Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

Highlights of the NGS conference

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I was so glad I attended last week’s family history conference from the National Genealogical Society. It was a terrific conference for me. I attended NGS four years ago, the last time it was in the St. Louis area, but I got more out of this year. I think that’s because I’m further along in my research so the more advanced classes were more helpful to me. Sometimes we hear talks that we need to hear just at the right time.

Over the course of four days, I attended 14 classes. My brain hurt a little at the end! I used the terrific NGS app to select my classes before the conference and I was so grateful that I didn’t have to make on-the-spot decisions. I did a great job of selecting because all the classes I took, except one, were very helpful.

One highlight of the conference was attending four classes taught by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Of course I was familiar with her work (Evidence Explained is legendary!) but I don’t think I’d ever actually listened to her speak, certainly not in person. Without exception, all of her classes were excellent, but her class on Context was mindset-shifting. She offered an explanation for why context is so important, along with specific suggestions for how to find context for our ancestors’ lives. I was so grateful for the opportunity to briefly chat with Elizabeth after that session and tell her how valuable I thought it was.

Elizabeth sets some impressively high standards but if I can strive to come close to them, I know I will be upping my game.

Another highlight of the conference was meeting up with some blog readers as well as talking with a podcast listener. And I met some really terrific folks just by sitting next to them in sessions.

I’m planning to take a research trip to Kentucky next month and many of the classes fed right into that. I took classes on planning a research trip, on Kentucky resources, on locating obscure and hidden resources, and of course the class on context. Also helpful will be the classes on breaking through brick walls (which Elizabeth Shown Mills prefers to call stone walls–more on that in a future post). I hope to do some thorough preparation so that I can make the best use of the local resources when I’m in Kentucky.

Next year’s NGS conference will be held in Salt Lake City from May 20 to 23, 2020. Based on the quality of this year’s conference, I’m planning to attend! If you’ve ever wondered whether going to a genealogy conference was worth the time, expense and effort, for me the answer is most assuredly yes.

Making the best use of time at a genealogy conference

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time management at genealogy conferencesI’m attending the NGS conference this week and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. One great thing about going to a conference is having the opportunity to block out the other distactions and focus on the topic at hand. This year, the conference is in St. Charles, a half hour from my home in St. Louis. That sounds incredibly convenient, but in fact in means that I miss the full genealogy immersion that I get when I travel to a conference. I have to head home in rush hour traffic, walk my dog, and deal with day-to-day life. Today, in fact, is my husband’s birthday, so as soon as I get home from the conference I’ll be turning off the research side of my brain!

Within the conference itself, there are some time-management challenges. For example:

  • How early do I need to get there to register on the first day? (Turns out not as early as I thought.)
  • The exhibition hall is open throughout the day and, of course, it is more crowded during the breaks between sessions. Today I decided to skip a class session in favor of touring the exhibition hall when I could get the chance to really talk to exhibitors. That turned out to be a good choice (though I’m sure I missed a good session), because I had two really great conversations. (Keep an eye out on the blog for the fruits of those conversations!)
  • Fitting in time to blog can be hard during a conference. Skipping this morning’s class gave me the time to write this blog post!
  • Of course, deciding which class to attend is always challenging because there are so many good options. Yesterday I made great choices. Here are the sessions I attended, all of them excellent.
    • Judy Russell’s keynote address, “Journey of Discovery”
    • Elizabeth Shown Mills class, “Dissection & Analysis of Research Problems: Ten Steps to a Solution”
    • “Anatomy of a Case Study: Steps Used to Write for Yourself or for Publication,” presented by Melinda Daffin Henningfield. It actually reinforced some of things Elizabeth said, which was great.
    • Jen Baldwin’s, “PERSI: Spanning the Generations”
  • One way I use to determine which class to attend is to pay attention to which are available as live stream and/or audio recordings. If I can view/listen later (for a fee) I may choose a competing class that is only available live.
  • Figuring out the best use of time during breaks is another challenge. Some sessions are in small rooms that fill up, so taking an advance look at class locations can help you get into the class you want. On the other hand, my friend wasn’t able to get into her first-choice class and ended up joining me Elizabeth Shown Mills’ class in a larger room and was so happy she did.  (And, of course, sussing out the less-crowded bathrooms is helpful during breaks as well!)

Sometimes I find myself getting wrapped up in making sure I use my time in the best possible way at a conference. But I try to remind myself to leave myself open to serendipitous connections. If I over plan, I might miss out on spontaneity. You never know where your next great learning opportunity or next great connection with a genealogist will come at a conference like this.

In an environment like the NGS conference, no matter how I spend my time, I pretty much can’t lose.

Photo by Devon Janse van Rensburg on Unsplash.

NGS livestream schedule released

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I’m excited to be attending the 2019 National Genealogical Society conference, which is being held 8 to 11 May 2019 in St. Charles, Missouri, where I’ll get to choose from more than 135 different classes being offered. If you’re not able to make it, you have the option of watching ten of the classes via live stream (and, later, on demand).

The sessions being streamed are offered on Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10. Three of Thursday’s five sessions will focus on DNA’s role in supplementing genealogical research. The other two lectures streamed on Friday are on ethnic research. The five selections on Friday feature lectures by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) that emphasize research, analysis, and problem-solving skills. For a complete list of the sessions being live streamed, go to the live stream page for the conference.

You can buy a one-day pass for either day for $95 or a two-day pass for $149. If you want to watch the sessions live, you must register by May 8. From May 9 to 11, you can purchase on-demand viewing of the ten sessions for that price. (After that, you can purchase a video pass for all ten but the price goes up to $249.) The sessions remain available to you to view, as many times as you’d like, for a year, until May 11, 2020.

Live stream registrants receive a copy of the electronic syllabus for the whole conference. For those registrants who miss the live broadcast, the session will be available on demand about 48 hours after the broadcast.

Audio recordings of all the sessions will also be available for purchase. See the video and audio recordings page for details and pricing. The price for audio recordings goes up by $100 after May 11. If you purchase the audio package, you can download the MP3s with no expiration. Both video and audio purchasers receive access to the electronic syllabus.

If you are attending the conference, the syllabus is now available for download. (Check your email for login details.) And if you’re going to the conference and would like to meet up and haven’t already told me, please comment below!

Who’s going to NGS this year?

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This week, in Salt Lake City, RootsTech gets under way. I’ve gone to that conference four times but elected not to attend this year. (I’ll be following the hashtag #notatrootstech on Twitter in my spare time to see what my fellow non-attendees are up to.)

Instead of RootsTech, this year I’ll be attending the National Genealogical Society 2019 Family History Conference, which will be held May 8-11 in St. Charles, Missouri. It’s just a half hour from my home, so I can avoid the expense and inconvenience of travel. I registered last week!

By attending NGS over Rootstech, I’m not sacrificing education for convenience. NGS is a terrific conference, chock full of educational opportunities. I attended in 2015 and had some great takeaways. It was there, for instance, that I was inspired to order my three union Civil War ancestors’ pension files, which were game changers. And I learned how to process them. That was huge.

So I’m very excited for the conference. I can’t wait to find out what my big takeaways are.

Will you be attending? If you are, and you’d like to meet, please leave a comment and we’ll figure out how to meet. One thing I love about going to conferences is meeting readers, who often become friends!