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This past weekend saw an excellent array of speakers delivering some fabulous DNA Lectures in Birmingham (UK) at Who Do You Think You Are - Live 2015. The schedule of the lectures is in the table below. The lectures were sponsored by FTDNA and organised by Maurice Gleeson and Debbie Kennett on behalf of ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy). The topics ranged from DNA for Beginners to the latest update on the DNA analysis of Richard III. You can watch a brief introduction to the videos of the DNA Lectures in the short video below. Maurice Gleeson  19th Apr 2015

We had a fine line-up of speaker’s at GGI2014 this year, and the viewing figures for the presentations on our YouTube channel reflect this. But which presentations proved the most popular with the viewing public? Read on ... all will be revealed. But first, a look back on the organisation for this year's DNA Lectures, and the endeavours we undertook to raise the profile of genetic genealogy in Ireland and encourage more people to have their DNA tested.  The Back to Our Past website and this GGI website both advertised the DNA Lecture schedule well in advance of the event so that people were able to choose what they wanted to see before arriving at the show. In addition, the Show Guide gave the DNA Lectures equal billing to the general genealogy lectures (organised by APGI , Association of Professional Genealogists of Ireland), which certainly raised the profile of DNA testing in the minds of the general public at this year’s event. It was a very pleasant surprise to see that the...

After the Party is over … it still goes on! Following the GGI2014 conference, 18 of the 20 presentations were posted on the GGI YouTube channel . The first presentation went up on Oct 20th, the day after the end of the conference, and videos of the other presentations were posted each weekday over the subsequent 3 weeks (ending on Nov 12th). One of the presentations (Lecture 18, Cynthia’s video on Reconstructing Irish-Caribbean Ancestry ) was delayed due to technical difficulties and was posted on Nov 25th. It is now 7 weeks since the first video was posted and the viewing figures are really quite incredible. In this relatively short space of time, they have been “viewed” over 8500 times for a total of 113,454 minutes - that’s 78 days and 18 hours. This is 3 times the viewing figures for the same period last year indicating that the second year of the conference appears to have been even more popular than the first. Click to enlarge Over 60% of the audience is US-based. This probably r...

This second year of Genetic Genealogy Ireland proved even more successful than the first, and a huge thank you has to go to FamilyTreeDNA for sponsoring the event yet again. Long may it continue!  Due to the foundations that we laid down last year, publicity & promotion around the event was both easier and more effective this year. The Facebook campaign advertising the regular blog posts on this website resulted in 12,000 hits in the 4 weeks prior to the event. Ireland was the country with the most traffic after the US, indicating that the target audience was being reached.  Back to Our Past is organised in conjunction with the Over 50’s Show and the Irish Coin & Stamp Fair – as a result BTOP benefits from people interested in attending all three shows in one. Although overall attendance at the show appeared to be down on last year, traffic to the FTDNA stand increased.  Full credit goes to the ISOGG volunteers who helped out at the FTDNA stand including Derrell ...

Everyone coming to Back to Our Past 2014 can get a DNA test for lower than the usual price. This is good news for anyone whose name is not on the list of Free DNA Tests . FamilyTreeDNA have announced that they will have special discounts on the DNA tests being sold at  Back to Our Past , which in fact is a double saving because buyers also save on the cost of postage and packaging. The good news is that these special discounts apply to all three main DNA tests. Y-DNA-37 ...  €102  The Y-DNA-37 test , which traces the fathers father's father's line, is useful for both deep and recent ancestry, and is the standard test for anyone interested in researching a specific surname within the family. It is usually $169 if bought directly off the website, but at BTOP it is on special offer at $129. In euro, that's about 102 euro instead of 133 euro. Anyone taking this test should also sign up to the appropriate surname project to get the most out of their Y-DNA results. And t...

Spencer Wells has been studying your oldest ancestors for more than 20 years. And he's coming to Dublin to tell you what he found. Spencer is giving the Keynote Address at Genetic Genealogy Ireland - 3.30 pm, Sat 18th October 2014 at Back to Our Past at the RDS, Dublin. The earliest humans originated in Africa, and eventually made their way out to the rest of the world. There were several migrations out of Africa over the millennia, but all of them died out. It is only the last exodus of humans that has survived, and we are the children of that exodus. All human beings in existence today descend from one single man who lived in Africa about 330,000 years ago. So the genetic evidence tells us. And both archaeological and linguistic evidence supports the incredible story that is being revealed by our DNA. Spencer is one of the pioneers at the forefront of this genetic research into the incredible human journey. TED Talk by Spencer Wells - the origins of human diversity In his engros...

Presentation:  Using autosomal DNA to maximum effect Qualifications - MA in Modern History & English (The University of St Andrews) and PGCert in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies (The University of Strathclyde) Memberships Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)  International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) Scottish Genealogy Network (SGN) Society of Genealogists (SOG) Biography Michelle Leonard of Genes & Genealogy is a Scottish professional genealogist and DNA detective. She holds an M.A. in English and Modern History from the University of St Andrews and a PgCert in Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies from the University of Strathclyde. She specialises in solving unknown ancestor and adoption mysteries using DNA but also undertakes traditional genealogical research, living relative tracing, historical and television research, tutoring and speaking engagements. Additionally Michelle is a freelance writer and blogg...