Content
Welcome
33s
Speaker's Introduction
1m 37s
Introduction
7m 18s
Identify All Materials
2m 24s
Determine File Structure
5m 48s
Naming Files
17m 13s
Create a Finding Aid
11m 24s
Announcements / prizes
1m 14s
Questions / answers
2m 44s
About this webinar
The more we research, the more records, documents, photos, and other materials we acquire. And, to solve our thorniest problems we must research beyond our immediate family using the FAN principle; so, we collect records for people who are not related directly to the family. For our research to be successful, we need to organize all these materials in a manner that facilitates our research, enabling us to find a record easily and to associate the record with the appropriate group.
\nAbout the speaker
Teri E. Flack, M.A. (Public History), M.B.A., began her family history quest over 50 years ago when she asked her paternal grandmother to tell her everything she knew about the Flacks and Fenleys. Alt...
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Comments (7)
I've been looking for exactly this solution, without knowing what it looks like, for several years now. The body of my research has completely outgrown my old organizational methods. I'm SO glad I found this webinar. This is timely and exactly what I've been looking for. Thanks so much!
Thanks Terry - wonderful information\n\nThe key I needed to keep from repeatedly downloading the same records! Thank you!!!\n\nThe presenter, Teri F., did a great job. She was easy to follow and inspired me to get organized!\n\nThe slides went fast.\n\nThis all sounds very nice and helpful. I'm still not convinced I can actually do it. I've been researching my family history for years, and there have been very, very few presentations like this. I would appreciate more. Thank you.\n\nThis expanded my understanding of records that you cannot yet tie to you family, very interesting.\n\nThis gave me lots to think about to get better organized. Thank you.\n\nThis is my first time listening to Teri but won’t be the last, I hope. Please bring her back for more about organization tools and techniques as well as organization philosophy.\n\nThis was fabulous! Great webinar!\n\nThis was so full of new help in filling I need to hear a few more times. \n\nThis webinar gave a different way to document one's digital files. The way she documented her files works for her, I'm sure. But it seemed a little too complicated for me. I will incorporate the general ideas of what she was explaining to suit my way of thinking, as she suggested. But it is a lot better than what I have now ~ which is a mess!! You system works for you and that's great!! I'm just going to make a few changes to suit me!! Thank you, Teri, and I may contact you via email!! \n\ntimely ... \n\nToo bad this information wasn't available years ago before I started collecting records, etc. I do have a naming convention, but see that it needs tweaking.\n\nToo fast & confusing for me but I'm a beginner. Glad this was free and I can re-take this lecture next week. \n\nToo short\n\nUnbelievably detailed subject matter and presentation. Very knowledgeable, experienced, and easy to understand presentation with a lot of helpful ideas.\n\nVery clear presentation and the right pace! Thanks.\n\nVery complicated system but I understood her logic.\n\nvery fortunate to have such a find presenter and presentation. thank you. tlc\n\nVery good ideas but overwhelming to absorb. Definitely need a follow up with more examples and Q&A.\n\nVery good ideas.\n\nVery good information and tips. I know all of us who have been doing genealogy for decades wish we had had classes like this from Day-One. \n\nWould have saved us lots of time, anxiety, and paperwork. Thanks for these great webinars. \n\nVery good suggestions for getting all that stuff organized, and keeping it accessible and useful.\n\nVERY GOOD!\n\nVery Good. Will need to rewatch it.\n\nVery helpful ... I'm in the process of doing this as I just purchased a new computer, so it's a good time ... reviewing my old files and creating new ones ...\n\nVery helpful ideas about organization!\n\nVery helpful pointers. My wheels are already spinning.\n\nVery helpful— thank you!\n\nVery helpful! Thank you!\n\nVery helpful, thank you!\n\nvery informative\n\nVery informative!\n\nVery informative! Wonderful presentation.\n\nVery informative!!\n\nVery informative, Lot of great suggestions for to be determined research.\n\nVery informative. Already practising some of the naming conventions but will definitely start a finding aid today. Thank you.\n\nVery nice way to organize. I like the different ways she does things and gave me ideas.\n\nvery practical and good examples\n\nVery practical, useful, immediately applicable, not too technical. Just the right amount of information.\n\nvery thorough and sounds workable, but does seem a chore to change now!\n\nVERY THOROUGH, THANKS!!!\n\nvery useful detail.\n\nVery useful webinar. The examples from her own file structure and spreadsheet were especially helpful.\n\nWants me want to get busy and check out my organization system!!!!\n\nway beyond my simple understanding!\n\nwell organized!!\n\nWell presented with much to think about in terms of filing conventions, a fresh new idea.\n\nWent pretty fast. \n\nWill have to re-watch! So much useful information.... I need a better plan!!\n\nWish the syllabus had more screen shots of her presentation\n\nWonderful information. Thanks!\n\nWonderful presentation. It gave me new avenues to research\n\nWonderful!\n\nWonderful! \n\nWonderfully useful and helpful. Thank you.\n\nwow!\n\nWow! So much info! I gotta think about this!\n\nwow, lots to process. Thank you\n\nYou have a very good presentation voice, Teri Flack! I think it's important to sound KIND when you're talking to people who need to get organized, LOL. Thank you for all the good information and suggestions. I will definitely integrate this with the parts of my computer filing system that are already working, and the advice to use the same structure and naming conventions for paper and other files make so much sense! Thanks again.
