Friday, June 11, 2010

Day 1 at SCGS Jamboree

The "educational" part of the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree started at 1:30 p.m. with the first round of presentations - there were 8 choices in each time slot, and there were three time slots today.

At the 1:30 p.m. slot, I chose to hear Megan Smolenyak present "Cases That Really Made My Brain Hurt." I completely understand why she named her talk - these were seemingly difficult cases that most researchers would not attempt. They included finding next of kin for an mtDNA test of a soldier killed in Korea in 1950; trying to find NBC-TV's Hoda Kotb's ancestry in Egypt; finding the owner of a photograph left in a car in a junkyard in Albuquerque. tracing Barack Obama's Irish roots; trying to find if there were any persons alive in the 21st century who met someone alive in the 18th century. Amazingly, she solved all of these through skill, guile and some luck.

I walked through the exhibit hall, and talked to several exhibitors about their offerings. Then it was to the bloggers lounge where I talked with IMiriam, Becky and several others. We talked so much that I missed the next round of presentations at 3 p.m. Went up to the room and got my business cards and address labels to start entering the contests and giveaways in the exhibit hall. Went back to the blgogers lounge, but was determined to attend a 4:30 p.m. presentation.

It was a difficult choice, but I went to hear Lisa Louise Cooke present "Google Earth for Genealogists." Lisa is an enthusiastic presenter, and very knowledgeable about all things Google. There were oohs and aahs in the crowd as she demonstrated using Google Earth to find address locations on historical maps, to find BLM patent land on current maps (using Earthpoint.us), and to create your own historical maps. Since this was a substitute presentation, Lisa's syllabus material was not in the syllabus book, so has it posted at www.genealogygems.tv/syllabus.htm.

Linda joined me, and we walked through the convention center reception area and then the exhibit hall. The ProGen folks at the Jamboree met at 6 p.m. for a group picture, and then about 15 of us (mostly geneabloggers) walked across the street to the Greek food place, and found Dick Eastman already there. We had a good time sharing our genealogy and life experiences!

After I post this, I'm going to go down to the blogger lounge and see if anybody is still awake.

I'm going to keep a running account of geneabloggers that I've met so far each night (if I can remember them all). If I met you today, but don't have you on my list, please let me know (I have to rely on my memory here!) in no particular order:

Thomas MacEntee
Amy Coffin
AC Ivory
Holly Hansen
Becky Wiseman

footnoteMaven
Craig Manson
Gini Webb
Cheryl Palmer
Kathryn Doyle

Gwynn Socolich
Gena Ortega
Shelly Dardashti
Jean Hibben
Madaleine Laird

Miriam Midkiff
Joan Miller
Nancy Fermazin
Ruth Himan
Susi Pentico

Tami Glatz
Daniel Horowitz
Jeanie Croasmun
Megan Smolenyak
Maureen Taylor

Janet Hovorka
Anne Mitchell
Bruce Buzbee
Steve Danko
George Morgan

Drew Smith
Dick Eastman
Leland Meitzler
Lisa Cooke
Susan Kitchens

That's 35. I know that there are more here! More for the list on Saturday!

1 comment:

Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith said...

What a neat list. Wish I were there!

My two books are at the bookstore, a novel, "Back to the Homeplace," and a non-fiction workbook, "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories." Hope you can stop by the Bookstore at Jamboree and check them out; perhaps even buy one.

Have a great weekend; we appreciate your updates... I'm going to check the Google Maps infor...

Dr. Bill ;-)
http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
Author of "Back to the Homeplace"
and "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"