ROOTS & BRANCHES

With the just two weeks to go before the beginning of “Pennsylvania’s Genealogy Event,” this virtual get-together continues grow in unexpected directions.

Event sponsor Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania reached out to those already registered to find out what topics to offer as “Gatherings,” which are less formal roundtables centering on anything from ancestral foods to a particular region, religion or ethnicity.

A large percentage of the registrants replied with enthusiasm and offered up topics ranging from all the regions of Pennsylvania to wanting to hear and tell the family stories that make up so much of genealogical lore.

The all-virtual event, dubbed PaGE by GSP, will run on the interactive Whova event platform from Aug. 5–12 and a “Ready to Launch!” special is available now through July 31 that brings the price of the full conference (with GSP member discount) down to just $199.

The event is structured with Keystone Keynoter presentations on the opening (Aug. 5) and closing (Aug.12) Saturdays of PaGE.

These keynoters are some of the most prominent names in the genealogy world, including: FamilySearch’s Chief Genealogy Officer David Rencher; Adrienne Whaley from Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution; material culture expert Lisa Minardi, formerly of Winterthur Museum and now with the Lutheran archives in Philadelphia; Blaine Bettinger, a top genetic genealogist; and Pennsylvania State Archivist David Carmicheal, who will have an exclusive video preview of the new State Archives building being occupied in Harrisburg.

In between the Keynote Saturdays, 30 prerecorded Featured Speaker Sessions will be released in batches every couple of days during the event. The presenters for these include prominent names (such as Michael Lacopo, Rich Venezia, Sharon Cook MacInnes, Tim Pinnick, Elissa Powell, Rick Sayre and so many more!) as well as relative newcomers such as Jacob Eubanks talking about the history and impact of the Mason-Dixon Line between Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Best of all, these Featured Speakers have committed to doing live Q&A periods during the event a day or two after their presentations drop.

PaGE will also work to help registrants build their profiles in a way that will give them interaction with other attendees, primarily by adding items to their “Interests”—this can be places, ethnic groups, types of records, surnames, or anything else for which a registrant is looking. In addition to what the Whova event platform serves up, PaGE registrants to reach out to other attendees for one-on-one conversations, too.

Most features of the event will remain available for three months on the Whova app.

The registration options for PaGE, are for just the Keystone Keynotes; “Sessions-plus” for just the prerecorded sessions (including those Live Q&A sessions and all other Whova features during those six days); and the “All-Access” package offers everything over the eight days of the event.

For more information about the event’s program or to register, go to the URL, https://genpa.org/