Lots of great ideas!\n\nLots of information to absorb in 45 minutes.\n\nLots of information. Basic principles can be applied to individual needs or work style. Another will need to watch again as there was so much info in such a short period of time. Thanks.\n\nLove everything Teri does! \n\nLove, love, love the idea of the index (finding aid)! Thanks so much!\n\nLoved the way Teri explained her system of organization and her finding aid. So many ideas to help me fine tune what I've started already. Thanks.\n\nmany great hints - thank you\n\nMost excellent and great examples to help with managing the research information!\n\nmost useful today, better pace.\n\nNeed More!\n\nNeeded this so much! Thank you!\n\nNew ideas about organization make it desirable to think about it to devise my own scheme\n\nNot sure it is the convention I would use but she certainly brought up some great points about structure, function and finding things easily. Syllabus is thorough.\n\nNow to have the time to rethink \n\nOh, man one of the best and most helpful lectures for me. Thank you so much. A+ \n\nMore please \n\nOrganization, Organization, Organization....Keep it simple, consistent and don't change your system on a whim....think it out first.\n\nOutstanding!\n\nOverwhelming!\n\nperfect presentation....tons of great ideas\n\nPlease bring her back to talk more about organization!!\n\nPlease have a follow up webinar!!! This was great information & we need more. \n\nPlease have her back!!!\n\nPlease have Terri Flack back, so many questions so little time. \n\nReally engaging & accessible webinar, thank you Teri, and to all involved\n\nReally helpful; I liked the comment that we needed another block of time for the follow-up questions.\n\nShe also has a webinar in the library which expanded more on what she explained. I just discovered her recently and think she's the best.\n\nShe did a great job but it was above mu head.\n\nSo helpful and clearly paced. \n\nSo many great ideas, so little time!\n\nSo much information! Tried to take notes, but will have to re-watch for info I wasn't able to write down. \n\nSome good ideas on organization - too complicated for the average user and will break down when you learn your parent are related (and when you learn you are related to your spouse, if you have one) - that isn't an If, it's a when. Need to use tags instead of folders, so I got some ideas I can apply to my tagging schema and I appreciate them.\n\nSome great ideas for sorting and documenting our files and documents, brilliant....\n\nsome of her steps were confusing but in general very helpful. \n\nsuper well-organized and super well-thought out. I will probably choose to keep my own (more conventional) naming title, as Ii won't have nearly the kind of large family groups or nearly as many items to include in the folders, but her pointing us to the naming convention and why she does it, made a big difference in my own thinking, and I will probably make some needed changes, so that I can locate what I am looking for more easily.\n\nSuperb information. Now all I need is to get organized! But I will. :)\n\nTeri is an excellent presenter.\n\nTeri Flack was a good presenter. Sometimes I felt she went too much into detail on some of the files since they were particular to her research and this slowed down the presentation. \n\nTeri gave very helpful information. \n\nTeri was a good speaker. System sounds a bit complicated, but her slides helped.\n\nTeri was great, we need her back for more!!!!\n\nTeri was wonderful! I'm going to watch it again, so much great info I couldn't remember it all!\n\nTeri's webinar was so very well organized and helpful -- Definitely need to make the switch to digital! \n\nTerri reiterated the absolute importance of Organization especially naming conventions, being consistent with file & folder names...which I do. Good job Terri!!\n\nThank you! So much info to consider! Definitely inspired me to rethink and plan a consistent organizing method!
