Sunday, June 10, 2012

Day 4 at SCGS Genealogy Jamboree - Sunday

I think I set a personal best for number of classes attended in a day at a multi-day conference.  Also for number of classes attended on the last day of a conference.  Three.  I know that sounds low, and it is, but that's my record.  I get too busy in the exhibit hall or doing blogger things to attend classes.

We're home now...by 8:45 p.m. so I need to write this and go off to bed.

*  We were out for breakfast in the lounge at 7:30 a.m., and sat with several bloggers.  I decided that I wanted to go hear Warren Bittner on "Complex Evidence" at 8:30 to see how a pro presents the GPS and a case study to illustrate its application.  He didn't disappoint, although I disagreed with several of his Original vs Derivative source assignments.  I'll blog about that later, I think.  I tweeted throughout this talk hitting highlights for me, and they can be found on Twitter (@rjseaver) and on Facebook.

*   After walking through the exhibit hall, I landed in Lisa Lee's talk on "Speling Dusn't Cownt' And Why Wild Cards Are the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread."  I agree about the spelling, and the wild cards, but was disappointed that Lisa used only "Old Search" on Ancestry.com to demonstrate searching.  She spoke highly of Heritage Quest Online which has become a forgotten resource for many of us.  I was impressed by the live searches for persons in the census solicited from the audience - very brave!  And successful, I thought.

*  At 11 a.m. I rushed out and got a hot dog and chocolate chip cookies for lunch, then went up to the room to get Linda and our suitcases, and we checked out of the hotel.  I went over to Subway to get Linda a sandwich for lunch and both of us a sandwich for dinner.

*  I was back in time to take a stroll through the exhibit hall again, and wound up in Jana Broglin's talk on "Diggin in the Dirt : A Discussion of Deeds."  Jana sure knows this topic well!  She had a very impressive command of the facts on a complex subject with great examples to illustrate her points.

*  After three talks, I still had some exhibit hall to cover, so I went and bought the two books I've been eying at the NEHGS table, then talked to Brian Speickart at the FindMyPast booth, Chris Whitten, Liann Lavoie and Elyse Doerflinger at the WikiTree booth, and rested my feet at Janet Hovorka's FamilyChartMasters booth.  Janet let me play her descendants chart game - she gave me the hardest one and I figured it out after several minutes.  The card she picked for me was to find someone's second cousin once removed.  Two of the young teens at the conference did almost all of the cards.  I think Emma (Gini's granddaughter) and Brandon (Gena's son) have a great future as genealogists!

*  At 2:45 p.m. I waved goodbye to my exhibit hall friends, saw Tom Underhill briefly, and met Linda in the lobby.  We said goodbye to several blogger friends, and went outside at 3:15 p.m. to catch the shuttle to the train station, along with about 40 others.  We managed to get on the 3:40 shuttle and were on the train platform when the 4:22 train arrived several minutes early.  I'm not sure that everyone at the hotel that wanted to catch that train made it.  I hope so.  There was only one shuttle running today - usually there are two.

*  The train ride was uneventful in the last car where we rode downstairs - I read my Harlan Coben book, ate my sandwich, took a short doze, watched the OC and SD beaches go by and the sun set, and we were to San Diego at 7:50 p.m.  Barbara was waiting for us, and we were home by 8:40 p.m.

This Genealogy Jamboree was somewhat different from the recent RootsTech, FGS, and NGS Conferences I've attended.  There was no Media Hub for bloggers, no special briefings or dinners for bloggers, and no swag bag.  We did meet in the lounge off the lobby, but there was not the tremendous concentration of 30 or 40 like in past years.  There were also side meetings in the bar in the afternoons... As many have said before, being a part of the Geneabloggers group is special and fun - we have a group of like-minded, enthusiastic, friendly, loving, funny and encouraging people.  I appreciate the talents and creativity of each one of them - it seems to me like this body is more than the sum of its parts.

Lastly, thank you to Paula Hinkel and Leo Myers, and their team of SCGS volunteers, who continue to put on a first-class event with yearly improvements, and to Janet Hovorka for providing the blogger beads this year.  I wore mine all the way home.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/06/day-4-at-scgs-genealogy-jamboree-sunday.html

copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

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