Title

Call For Papers: 2025 CGSI Conference

Body

The Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International (CGSI) will hold its 20th Genealogical and Cultural Conference at a venue to be determined in the Kansas City area during October, 2025.

Sections

Presentation Topics

Topics appropriate to this conference are numerous. Here is a list of appropriate subject matter:

  • Computers in Genealogy (family tree programs, family web sites, etc.)
  • Genealogy (Beginning, ethnic specific, US, European, traditional, on-line)
  • History of ethnic settlements, religious groups, churches, free-thinkers, fraternal organizations
  • Immigration history, Emigration history (push-pull factors), Military history
  • Austro-Hungarian Empire history, 20th century history, prehistoric history
  • Language (conversational, meanings / origins of surnames and place names, script reading)
  • Folk art, Architecture, Folk music, Folklore, Folk dance (lecture or hands-on training)
  • Modes of Transportation (in homeland, passenger ships, trains, steam boats, etc.)
  • Czech, Slovak, or German-Bohemian community settlement and history with an emphasis on Missouri or Kansas
  • Research institutions, Collections, museums (World War I Museum, Midwest Genealogy Center, National Archives at Kansas City, National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri Historical Society, County Genealogical Societies, etc.)
  • Land (Homestead Act, Land Agents, Title Searches)
  • DNA studies
  • Traditions (cooking, baking, holidays, life-cycle, etc.)

Submission Process

The information required from speaker candidates includes:

  • a title
  • one-third to one-half page summary for each presentation
  • a speaker bio of no more than one page

We encourage speaker candidates located outside of the Kansas City area to submit more than one paper, because of the costs of travel and lodging to bring in speakers to give only one presentation.

If you have an interest in speaking or know someone who would be an appropriate speaker in Kansas City, please forward this information to them or contact Paul Makousky, Conference Chair at pmakousky@CGSI.org or by US mail at 8582 Timberwood Rd, Woodbury, MN 55125-7620.

Submissions are due by May 15, 2024 and shall be mailed or e-mailed to Paul Makousky at the address above. Selections will be made by August of 2024. (Yes, 14 months prior to the Conference!)

Speaker Compensation

Speakers selected for the conference will receive a complimentary admission that includes Thursday, Friday, and Saturday lunches, syllabus, and a free exhibitor table. A travel allowance (currently at 36 cents per mile or airfare, whichever is less, and lodging at the host hotel will be provided to out of area speakers for two or more days based on number of presentations and their individual speaking schedule. CGSI will ask speakers for permission to record their presentation(s) so that we can post some of the presentations on the Members Only section of our website.

If you require a speaking honorarium, please clearly state your requirements. The CGSI puts on a very high quality program, while attempting to maintain a reasonable registration rate for the public. A request for honoraria may impact a candidate’s selection, as our travel and lodging payments are very generous.