I have to go through this again. So much material. Very inspiring\n\nI learned some ways to approach my organization.\n\nI liked her insight in doing this with the families that she wasn't sure about how they fit together completely to keep it separate. still feel over whelmed even in setting up a system from so many ways to choose from\nI look forward to reviewing again later. I was concerned with the file length as when I moved or copied items I had a problem. \n\nI love hearing how different people organize their mounds of stuff. The finding aid was a new idea for me.\n\nI love the time she took to explain why she did things the way she did it while emphasizing the importance of doing what works best for you. Excellent presentation.\n\nI need more time! Yes a follow up webinar.\n\nI needed more breakdown of steps and applications,. More understanding of pro and cons of different approaches , where are the landmines. Where to start when you already deeply under piles. what are baby steps to get organized without a stop work order. I have projects in play and that need to moving on. Answer how I can dovetail and make progress in both area\n\nI needed that!\n\nI really liked Teri's method for naming and organizing all her digital and physical documents. Looking forward to a follow-up where Teri can answer more questions. Awesome webinar!\n\nI should have seen this presentation years ago. The BEST presentation on organization I have seen!\n\nI SOOOO need to get organized. I keep thinking Preach, Teri, Preach!\n\nI Thoroughly enjoyed it.\n\nI thought I had my stuff organized, but I gained some new ideas for organizing items that I'm not sure whether or not they belong to my family. Thank you.\n\nI will attempt using the presenter's plan. Not sure if I have the stamina, but appreciated her sharing her plan.\n\nIn my own research I ended up with the file organization similar to this presentation. I wish I had seen this before I started my research. \n\ninteresting\n\nInteresting but sometimes a bit confusing - perhaps because its a subject which needs more time\n\nInteresting, But needed more time in order to understand.\n\nInteresting, perfect length of time to discuss enough detail & to not be overwhelmed!\n\nIt gave me food for thought!\n\nIt is wonderful to learn how others organize their research\n\nIt seems very complicated and too much work especially if you are not a beginner and have already a lot of information\n\nIt was far too detailed and not geared toward the non-professional geneaologist. For us newbies, just trying to organize our recently found and ever growing family records, we need something geared more towards starting out. \n\nIts nice to know that people are organized. I have already found an organization tool that works for me but Teri is right you need to find what works for you otherwise you never know where anything is.. Just because you think you have everything doesn't mean you do so its nice if you know where the person is so you can stuff that is extra to the info you have already. Thanks for a great webinar.\n\nJust what I needed -- My computer files definitely needed this. Clear, concise, and will be well worth listening to again to help me sort things out.\n\nLerned a lot I'm going to lengthen my file names\n\nLooks too complicated and wouldn't work for the way I research but it was interesting and something to think about.
Great approach. Not trying to push one method on us, but showing what her method accomplishes.\n\nGreat ideas I hadn't considered for digital file organization.\n\nGreat ideas, thanks for sharing. Now I need motivation...\n\ngreat if you have lots to organize. \n\nGreat info. With almost 60 years of research I doubt I can ever be that organized. At least I know how to start. Very good presentation.\n\nGreat info. Would like to see her do examples while showing where info came from I guess dropped down to beginner level \n\ngreat information on how to organize\n\nGreat job, Terri. Lots of information and I'll certainly be trying to organise my files better.\n\ngreat organizing suggestions! especially the finding aid idea\n\nGreat presentation! I'm looking forward to listening to it again!\n\nGreat presentation, alot to take in. Will go back to review next week\n\nGreat presentation. I loved her organization philosophy\n\ngreat presentation. Very organized and precise syllabus \n\nGreat reminder that I need to organize my research.\n\nGreat tips!\n\nGreat to realize I can go back and restart my organization at my free times and not have to stop all research to get reorganozed first! Great talk!\n\nGreat to see a full organizational plan -- made good sense. Pace was good. Thank you.\n\nGREAT! Inspirational and challenging! \n\nGreat! Definitely some good things to think about and implement. Thank you!\n\nGreat!! Encouraging me to redo my old files--very helpful\n\ngreat. i needed tis information as i have my research every well. thanks \n\nHard to understand. Could use more examples.\n\nHer method of organization is very detailed - probably too detailed / too many layers for most people who aren't professionals. I did enjoy her style of presentation, just found the content not applicable to my research.\n\nI already went through and reorganized my documents and folders -- now I am excited about making an Index!\n\nI can't wait to get the handout. I think I can do this! Thank you so much\n\ni enjoyed hearing about her filing system, naming structures, etc\n\nI enjoyed this lecture very much. Like sitting across the table with Teri. There was so much I will be listening to this again. Thank you Teri.\n\nI found it a little confusing and laborous but it also had many good points.\n\nI found that the presenter got so complicated with her family and it was hard to follow \n\nI found this a bit hard to follow, was unsure when speaker was talking about digital or non-digital files. \n\nI found this webinar has so much information for organizing. I am planning on working on a Do-Over this year, and this webinar will be very helpful. Thank you!\n\nI got some great ideas about organization and I'm a little fuzzy on other points but it will probably become clearer to me as I work through my files. Good job!\n\nI guess difficult to make interesting! I understand of course it would be more palatable if I were a member who can get the handout!\n\nI have another project. Thank you
