Moderator will share experiences: (1) Planning a successful four-day family reunion with multiple events honoring his ancestors’ personal sacrifices in coming to America. A "how-to” template for you to plan a get-together using the unique knowledge of your family’s journey to jumpstart the creative process for a meaningful family reunion. (2) Numerous “coincidental” instances of meeting people who revealed information about ancestors, uncovered seemingly by happenstance over the course of decades of research. Highlights what you can do to create coincidences to advance knowledge of your family's story.

Moderator: Tom Girz has been researching his family history for 25+ years. He has written the life stories of many members along several family lines back into the late 1500s and is currently working on his father’s WWII memoirs. A career USAF employee for 32 years, he is an experienced and compelling public speaker, having given talks on this topic multiple times.