One thing that most of us can say we’ve learned during this pandemic is how to host or join a Zoom meeting. We’ve used this virtual way of convening for many things such as school classes, church meetings and social groups, but did you know that this platform also has worked well for one-on-one family history help? Perhaps your ward consultant offered this as a way to help you with your family history as we all were doing our best to safely distance ourselves from one another. Now the Granite Family History Center is offering video conferencing as a way to meet one-on-one with one of its own consultants. This provides a great alternative to meeting at the center for those who are continuing to be COVID cautious or prefer to stay at home while receiving help with their family history.
If you are not familiar with how a virtual consultant meeting works, it’s pretty simple. The consultant will email the patron an invitation to join a Zoom meeting. After the patron joins, they will choose the option on the tools bar to share their screen. Once the screen sharing feature is enabled, the consultant will be able to guide the patron as they visit the websites needed to work on their family history. It’s like having a consultant right by your side looking at the same screen and talking you through the process.
If you would like to give this service a try, go to the “Schedules” tab on the top of the Granite Family History Center’s webpage and click on “One-on-One Family History Help Via Zoom.” The direct link to this page is https://www.granitefhc.com/zoom-into-your-family-history/. Next, pick the day of the week you would like to schedule a session. Consultants are available for an hour on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Times vary according to each consultant’s availability. Once you indicate which day of the week you prefer, you can select a date for your virtual meeting. After you sign up you will get a confirmation email for your appointment and a consultant will contact you with a Zoom link for the session. That’s all it takes!
Whether you are playing it COVID safe or would just like to stay in your pajamas, you can still enjoy the benefits of getting one-on-one family history help from one of our trained consultants right in the comfort of your own home.
Christy Pugh – Outreach and Innovation, GFHC