Family history conferences are more than a collection of presentations, catching up with friends and colleagues, and grabbing some new books. They can introduce us to sources and repositories we were not aware of, help us refocus our research, inspire new ways of working and motivate us to take action.
I was reminded of all of these benefits at the NSW & ACT family history conference, held in Port Macquarie from 18 to 20 September 2026.
I came home with new resources to explore, new tasks for my research plan and ideas for improving my research workflows. As much as I enjoyed the conference, I almost couldn’t wait to get home to try some of these out.
Discovering new resources
One of the benefits of attending a conference is discovering resources that you did not know existed. You might learn of these from a presentation, a discussion with a colleague or a book that you purchase.
Jill Williams streamed to us live from Edinburgh, where it was midnight! Now that’s a keen genealogist. She introduced us to the Irish Folklore Collection, which was completely new to me. The collections available through Dúchas include oral histories collected by Irish primary school children in 1937–1938, as well as photographic and manuscript collections.
About one third of my ancestry is Irish, much of it through my father’s biological mother, Catherine Flanagan, so I am always interested in discovering resources that might add to my understanding of my Irish families and the places where they lived. I wasn’t sure at first how relevant the resource might be, until she started reading out some of the stories. The children collected a wealth of information about families, places, local histories and Irish culture. If you manage to find some stories from the places where your ancestors lived, they could provide valuable insight into their lives.
Another Irish presentation produced an even more immediate and specific research lead. During his presentation, John Grenham demonstrated searching for Irish surnames on his website. I followed along on my phone, using the Flanagan surname, and I discovered that there were four books about the surname and one was in the National Library of Australia!
I now have another excuse for a research road trip. But rather than making a trip to Canberra for a single item, I will prepare a research plan for the visit. I can identify other material at the National Library of Australia and other Canberra repositories that I need to examine and perhaps even a visit to a gallery or two.
This new resource has generated not just another task but a small research project.
Being reminded of what you already know
Conference presentations do not have to tell us something completely new to be valuable. Sometimes their value lies in reminding us about something we know but have not fully acted upon.
Martyn Killion’s presentation about records in the NSW State Archives did that for me.
It reminded me that I should revisit the original church records for people in my family whose baptism or burial records I have not yet found.
One example is my great-great-grandmother Sophia Jane Webb. She was probably born in Maitland in about 1842, but so far, I have not located her baptism. It’s frustrating, because that record, if it exists, just might identify her father.
I have used original church records extensively in my research, but it’s one of those tasks that deserves to be repeated when you have a difficult research problem. The library of the Society of Australian Genealogists has a big collection of these records, so I must schedule another visit – again, with a research plan listing all the baptism and burial records I am currently missing.
Improving the way you work
Conferences are also a good source of ideas for improving your research processes.
Andrew Redfern discussed his digital workflow for tracking down and documenting death and funeral notices. He uses an Excel spreadsheet, but I could immediately see how the approach could be adapted to my own system in Notion.
Instead of creating another database for death notices, I just made minor changes to my existing Tasks database. That database forms part of my Notion CORE Framework, or Connected Organised Research Environment. You can read about my framework in my book, The Good Genealogist.
I will write a separate blog post about the adapted workflow soon, as it deserves a fuller explanation. But the fact that I could incorporate the process into my existing system demonstrates how versatile my system is and how easily it can be modified for new processes.
Andrew’s presentation also prompted me to think more broadly about documenting my research workflows. I have already recorded some of them in Notion notes, but I need to finish adding all of them. I am also considering creating flow charts in Canva and embedding them in the relevant Notion pages.
Research workflows are useful because they encourage a systematic and consistent approach. They can help us remember each step in a process, increase the likelihood that we research thoroughly and reduce the time spent on each task or series of tasks.
You don’t always have to copy someone else’s system. Use their ideas and the way that they work to examine and improve your own methods.
Thinking about how sources are changing
A presentation by Shari-Lei McLean about the Ryerson Index provided a different kind of learning.
The Ryerson Index is a volunteer-run index to death notices, funeral notices and obituaries published in Australian newspapers. I have used it many times, so the resource itself was very familiar to me.
What interested me was the discussion about how the sources behind the index are changing.
The practice of placing these notices in newspapers is declining. That change has implications for family historians, because the notices can provide information about the extended family that can be used to track them down. The volunteers behind the index are responding by drawing information from alternative sources, including the records of funeral directors.
The sources available to genealogists vary with time. Changes in technology and social practices affect how information is created, recorded and preserved. Fiona Brooker made a similar point in her presentation, The Time Travelling Genealogist. Fiona highlighted the transitory nature of many of the records of our lives, on Facebook, in text messages and so on.
We need to consider this carefully. Not just by exploring a wider range of sources, but by ensuring that our own family histories are recorded and preserved in an appropriate format.
Searching smarter
Shauna Hicks gave a presentation about archives containing a great deal of useful material and tips, but two points particularly resonated with me.
The first was another resource that I had not encountered before: Archives Portal Europe.
This could be particularly useful for my own research. I have ancestors from Switzerland, Poland and Germany, and I have recently started some Swedish research for a friend. A portal that helps identify relevant European archives could provide a useful starting point for locating repositories and collections.
The second point was about search techniques.
Shauna gave an example of an inquest record on Ancestry that had been incorrectly categorised as a prison record.
It is a useful reminder that databases and indexes are created by people and technology, and they can contain errors. If we search only where we expect a record to be, or rely too heavily on the categories assigned by a website, we may miss relevant sources. And if we just accept the citations they provide, we may misunderstand the nature of a source.
Good search strategies need to allow for incorrect indexing and categorisation. Varying search terms, broadening searches and browsing can sometimes reveal sources that a more narrowly targeted search would miss.
Following up after a conference
The value of a conference should not be measured by how many completely new things you learn or how many friends you managed to catch up with.
They can introduce you to resources you were not aware of or remind you about research you need to revisit. They can demonstrate approaches or tools that you can adapt to your own way of working. And they can make you think more deeply about how sources are created, described and discovered.
The next step is to turn those ideas into action.
From this conference, I have a book to examine at the National Library of Australia, church records to revisit, new archival portals to explore, workflows to document and some new approaches to incorporate into my research system. And more blog posts to write!
For your next conference, make sure you take notes. Not just of what you learned, but of the ideas that the presentations stimulate. Make a list of websites and books that you want to explore and other things that you want to follow up. If you use Notion, you can do what I did and add tasks directly into your system as you listen to the presentations.
Thank you, some great reminders of places to look and techniques to employ