A Wish CameTrue

Back in 2012 I penned a post about Paper Overload in which I lamented about the practice of many speakers to provide handouts, reference lists in hard copy. I said" My plea to presenters is to offer an alternative to hard copy handouts. PLEASE."

When I happened across that post this morning I thought about current practice and realise that many speakers provide links to soft copies of their handouts to attendees or event organisers. 

The cynic in me thinks that this turnaround is due to Covid when we turned to digital delivery of  genealogy education. It was impossible to provide physical copies of handouts when we were operating in an online world. 

I hope the reason is because more genies have embraced technology over the past twelve years and are realising the benefits to the community of saving paper. 

The image I used in 2012. Source:  kathrynbutler.blogspot.com

From the Archives - Where do you put them? Conference Papers

 From time to time I go through my blog archive and select an old post to repost in my From the Archives series. 

I still follow this practice that I outlined in a post ten years ago although the files have moved every few years as I upgrade my external hard drive. It is pleasing to note that ten years down the track many of the notes I file arrive in digital format.

Please Provide Soft Copies...

Sharing my post from September 2013.

Five years down the track I understand that presenters are concerned about genies onsharing handouts they are given at Conferences. Somehow, as well as providing soft copies, we must educate our audiences to respect our intellectual property.

It is easier for organisers if they put the handouts in a secure area from which they can be downloaded by attendees but sadly some still haven't got this message.

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Please Provide Soft Copies...

A simple system - Fling it in the folder

...we might even save a few trees.

I am trying really hard to cut down on the amount of paper I keep in my Geneacave.

This morning finds me scanning handouts from a conference I recently attended. Only one of the presenters in the sessions I attended (thank you Cora Num) at that conference offered handouts in a digital format. At the beginning of her talk Cora gave us the URL for her handouts, I was able to download the handout onto my tablet and annotate it as Cora proceeded with her talk.

I must say that I prefer a hard copy handout to no handout at all but soft copy is the way to go in the 21st century.

I don't keep hard copies of handouts, I scan them and file them into the Family History -
Presentations folder on the external hard drive where I keep all my genie stuff. (I have previously discussed my filing method in the Fling it in the Folder and subsequent posts).  The hard copies then find themselves in my recycling bin.

The scans are filed by presenter name and title eg Num, Cora Research tools for the digital age. If I was really organised I could add some tags but I find that I can usually find a document I need via the Windows search facility. I find it much easier to file a soft copy than to have to go through the whole scanning process.

There are many options for sharing handouts in various formats on the internet:  one's own website, Dropbox, Facebook, Google Drive, Prezi, and Slideshare are just some options.

I realise that presenters may be concerned about the intellectual property of their work and not want to post in a public forum. In this case they could collect the email addresses of those who want a soft copy and send it out; this could be rather tedious if several hundred people want the presentation. They could offer to send copies of the presentation by return email to those who request it. Handouts could be saved to a private page on Facebook. Where there's a will there's a way.
Organisers of large conferences should make provision for the storage and delivery of  presentation notes to attendees. Smaller local groups and societies may not have the resources or expertise to manage this; presenters need to be mindful of this and ensure that their audiences can easily access digital copies of presentation notes.

I am wondering if other genies prefer hard or soft copy handouts.

Paper overload

Source:  kathrynbutler.blogspot.com

Are you drowning in a a sea of paper?  I am.

As fast as I scan papers I get more to replace them. Major contributors to this avalanche are genealogy presenters who pass out paper handouts. It's not that I don't appreciate the handouts - I do. I agree that presenters should dispense some sort of handout to the people who turn up to hear them but they don't have to be in hard copy.

When I have the inclination I scan my latest bundle of handouts, save them as .pdf documents and consign the hardcopy handouts to the recycle bin. I then file my digital copies of the handouts according to my Fling it in the folder system.


My plea to presenters is to offer an alternative to hard copy handouts. PLEASE.

Where do you put them? Conference Papers

Do you have piles of handouts from conferences, workshops, seminars and lectures hanging around your work area? How do you find a particular paper in a hurry? What about webinars, powerpoint presentations, photographs, and recordings?

Where do you put them?

As part of my filing system I have a folder named Family History - Presentations where I store information that I have gathered irrespective of its format. This folder is stored, with my other Family History folders on an external hard drive that is regularly backed up to another hard drive.

I think that all presenters in this day and age should provide a soft-copy of their notes via the internet or email, however, many do not share my fondness for online resources or my commitment to save paper. I have a scan and shred policy for printed notes; I scan handouts, add the digital copies to my files and dispose of the hard copy files.

If I just have one resource in one format I simply name it with the presenter's name and the title of the presentation and fling it in the folder.  If there is a range of resources for one presentation eg voice recording, photographs, my typed notes and a powerpoint presentation I create a folder with the presenter's name and the title of the presentation and put all relevant files in the folder.

 I was flummoxed when I had to deal with the CD of papers from the  2011 Rootstech Conference  that were published in one 400+ page .pdf document. I don't need to save everything in this document but don't feel like undertaking the tedious task of chopping it up. If it had been published  in html format with links to individual .pdf documents it would have been so easy to identify those I wanted to save.

Ideally I'd love to have any handouts in a digital format prior to a presentation so that I can view them on my tablet and add my annotations  as the event is in progress.

Generally this simple system works for me. I wonder how others approach the organisation of their workshop/conference/seminar handouts?