Advice on hosting groups ie. YM/YW, RS/EQ, YSA or SA planning activities at a FamilySearch center?
I would like to know how best to facilitate groups who want to plan to come to the Family Search center for their activities. I feel like groups are difficult with limited space and consultants to help. Is there guidance on this in the handbook or operation guide? How do other FSC Coordinators handle these type of requests/situations?
How do you handle situations where groups show up unannounced? How should these group activities be scheduled?
Answers
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No longer a director (in a non-heavily populated LDS community), but I still end up being the one the youth in my ward call when they want to do a Family History activity. A few things I've learned is that I need to have a clear idea of what they want to do and how many youth + adults will be participating. If it's too many for your space - say so … or ask them to bring laptops and connect to the building's wifi.
With all youth — have the Pres remind everyone to bring a FamilySearch login. This should be done several times before the activity — including the morning/afternoon of. If they are too young to have their own, ask a parent to log into one of the machines before the activity starts, or give you permission to be their 'helper'.
Give directions before allowing the youth to log in….or perhaps give some information before going to the machines. Once they are logged on it can be hard to get their attention back.
If the activity that the youth want to do isn't realistic, suggest something that would be. Last year started out with the new 11-12 year olds. About half had a login, or a parent who pre-logged in for them. Talked a little about what Family History is and why it's important. Showed them several ways to look at data including sources and relationship viewer. Encouraged them to work with their families to add memories (and showed them how to do it). And then had a scavenger hunt. Can you find someone you're closely related to that was alive during some random historical event; lived in another country or state; was born in the same month as you, etc. FWIW, for this activity the adult to youth ratio was pretty close to 1:1 which really helped. Parents or leaders were sitting right behind the youth. Mixed in between this were lots of good questions of 'how' and 'why?'
One year I was asked to help a quorum learn how to transcribe/index stuff. As chance would have it, we had a trip planned close to a super cool cemetery that only had a few photos on BillionGraves. So, our family took a bunch of photos and then had the YM help transcribe the headstones. Later another quorum went to a local cemetery and took photos. Only found out about this because I recognized the photographer's names when I was transcribing. Gave the youth a high five the next Sunday.
As far as RS activities, I've found these most effective when done in a small group when everyone has a laptop. We usually have RS activities at someone's home. I always push back when a super large group wants to do a family history activity….much better in a small group — unless people know stuff and maybe we're just all indexing, transcribing, or researching at the same time.
Interested to hear what other FSC do…
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Thank You! 😊
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We had a youth group come to our Center a couple of weeks ago. The adult leader called a few days ahead and asked if they could come to the Center on our next regularly scheduled evening shift. The goal of the Young Women was to each be able to print family name cards to take for proxy ordinance work later that week. I requested that the girls each come with their User Names and Passwords. They arrived and all gathered closely together in our somewhat small Center. They took care of their regular class business, leaving less time to accomplish their FamilySearch goals. Then we learned that some of the younger girls did not yet have an account set up. It became a very busy time as we all scrambled to get parent permission, and get accounts set-up. Their goal was accomplished in a remarkably short time with the help of two consultants, three adult leaders, calls to parents and FamilySearch support, and with older girls helping the younger ones, and using Ordinances Ready. They took turns using the computers. The printer was kept very busy. It seemed amazing how quickly it all came together. Fifteen young women all left with cards in hand for their upcoming Temple trip.
I have learned a few things as we have had large youth groups come. They all like to cram together in our small Center. Some will bring their own devices. And no matter what they come to do, it always seems to work out, and feels like a wonderful activity at the end. They are so quick to do what needs to been done with technology. And FamilySearch has done so much to streamline processes to lead to immediate success.
We have also had success with larger adult groups, in which we began by having one or more video/group instruction classes in another part of the building, before taking turns rotating parts of the group into the Center for a hands-on experience at the computers with one of the concepts taught in a class, while the other group rotated to the other class. Then we switched, so each had a turn working in the Center. These classes were held on an evening when the Center was not normally open. We also invited participants to bring their own laptop computers, if they wish to do so. Then we had consultants helping them in various places, either with their own computers, or with FamilySearch Center computers. We try to have multiple consultants on hand to assist those who attend. These have been successful evenings, as well, where we can share ideas, and also give some individual help to attendees.
Other group events have been held in larger rooms, to assist attendees with using apps on their mobile phones, personal tablets, or laptops. In these cases, participants, though invited to visit and use the Center computers afterword, have been content to remain using their personal devices.
I have requested that I be contacted for any group requests. One evening years ago, we had three youth groups show up on the same evening. Sadly, we had to turn two of them away, and only accommodate the one large group who had made prior arrangements to be there. The other two groups had to arrange to come at later times. Since Covid, we have not had that type of demand on the Center.
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We've been having fun in our Center lately with the Activity Days groups. Each member brings one of their parents with them to get them logged in. I give them a very brief description of what we do in a FSC and why we do it. I explain that doing family history is like missionary work for our deceased family members. (That even gets the adults thinking!) Then I use one of several cartoon family trees I've found online as examples of how families are related (think Flintstones, Donald Duck, Bluey). I ask them if they have any stories they remember about their families. Then, with a family member's help, they get on the computer and look at their tree. Just before they leave, I always give each of them a copy of the cartoon family tree to remind them of the visit.
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