UGA’s Summit of Excellence is an annual event to help genealogy enthusiasts improve their research skills and knowledge. The three-day virtual conference includes a variety of presentations and workshops for all experience levels. The conference begins with a “Getting Started Day,” with a focus on genealogy basics. In the following days, participants can explore more advanced topics through themed tracks like “Records” and “International,” with multiple expert-led sessions happening at the same time. This format lets attendees choose sessions that match their interests. And if participants are interested in more than one session during a time slot, recordings of the sessions will be available for later viewing.
The Summit of Excellence is dedicated to offering educational resources to help participants sharpen their genealogical research skills.
This listing is only for the Getting Started Day. Looking for the full conference? Click here.
| Time (MT) | Class Title – Getting Started – September 4, 2025 | Instructor |
| 9:00 am | The Census Survey: The First Step in Your Research | Janice M. Sellers |
| 10:30 am | Writing and Publishing Your Family History: A Beginner’s Guide | Diane Henriks |
| 12:00 pm | Genealogy 102: Going Deeper with Skills, Sources & Strategies | Lisa Vogele |
| 1:30 pm | Exploring Methods and Strategies in Autosomal DNA Investigations | Aimee Rose-Haynes |
| 3:00 pm | Organizing Your Genealogy Research for Beginners: Best Practices for Keeping Track of Sources and Documents | Alina Khuda |
| 4:30 pm | Smart Starts: AI Tools Every Genealogist Should Know | Edward Swierczewski |
The Census Survey: The First Step in Your Research
Presented By: Janice M. Sellers on September 4, 2025 9:00 am
You’ve collected the information you have at home, talked to family members, and begun putting all those facts into a family tree program. But how do you start to do the actual research? One of the best ways is to find family members in the census and get an overview of their lives. We’ll talk about where you can find censuses online and off, techniques for searching, and the information that you’ll find.
Janice M. Sellers is a professional researcher and international speaker whose grandparents told her she is related to actor Peter Sellers and to John of Gaunt, son of a king and father of a king. Unfortunately, they were both wrong, but that’s why she has researched her family for 50 years and now helps others find the right pieces to fit their genealogy puzzles. She specializes in Black, Jewish, forensic, and newspaper research. She has done research and appeared on camera for the television series The Dead Files. Her site is ancestraldiscoveries.com.
Writing and Publishing Your Family History: A Beginner’s Guide
Presented By: Diane Henriks on September 4, 2025 10:30 am
Discover the fundamentals of organizing, writing, and publishing your family history in this beginner-friendly guide that will equip you with the essential tools to preserve your family’s legacy for generations to come.
Diane Henriks, also known as the Descendant Detective and founder of Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family, is a passionate and seasoned Los Angeles County-based professional genealogist, investigator, speaker, and author who specializes in descendancy and brick wall research, along with living people search and unknown parentage. Diane has worked closely with private investigators to find living people while also assisting in background investigations, in both civil and criminal cases. She is a proud member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Genealogical Speakers Guild, the Southern California Genealogical Society, and the Utah Genealogical Association. What started out as a small hobby well over a decade ago, when a hand-drawn family tree chart was given to her by her father, has since become a great obsession, and she now helps others discover and preserve who they are and where they come from!
Genealogy 102: Going Deeper with Skills, Sources & Strategies
Presented By: Lisa Vogele on September 4, 2025 12:00 pm
Ready to move beyond the basics? You’re mastering the fundamentals, and building a solid foundation for your family history research—but what’s next? Supercharge your genealogy journey and breathe new life into your family history projects. Discover creative ways to maximize tools, dive into overlooked & unknown resources, and refine your approach to uncover new insights. Learn the skills, sources, and strategies you need to take your genealogy journey to the next level!
Lisa Vogele is a professional genealogist and Certified Travel Associate (CTA). She is the Chief Tree Climber at Travel Your Tree: Where Ancestry Meets Adventure, a European family history research, travel planning, custom tour & genealogy research tour operator specializing in Italy & Ireland. Lisa is passionate about traveling in the footsteps of your ancestors to make or re-establish connections of personal, historical significance.
In March 2025, Lisa was named as the first ever recipient of the Association of Professional Genealogists Fellowship for her project to create a Field Guide to Passport Records in Northern Italian Archives. In Spring 2026, she’ll lead a Genealogy Research Tour to Dublin, Ireland, continuing her mission of bringing family histories to life through travel.
In 2016, Lisa authored Food & Folklore: A Year of Italian Festivals, a guidebook to assist travelers with incorporating heritage festivals into their itineraries, get off the beaten path, and experience local culture through food and historic events. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG), earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in 2019 and a Certified Travel Associate (CTA) credential. Her travel tips have been featured in the Huffington Post, 1000TravelTips.com, and Dream of Italy. She holds a Master’s degree from Clemson University, was raised in Connecticut, and resides in Colorado.
Follow Lisa’s travels and discoveries: @travelyourtree on Instagram and Facebook
