. The Genealogy community found a whole new method of interacting as almost all in person events were cancelled. Our local Genealogical Forum of Oregon went virtual, with general meetings, seminars and a week-long virtual Open House that included eighteen free presentations. The sixteen Special Interest groups provide a wide range of learning opportunities and I attended ten of them, some on a monthly basis and all for free and some with handouts. As the year progressed the GFO volunteers worked hard to provide virtual access to records and websites for the use of their members. The more recent attendance has grown into the hundreds. Familysearch, Ancestry and My Heritage sponsored the RootsTech Virtual Conference and it had attendance in the millions. Instead of racing down hallways, paying for airfare, motels and other expenses we met the challenges of planning our time around the classes, presentations, virtual vendors hall and so much more. By the time this occurred in February people had adapted to learning online. The truly adventurous attended presentations throughout the United States and around the World. My favorite was a presentation on the customs of food and drink of old England with the group from Lincolnshire, England. The most challenging part of the process was calendaring the events so that I did not double book a reservation or forget about watching those for which I had a reservation. So, what is your take on the massive growth of online virtual learning opportunities and the formats for attending them? Do you have a favorite presentation format? While Zoom was the new kid on the block, with some learning curves involved it is my favorite. It is especially great with children and older adults. The biggest blessing of the entire year was being able to communicate with family, friends and neighbors in a virtual format. What it did for our genealogy work was truly amazing.