Presenting The Family History Guide

About

This page describes how you can deliver a powerful and effective introduction to The Family History Guide:

1. Use the Intro Video and the Commentary notes; or
2. Use the guidance slides titled "What's Inside The Family History Guide;" or
3. If time is limited, present one or more 2-Minute Demos of the website.

The typical presentation time can be anywhere from 25 to 50 minutes, plus 10 minutes for Q&A at the end if desired.

1: Intro Video and Commentary

The Intro Video for The Family History Guide is just over 24 minutes in length. It covers the major features of the website, working across the top menu from left to right. If you have 30 minutes available, showing the video and holding a five-minute Q&A session at the end would complete the session.

If you have more time, you can pause the video at selected spots and add commentary. The Intro Video Commentary is a Google doc that corresponds to the 56 chapters in the YouTube video; it adds insights and tips not found in the video. You can study the Commentary ahead of time and select the notes you want to discuss, and you can include commentary of your own.

2: Guidance Slides

The What's Inside TFHG slide deck is a collection of slides with the current topic title on each slide. No screen shots or summaries are included on the slides themselves; they simply serve as placeholders so you will know what part of the website to show and explain next. This approach emphasizes showing the website instead of duplicating it onto slides, which can easily get out-of-date.

Here are a few samples of the slides:

  

Below are some guidelines for using the deck:

• Download What's Inside TFHG and rename it on your device.
• Look over the slides and decide which ones you want to use for your intended audience. You can remove slides or copy/modify to create new ones. The full deck contains about 45 slides, which easily fills a 50-minute time slot.
• Please do not change the slide formatting. You can add your name or organization and logo on the opening slide if desired. Also, do not add slides that don't refer directly to the website. Remember that these slides are copyrighted and are not to be used for commercial gain.
• Notes are supplied on each of the slides. Items marked with asterisks are action items for you to do; bullet items are things to discuss. Study the Notes for each slide so you can be well-prepared for your presentation. You can add or remove notes as needed.
• If you need a fresh copy of the slides, you can download them again.

3: Using 2-Minute Demos

For the complete set of 2-Minute Demos and tips on how to use them, see the 2-Minute Demos page.

Doing the Presentation

Note : If you are using an online platform such as Zoom, make sure you are sharing your entire screen, not just a current window.

Video Presentation

1. Make sure the Commentary doc is visible on your device (but not shared with learners).
2. After your introductory remarks, begin the video.
3. At your selected timings, pause the video to offer commentary about the previous section. If you allow feedback or discussion, be sure to factor that into your presentation time.

Slides and Website Presentation

1. Open The Family History Guide website in full-screen mode.
2. Start the slideshow for the Guidance slides.
3. After you show a slide, click the Internet icon in your taskbar to switch to The Family History Guide website and demonstrate the topic mentioned in the slide. (This will temporarily hide the slides.) Then click the PowerPoint icon to switch back to the slides, and advance to the next slide topic.
4. You may want to minimize the slides so the website is always seen. To do that, a) Before starting slides, in PowerPoint click Slides > Set up Slide Show; b) Select "Browsed by an individual (window)"; and c: Click OK. Then you can size the slides to a quarter-screen or whatever looks best. Below is an example of a smaller slide window, on top of the full-size website window.