Trace Your Family History Back Through Time

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Trace Your Family History Back Through Time

Transcript of Trace Your Family History Back Through Time

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Like branches on a treewe all grow in different directions

but our roots remain as one.~ Author Unknown

There are a number of ways to document one's family history from family trees to genograms to ecomaps.

We’ll take a closer look at a handful of sample diagrams that just mightinspire you to explore your own family history.

This presentation is inspired by the SmartDraw Blog post entitled, “Trace Your Family History Back Through Time”

To view the full blog posting go to http://blog.smartdraw.com/

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A Gift for the Whole Family

For my husband's grandfather's 96th birthday I wanted to do something special. I wanted to make our family tree. After several weeks of correspondence with relatives near and far, I had managed to gather enough information. Once I had the information, creating the family tree took almost no time at all.

I'll never forget Grandpa Russel's reaction. Grandpa was so excited. He immediately requested his magnifying glass and sat there in awe. I didn't know it at the time, but I had made the first graphical representation of the family's history. It was then that I realized this wasn't just a gift for grandpa, it was a gift for the whole family. Everyone loved it.

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Family Tree Diagram: Without Photos

SmartDraw Tip: As a default, SmartDraw has the Use Compact Formatting feature selected. This feature is an automatic setting that helps maintain the real estate of your work area as your diagram develops. You may choose to be even more conservative with the space and want to make your diagram even more compact. To achieve this, simply use the Vertical Spacing and Horizontal Spacing controls.

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Family Tree Diagrams: With Photos

SmartDraw Tip: As a best practice, you may choose to first create the family without photos. This will give you an idea of the size of the tree. To add a photo of a family member, select the family member's shape. Navigate to the SmartPanel's Add Shapes section and select Add Picture. The Insert Picture dialogue box appears. Locate the photo and select Open. To modify the photo's appearance, simply double-click on the photo. You can zoom in and out as well as adjust the placement of the picture.

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Genogram Diagram: Status

SmartDraw Tip: Located to the right of the SmartPanel, is Library Tab. This is where the Genogram Symbol Library is located.

You have the ability to leverage the existing symbol library to create any number of genogramsbased on your preference of complexity.

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Genogram Diagram: Medical Conditions

SmartDraw Tip: This is an example of a genogram focused on a single trait. When using a combination of symbols that may not be intuitive to your audience, it's important to include a legend.

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Ecomap Diagram: Family Counseling

SmartDraw Tip: When using a combination of lines that may not be intuitive to your audience, it's important to include a legend.

In this case, there is also a brief overview of what the ecomap is depicting in the bottom right corner.

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Do you have a story you’d like to share?

How do you use SmartDraw? I'd love to hear your story. I'm always intrigued to find out how other members of

the SmartDraw community are using it.

Send me an email at [email protected]

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About RuthJoy Bitner, M.Ed.With a M.Ed. in Human Resource Development and Organizational Behavior, RuthJoy has become a trusted advisor and educator working with mid-market to global organizations providing changemanagement and user adoption strategy services for more than 15 years. As the Director of Learning and Organizational Development ofSmartDraw Software she continues to coach and mentor professionals from non-profits to Fortune 500 companies.

An unashamed perfectionist and absolute “SmartDraw Addict,” she discovers innovative ways to use diagrams in her day-to-day activities to increase productivity and efficiency for herself as well as her clients.

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