Preparing for SLIG 2018 - #SLIGExperience

When I reviewed the list of courses available at this year's Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) I was amazed at the content that was available. How was I going to choose just one? So I looked back on my table of genealogy skills that I was determined to work on and decided that this was the year to take the plunge into DNA. I took note of the date and time that registration was opening because I knew that many courses fill very fast. I was very excited to get in the course, "A Practical Approach: Establishing Genealogical Proof with DNA."

In preparation, I began reading books and watching webinars (over and over) to get the basic concepts down. Like literally millions of others, I had been experimenting over the last several years with DNA testing and using myself, my husband, and many family members as guinea pigs. I am fortunate that I have a lot of DNA data and known relationships to help me understand the results.

When I received the course welcome letter three months ago, I reviewed the list of preparations and felt I had a good start already. The items that needed a lot of wait time, like submitting a DNA sample for results, were already in place. I decided I could wait until after the hectic holidays to finish the rest of the preparations. It sounded like a good idea at the time.


Like genealogy in general, using DNA for genealogy has a set of standards for ethics. One of these standards is to get informed consent for testing and for transferring the data to other sites for comparisons.  In the end, almost everyone agreed to let me use their data, but it was a time-consuming process and would have been better started earlier.

Other preparations for the class went fairly smoothly: data transfers, software downloads and registering on sites we will be using.  The list of preparations was very thorough and had easy to follow instructions for accomplishing the tasks.

Now I just needed to get ready for the actual travel. I've been to Salt Lake City several times over the past 20 years, but technology has changed my packing techniques. I remember my first few trips to Salt Lake City I packed a huge box of snacks to bring to the Family History Library (FHL) with me. At the end of the trip, the box of snacks was empty and I filled it with reams of paper copies of records to bring home. This year, for the copies, I packed two tiny thumb drives instead (one is a back-up).

What a change! (I have to admit that I still brought the big box of snacks!)

Fellow Minnesotan, Paula Stuart-Warren, in her GenealogybyPaula blog, posted a great list of packing suggestions earlier this month. Paula is also an instructor at SLIG. Thanks, Paula! There were some items there I wouldn't have thought of without your suggestions.