I’m available for public speaking or lectures to students, local groups or local/family history societies on a range of genealogy and house-history related topics. These could focus on stories and examples from my research, or aspects of methodology.

I’m a qualified lecturer and trainer of adults with more than fifteen years experience in those fields. Following discussion with the organiser, presentations will be tailored to the needs, requirements and prior knowledge of each individual group.

Please note that:

• Talks can be in person or via Zoom.
• All of my talks are based around PowerPoint presentations. Depending on the technology at your disposal, I can provide a pen-drive, a lap-top, a projector. What I need from you as an absolute minimum is a room that can be darkened and a blank wall or projector screen.
• There is usually a charge for my presentations, agreed beforehand through discussion with the organiser.

Here’s a sample of presentations that are ready to go:

This presentation is intended as an introduction for a general audience (non-genealogists) to the kinds of things we can learn about our ancestry. Sometimes we find little more than names, dates and places, but other ancestors might have fascinating stories to tell! The presentation focuses on the truly astonishing stories of several of the ancestors of one of my grandmothers.

Duration is 40 minutes if this is a general interest presentation. It can be extended to 50 or 60 minutes if the audience is beginner or early intermediate level family historians, in which case more information about using sources will be included.

Feedback for this talk:

“This should be a book!”

“Janice gave her talk ‘Astonishing Tales Our Ancestors Could Tell’ to our Townswomen’s Guild group. Janice is an extremely experienced and knowledgeable genealogist. She opened her talk with an introduction to the study of genealogy and gave very helpful advice on how to begin tracing our ancestors. She continued with the story of a 19th century family, who had 13 children and struggled to earn enough money to sustain their family. Janice described the history of the time, the extreme poverty, and the exploitation of children. This was extremely moving and interesting. She then revealed that this family were direct ancestors of her grandmother and told us more stories about the ancestry of that grandmother. She told us that some of the stories she would tell would be astonishing and they certainly were. I don’t want to reveal all as you need to attend one of Janice’s talks to discover just how astonishing some of her ancestors were! Janice is an enthusiastic and engaging speaker. From the feedback I received, our group really enjoyed her talk. A few of us may be planning an ancestry journey! Definitely recommend a genealogy talk by Janice.”

“The speaker managed to be authoritative and conversational at the same time. She could also project right to the back of the room! I liked that there were highs and lows in the family history she told us about – not just people doing great things. It made me think that we probably all have stories like these in our family histories.”

“A very slick presentation, very well put together and visually impressive.”

*****

This presentation relates to research I did into one of my own ancestral lines who lived in the then small hamlet of Woodhouse that was part of the Manor of Leeds. The focus of the talk is on the local and social history, the types of records available at this time and why an understanding of all this is important when researching in the seventeenth century. For family history groups, it can also include some research tips useful for the period.

Duration of presentation 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Feedback for this talk:

“Fantastic speaker – really inspiring as I start to tackle earlier family history research.”

“A most interesting and thoughtful talk.”

“Lots of little titbits of relevant information.”

“Very enthusiastic and well informed speaker.”

“Very informative and interesting.”

“Presenter was really personable and made the topic interesting by relating to all areas of Leeds as it progressed towards the city it is now.”

*****

Benjamin Lucas was born in Leeds in 1791, but an 1833 conviction for larceny and sentence to fourteen years transportation would change the course of his life for ever.  This talk follows Benjamin on a journey that starts with the nineteenth century criminal justice system in England, and ends up on the other side of the world.  It includes wider information about the history of transportation, an outline of official records personal to Benjamin’s story, and how information located in those documents can be expanded by memoirs and accounts written by others involved in the process. The presentation is of national relevance, and Leeds-specific details will be omitted if appropriate.

Duration of presentation 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Feedback for this talk:

“Excellent speaker!”

“Completely absorbing, great story and super research.”

“I learned a great deal and gained in confidence.”

“Very interesting talk!”

“Talk, slides – wonderful! What a super talk!”

“Such hard work and research. Congrats on finding out an amazing story.”

*****

You can get an idea of my style and approach by watching my short (15-minute) talk about Rotten and Pocket Boroughs of the Isle of Wight via YouTube here:

If you’d like to know more, or want to discuss the needs of your group, please contact me.