Meet The Presenters

Our Fall 2012 Virtual Conference is run by a host of top-tier presenters. Learn more about the conference presenters and their sessions during our upcoming “Meet The Presenters” social media series. Simply log on to Facebook or Twitter at the prescribed times and follow Family Tree Magazine to watch and participate in live Q&A’s with our genealogy experts. Here is our current lineup:

Now read the following bios to learn a little more about who you’ll be hearing from.

Lisa A. Alzo

Sessions:

• Secrets to Tracing Female Ancestors
• Canadian Immigration Records

Eastern European genealogy specialist Lisa A. Alzo received the Association for Women in Slavic Studies 2002 Mary Zirin Prize for excellence in scholarship, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International. Her books include Three Slovak Women (Gateway Press), Slovak Pittsburgh (Arcadia) and Cleveland Slovaks (with John T. Sabol, Arcadia). She’s written numerous articles for genealogy publications, including regular contributions to Family Tree Magazine, and blogs regularly at The Accidental Genealogist. A genealogist for 20 years, Lisa has taught genealogy courses for more than a decade, and is a frequent speaker at national conferences, genealogical and historical societies.

James M. Beidler

Sessions:

• Mastering German Place Names

German research expert and Pennsylvania resident James M. Beidler frequently contributes to German Life magazine and is active in the Federation of Genealogical Societies.

Lisa Louise Cooke

Sessions:

• Best Websites for Finding Historical Maps

Lisa Louise Cooke is the producer and host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, an audio and video genealogy show available in iTunes and online. In addition, Lisa hosts the monthly Family Tree Magazine Podcast (listen online or in iTunes) and videocasts for Family History Expos, a series of genealogy conferences.

She is a national genealogy speaker, and author of the books How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers,  The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox and Genealogy Gems: Ultimate Research Strategies, as well as the Genealogy Gems News Blog. She regularly contributes instructional articles and videos to Family Tree Magazine, too, especially on tech topics.

Rick Crume

Sessions:

• Using UK Civil Registrations
• Tracing Irish Ancestors In Griffith’s Values

Rick Crume, a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine, has also written for other American, Canadian and Welsh genealogical journals. The author of “Plugging Into Your Past: How to Find Real Family History Records Online,” he specializes in online research, genealogy software and British genealogy. Since he began researching his family history at age 14, he has traced his ancestry back to the 1600s and earlier in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands.

Denise Levenick

Sessions:

• Scanning Secretes
• Paperless Pedigrees: Organizing Your Genealogy Electronically

Denise May Levenick is a writer, researcher, and speaker with a passion for preserving and sharing family treasures of all kinds. She is the author of How To Archive Family Keepsakes(Family Tree Books, 2012). She is also the creator of The Family Curator–voted one of the 40 Best Genealogy Blogs in 2010 and 2011.

Thomas MacEntee

Sessions:

• Power Up Your Web Searches
• Tricks For Using FamilySearch.org
• Research Logs For The Rest Of Us

Thomas MacEntee is a professional genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community.

Thomas is best known for creating GeneaBloggers and hosting webinars and other educational offerings via High-Definition Genealogy.

Gena Philibert-Ortega

Sessions:

• Top 10 Tools For Social History
• Cook Up Answers About Immigrant Ancestors

Gena Philibert-Ortega holds master’s degrees in interdisciplinary studies and religion. She is the author of Putting the Pieces Together and the Cemeteries of the Eastern Sierra (Arcadia Publishing) and editor of the Utah Genealogical Association’s Crossroads Magazine.

She is the author of From The Family Kitchen (Family Tree Books, 2012).She instructs genealogy and social media courses at the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and directs GenealogyWise. Gena serves as vice-president for the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists and a director for the California State Genealogical Alliance. She blogs at Gena’s Genealogy  and Food.Family.Ephemera.

Diana Crisman Smith

Sessions:

• Smarter Online Census Searching
• Finding Land Records Online

Diana has been researching since childhood and has served as a lay librarian at the local Family History Center for more than 20 years. She has written for numerous genealogical publications, including current regular columns in the National Genealogical Society’s NewsMagazine and the Association of Professional Genealogists’ APG Quarterly.

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