G is for GoToWebinar

You may have noticed that the Guild took a break from hosting monthly online hangouts. Part of the reason was individual Guild members’ availability to plan and host a get-together and part of the reason was the logistics and quality issues associated with hangouts. The Guild recently set up a GoToWebinar account that we plan to use for pre-recorded as well as live webinars.

We intend to showcase topics of special interest to all those focusing on surname research and one-name studies. The webinars will be available to members of the genealogy public during the webinar and for a limited time after the recording is uploaded to our Guild Website. Of course, the recordings will always be available to Guild members. Hosting a webinar series focusing on surname research and one-name studies continues the Guild’s mission of education, which is one of our responsibilities as a registered charity.

In addition to our monthly Guild Webinar Series (and we are seeking ideas for a more catchy name – so put on your creative thinking caps and help us out!), we plan to take advantage of our GoToWebinar account for the following:

• Guild members Karen Rogers (Australia) and Michelle Patient (New Zealand) will continue to host their Surname Saturdays Webinars focusing on “Down Under” research
• Guild members Peggy Chapman (Canada) and Tessa Keough (USA) will host Quarterly Workshops/Meetings focusing on North American research 
• Guild members Paul Featherstone (England) & Jim Benedict (Canada) will host the Members’ Website Project Meetings 
• If national or regional representatives are interested in hosting a virtual Guild meeting, they can contact the Marketing Action Team (MAT – and no we don’t have superpowers) for assistance with scheduling and hosting a meeting
• Internal meetings of Guild subcommittees or teams can also be scheduled and held with the GoToMeeting feature of our account

There are a number of additional ways we can take advantage of our GoToWebinar account. During our internal testing, we have found both the sound and image quality much better than hangouts. We should have an easier time with notifications, email invitations and reminders, the ability to include guest speakers and presentations, handouts and poll questions, and chat logs.

If you have any suggestions of topics for our Guild Webinar Series or if you would be interested in sharing your knowledge and expertise by presenting during one of our webinars, please contact MAT or add a comment at the topic entitled Webinars & Meetings at the Guild WebForum.

And watch this space for updates – we are almost ready to kick things off with GoToWebinar!