Friday, June 11, 2010

Checked in at SCGS Jamboree

The train trip was very relaxing from San Diego to Burbank - but the 4:30 a.m. wakeup call wasn't much fun. My thanks to Gary for picking us up and driving us to the train station. About 15 SDGS members took the train, and Ruth and Nancy (from GSNOCC) got on in Fullerton and met up with us.

After arriving at the hotel, I checked in at the Speaker's table and got my "swag bag" from SCGS, and then we went to the hotel lounge and found the Geneabloggers there. Thomas, Amy, Holly and AC were on laptops/netbooks, and Becky, Gini, footnoteMaven, Cheryl, Denise and Craig were hanging out. It is so much fun to see these folks again (and to meet Becky in person for the first time). The Geneablogger swag bags are chock full of goodies - thank you, sponsors! And thank you Thomas, Amy, Denise and everyone else that contributed to them. Thomas handed out the beads and several badge ribbons - I got a "Big Cheese" ribbon for some reason :). Amy had a ribbon for me for the ProGen group, and a "Rock Star" ribbon for geneabloggers. I found out that the flash on my camera is not working well, so pictures may be darker than usual. I'll try to post some pictures later in the weekend.

Linda and I grabbed a bite to eat at the outdoor deli next to the Convention Center, and when registration opened at 12 noon, I obtained my printed syllabus. Then I wandered through the exhibit hall. I met many more bloggers and exhibitors and enjoyed seeing my genea-friends again. I look forward to meeting many more readers and exhibitors and society colleagues.

The Tech Zone this year is in Room 129 opposite the Ancestry.com Scanning Station. It is very convenient, and the systems work well (I'm typing in the Tech Zone). These computers have many online subscription and free websites available for attendees to use.

The first conference presentations are at 1:30 p.m. I think that I'm going to hear Megan Smolenyak talk on "Cases That Made My Brain Hurt." I haven't seen that one before. In the second session, I may see Michael John Neill's talk on "Restacking the Blocks: Organizing Your Information" or Kenny Freestone on "Simplifying Online Research with Ancestry.com Family Trees."

I will try to post another update tonight. I'm not lugging the laptop around the convention center, and I don't have an iPhone or other mobile device, so therefore I can't tweet or blog directly from the presentations or exhibit hall.

This is already a LOT of genealogy fun!

1 comment:

TALON said...

Randy, I really enjoy your blog. I look forward to it every day. I just recently started a blog of my own(www.theleafhunter.blogspot.com Actually, it's a third attempt. I had another one that you once posted on, but I neglected it and decided to make a fresh, new start. Anyway, I think those that read my blog may also be interested in yours. So, I have added a link to your blog on my blog. I hope this is okay. If not, let me know.