The POINT Conference - 2010 will be held in Salt Lake City in conjunction with a series of five talks (one each day) by Ruth Merriman (#4887) on Italian genealogy (with the topics of these talks differing from those she gave in 2008). There will be NO CHARGE to attend these wonderfully instructive sessions nor to conduct research at the Family History Library, where Ruth’s talks will be given.

The dates of Ruth’s presentations—and the conference—will be Monday, August 16, 2010 through Friday, August 20, 2010. Ruth will repeat all five talks on Saturday, August 21, 2010. We will also have our traditional conference banquet on Friday evening, as well as our usual meeting of PIP chapter leaders and representatives.

Our headquarters hotel for the entire week will be the Plaza Hotel, which is conveniently located directly next door to the Library.

The hotel will provide a limited number of rooms from Sunday, August 15, 2010 through Saturday, August 21, 2010, at a reduced rate ($85 for single or double occupancy and $92 for triple or quad occupancy) for those registered for the conference and banquet.

For hotel reservations, contact:

and ask to make reservations at the special rate for the POINT Conference – 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: For those planning to stay at the Plaza Hotel,

Since the hotel will only hold these rooms at this special rate for a limited time,
it is strongly suggested that room reservations be made BEFORE April 15, 2010.

There will be a Conference Registration Fee of $40, which includes the Friday evening banquet (A Taste of Italy) at the Plaza Hotel and incidental items such as identification badges, refreshments in our Hospitality Room and possibly an additional genealogy training session.

Extra dinner reservations for a spouse or guest may be purchased for $25.

The Conference Registration Form may be downloaded from the following Internet address:
http://www.jsoft.com/archive/pie/events.html

The Conference Organizing Committee has selected Mr. Paul Nauta, the Manager of the Family History Marketing Department, to be our featured banquet speaker.
You may have seen Mr. Nauta in charge of FamilySearch booths at genealogy conferences and conventions all over the world.
He is of Italian descent and has done his own research in Italy.
We are honored that he has agreed to speak to us.

For those conference attendees who will want to research films at the Library during the conference, Ruth has provided the following instructions:

Go to www.familysearch.org.
Move the cursor to the Library tab that is in a line of tabs across the top.
On the drop-down menu, click on Library Catalog.
When you get to the catalog, click on Place Search, and then type in the name of your town.
Follow the links to your town’s civil or church records.
When you get to the record you want, click on View Film Notes.
If the film note says INTL FHL film, it is already in the library; if it says VAULT, it will need to be ordered.

Go to www.familysearch.org.
Click on the Library tab that is in a line of tabs across the top.
Along the left hand side is a column of links.
Click on Preparing to visit the Library.
Scroll down to #6 and you can read about the service.
Click on Click here to e-mail us your request.

Be sure to say in your e-mail that you are coming for a special Italian conference so the films will be expedited. Ruth has spoken with the person in charge to make sure everyone gets VIP treatment for their films.

Ruth and her very competent staff will also be available to help with reading and interpreting the films and with other forms of research during the week of the conference.

For more information, contact:

Phone: 702-257-6628
E-mail: DrTom@point-pointers.net

Ruth Merriman: merrimanrl@ldschurch.org