GenTech Toolbox – Power Your Family History!

Practical Tech Skills for Family Historians

From artificial intelligence to interactive maps, digital tools are transforming how genealogists work, making research more efficient and results more engaging. NGS is excited to introduce our new GenTech Toolbox Workshop Series, helping you build essential digital skills for modern family history research.

Have you ever wished you had tools to help you:

  • harness AI to streamline your research and writing?
  • organize and analyze family data effectively using Excel?
  • create interactive maps that bring your ancestors’ stories to life?
  • transform old documents and photos into searchable digital assets?
  • collaborate and share your discoveries in engaging new ways?

Empower your research with a well-stocked tech “toolbox.” Whether you’re a hobby genealogist or a professional researcher, this workshop series will equip you with practical digital skills to enhance your family history journey. No prior tech experience needed.

Each month, a different Toolmaster will demonstrate practical applications of both free and subscription-based digital tools, with a special focus on emerging AI technologies.

February 2025: Utilizing FamilySearch Full Text Search to Its Fullest

Learn, practice, and apply a thorough understanding of FamilySearch’s groundbreaking full-text search feature. As time permits, topics may include basic operation, advanced search tips, narrowing results, citations, accessing via the catalog, pre-emancipation research, A.I. and translations, and resources.

Toolmaster: Robert Raymond
Course Delivery: This live workshop has reached capacity.
ON-DEMAND ACCESS to the recording is available for purchase and will be available for access from 24 February – 22 April 2025.
Price: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! On Demand Access
Robert Raymond speaker photo

Robert Raymond is a deputy to FamilySearch Chief Genealogical Officer, David Rencher. He works to increase the genealogical soundness of FamilySearch products. Robert frequently presents at national, regional, and local conferences, including NGS, FGS, RootsTech, NERGC, New York, BYU, and UGA. He served as a director of the National Genealogical Society from 2012 to 2018. For a decade, he wrote (pseudonymically) a top-ranked genealogy blog about Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, records, and methodology. Robert is a genealogical technologist who worked for more than 30 years in software engineering and has worked professionally in the genealogical industry since 2002. Before FamilySearch, he worked at Ancestry.com. Before that he helped found a storage technology company acquired by Symantec. He holds over a dozen technology patents and earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Brigham Young University, where he was honored as a Kimball Scholar.

March 2025: Artificial Intelligence: A Genealogy Writer’s Companion

As genealogy writers, we often face challenges when turning our research and preliminary drafts into a final written product. At times, we may not know where to begin our story. We may have mountains of research to analyze and conflicting evidence to resolve. We may struggle to organize our writing in a compelling and logical manner, to be clear and concise in our language, to add appropriate context, and to be consistent in spelling, grammar, and citations. Every step of the writing process takes time…usually more time than we expect. Fortunately, artificial intelligence can be a valuable writing companion. This workshop explores some of the many ways we can use free artificial intelligence tools to overcome writing roadblocks and make our genealogy writing sessions more efficient and enjoyable.

Toolmaster: Adriana Gormly Andrews
Course Delivery: This session will be held live via Zoom on Monday, 24 March 2025, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Price: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! Live + Recording (30-day access)
Live Only!  $25
REGISTER! Live Only (No Recording)
On Demand Option: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! On Demand Access (Recording Only)
(access available from 27 March – 23 May 2025)
Adriana Gormly Andrews - Speaker Photo

Adriana Gormly Andrews is a native New Yorker now residing in Annapolis, Maryland, with her husband, Gary. She retired in 2019 from a career as an Assistant Superintendent for Business for school districts on Long Island. Adriana holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Policy from Cornell University, a Master of Education degree and an advanced certificate in School Business Administration from CW Post University. She is a proud grandma to two young boys and is a life-long family historian. Since retiring, Adriana has earned a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, has graduated from the ProGen study program, and is active on the boards of two local genealogy societies. Her recent writing projects include: a book celebrating six generations of poets in her family, a family narrative about a Gormly Irish famine immigrant, and family narratives for two Spanish immigrant ancestral lines.

April 2025: An Introduction to StoryMaps for Interactive Digital Family History Stories

StoryMaps by Esri is a freemium model cloud-based platform for creating and sharing engaging, interactive, multimedia stories online. Weave images, video, maps, and timelines into your ancestor stories. No coding skills needed! After exploring some StoryMaps created by the instructor, we will walk through the platform interface; how to add, format, and rearrange content; and how to preview and publish your stories. We will also discuss best practices for planning your StoryMaps. Participants will have access to sandbox content provided by the instructor so they can focus on learning and test driving the platform while replicating one of her stories. They are encouraged to watch the live workshop and then watch the recordings later while using the sandbox content to build out the sandbox story in a free StoryMaps.com account.

Toolmaster: Colleen Robledo Greene, MLIS, FTxSGS
Course Delivery: This session will be held live via Zoom on Thursday, 17 April 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Price: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! Live + Recording
Live Only!  $25
REGISTER! Live Only (No Recording)
On Demand Option: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! On Demand Access (Recording Only)
(access available from 20 April – 13 July 2025)

Colleen Robledo Greene, MLIS, FTxSGS is an academic librarian, college educator, and tech nerd who has been researching her family history since 1997. She is the Digital Scholarship Librarian at California State University, Fullerton, and teaches an online graduate-level genealogical research methods and librarianship course for San Jose State University. Colleen is a nationally recognized speaker and educator specializing in methodology, Mexican & Hispanic research, libraries and archives, and technology. She incorporates digital storytelling into all areas of her professional work and genealogy research.

May 2025: More Advanced Tools in StoryMaps for Interactive Digital Family History Stories

This workshop focuses on the different interactive mapping features in StoryMaps.com. Figuring out which mapping tool(s) to use for sections of your digital story, and how to configure and design those can be confusing. To demystify this, we will walk through each of these mapping tools using examples from a U.S. World War I soldier’s story. We also continue to discuss best practices for planning your StoryMaps. Participants will have access to sandbox content provided by the instructor so they can focus on learning and test driving the platform while replicating one of her stories. They are encouraged to watch the live workshop and then watch the recordings later while using the sandbox content to build out the sandbox story in a free StoryMaps.com account. Participants should have attended the introduction workshop or have equivalent experience.

Toolmaster: Colleen Robledo Greene, MLIS, FTxSGS
Course Delivery: This session will be held live via Zoom on Wednesday, 14 May 2025, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Price: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! Live + Recording
Live Only!  $25
REGISTER! Live Only (No Recording)
On Demand Option: NGS Members  $35 Non-Members  $45
REGISTER! On Demand Access (Recording Only)
(access available from 17 May – 13 July 2025)

Refund and Cancellation Policy

All purchases are final. No refunds or credits are available.

If you purchase using the LIVE ONLY discount option, please note that it is non-refundable and does NOT include access to the recording. If you’re unsure about your availability, we recommend our Live + Recording option, which includes 30-day access to the recording.

Questions?

Questions on the new series can be directed to the NGS Director of Education.

Need help registering? Contact the NGS Course Administrator.