The LDS Church has a firm belief that family relationships are central to our lives, and that these relationships can continue beyond this life. For over 100 years, the church has gathered and preserved genealogical information wherever we can find it, and are delighted to share these resources with anyone else who has interest in researching their own families. There are now 4,500 Family History Centers in 70 countries to share the information we have collected, in addition to the New Family Search website, which provides access to millions of records from all over the world.
The conference began about 15 years ago to introduce to the local community the resources we have available in the local branch of the Family History Center. As interest in the conference began to grow, it became a tradition to invite nationally recognized speakers and presenters, who are frequently in great demand for such events. The expenses of the conference have always been kept to a minimum, and in addition to the Church covering some basic costs, we have relied on private donations of airline tickets, as well as the presenters own generous donation of their time and expertise without charging a fee. The printed materials are provided at cost. The optional lunch is provided by one of our youth groups as a fund-raiser to help them with the expenses for their annual summer camp. Even though the conference has now grown to involve hundreds of people, our goal is to continue to provide a high quality event to the many friends we have made in the community who share our interest in family history.
Members of the LDS Church who sponsor the conference adhere to a health code that stresses good nutrition and the avoidance of alcohol, tobacco and stimulants such as tea and coffee. Consequently we do not serve them in our meetinghouse or at events we sponsor.
All the final plans for the conference rest on us knowing the exact number of syllabii to be ordered, the number of lunches that are needed and the number of people who have signed up for each class. This two weeks of time is critical to ensuring that our volunteers have the time to complete the plans for a perfectly run conference.
No. We are unable to provide any refunds. You must be in attendance to pick up your purchased syllabus/lunch. Thank you for your understanding.
The LDS church is offered to the conference for free. Moving to a larger venue would mean that the conference would need to charge for the conference. Many of our participants are on fixed incomes and we prefer to keep the conference available to as many people as possible. To date we have avoided making this decision for obvious reasons.
The presentation materials are the property of the individual speakers. The syllabus materials are what they have agreed to provide to the participants. To get a copy of the presentation materials, just ask the presenter directly.
The Roadshow appointments provide an opportunity for you to get together with an experienced genealogist one-on-one. To make this a separate activity from the general conference would mean not being able to offer the variety of classes we offer.
Each speaker has graciously agreed to present at our conference for free. There is no promise of support beyond the conference. If you would like to follow-up with an individual speaker directly, please ask them directly for their contact information.