Easy to understand with excellent handouts! Thanks for all the ideas!!\n\nEnjoyed the presentation. A lot to think about. But her version of naming digital files is simply too long and too much work for me. But to each her/his own. Thank you so much.\n\nEnjoyed this very much. Organization isn't one of my better skills. So glad examples were given that made sense\n\nEvery genealogy/family history researcher should see this first! Top-notch, well-presented, well-organized. I started revising my filing a while back and actually inched my way to a similar system- but I see a lot of things that will be easy fixes to make it better. Thanks so much\n\nExcel for genealogy is a needed course.\n\nexcellent\n\nExcellent \n\nExcellent - a reminder that time invested in planning a simple method of filing will pay dividends - and lower blood pressure!\n\nexcellent and helpful\n\nExcellent discussion of types / classifications of records we all accumulate. For me working on a desk PC Microsoft 7 ~ file name length is critical. Researchers would have to be quite confident in how their computer files before they begin this method. I learned the hard way! Speaker was wonderful ~ could tell she enjoyed talking about this system.\n\nExcellent examples to illustrate her organization strategy. Thank you!\n\nexcellent info\n\nExcellent methodology, presented with enough details on one implementation to understand how to make it work practically but also enough explanations on the principles to allow people to adapt it to their own giant amorphous mass of research materials...\n\nExcellent organization tips - I always need more of them!! thank you\n\nexcellent presentation\n\nExcellent presentation\n\nExcellent presentation - full of information\n\nExcellent presentation learned a lot but realised I had similar ideas\n\nExcellent presentation to motivate me to get my organization cleaned up and done. If I die tomorrow it will be a nightmare legacy. Thank you Teri - great ideas and process will get easier = great information. Fantastic Webinar.\n\nExcellent presentation! Wonderful detailed handout, didn't need to take notes! Thank you! : )\n\nExcellent presentation. \n\nExcellent presentation. Speaker was knowledgeable and easy to listen to.\n\nexcellent slides to illustrate her technique - maybe this will actually work for me!\n\nExcellent! Concrete guidelines and examples of an archival system. Thank you!\n\nExcellent!!\n\nExcellent. Can she come and do mine!!!?\n\nExcellent. Need a follow up as Marian suggested\n\nFabulous presentation. \n\nFantastic!\n\nfascinating approach to organization, need more detail\n\nFor me, I would have benefitted from less Naming explanation and more Finding Aid organization--the latter felt rushed and complicated. I appreciate Teri's pointing out that you really have to think about what works for you before you set up a system. Especially I'm relieved I don't HAVE to move everything, just index it all.\n\nGood explanations and diagrams. Thanks.\n\nGood ideas but not sure I will ever find the time and stamina to do it. \n\nGood info\n\nGood information.\n\nGood organization presentation. Well structured system- I picked out some ideas that I plan to use.\n\nGood tips for helping with my organization\n\ngreat
(These just keep getting better and better...) Spectacular job by Teri!!! Cannot thank her enough. She was approachable, clear, explained everything logically and comprehensibly, and made us feel as though we could actually tackle this daunting project of organization that I've been putting off for years. Hope there will be a follow-up webinar! And looking forward to watching through a 2nd time on video. Thanks so much!!!\n\n5++\n\nA lot of great information which was presented visually to better underline hoe to do it. One of the best webinars in the series!\n\nA wealth of information. I wish she was the door prize \n\nabsolutely fabulous!! best so far!!!\n\nAh, Teri's Texas and South Carolina drawls brought me right back home to all my southern roots too. this was a great presentation even though way too short to fully give us new-comers all the details we need to understand everything! \n\nTeri gave a great presentation and I took a lot of notes! Thank you!\n\nalways good to hear someone else's ideas for organization. She brought several piles of papers to mind that I had forgotten about :)\n\nAmazing! need to let it sink in. I think I need to fine tune what I have been doing!\n\nAnother excellent presentation. Thank you.\n\nAnother great one! LOVE the detail!!! I have worked out my structure, i think, but what all to put in the titles.... hmm, is a continuing evolution. The Finder Aide...just brilliant!\n\nAppreciate this so much - how to organize in a way that makes sense to your own process! Thank you!\n\nAppreciated the strategies and examples. Thanks!\n\nBest presentation I have attended. Took it slow, was detailed, excellent examples. \n\nBoy do I have work to do but great suggestions.\n\nCan you get me 26-hours-days for re-organizing all my stuff!?! Thank you, Teri! It was worth it staying awake (It is Midnight in Austria, where I live!)\n\nCan't wait to start organizing! She gave a great presentation!\n\nClear and easy to follow presentation. Thank you\n\nClear, concise information. Wish I had known this when I first began researching!\n\nComplicated in 45 minutes but logical, and stimulated ideas for personal organization. Very helpful\n\nComprehensive information and syllabus.\n\ncould have had double the time\n\nCould not get sound.\n\nDifferent way of doing things really makes me think.\n\nDifferent way of Organizing. Nice! Thank you.\n\nDifficult topic - probably needed more time to explain her systems