Saturday, June 1, 2019

My Day 1 at SCGS Genealogy Jamboree 2019

This was a fairly full first day at the Genealogy Jamboree 2019 in Burbank, California.  I didn't sleep well on Thursday night - acid reflux for four hours and then I got four hours of sleep.  [TMI?]  At least I didn't have to drive!

*  We went down to the breakfast bar in the hotel at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast, and I walked over to the Pavilion for the 8:30 segment of the Genealogy World Round Tables.  I participated in the New England and French Canada table - it was full.

*  At 9:30 a.m. I headed back to the room to read email and blogs, added to the Best Of post, and noted that 52 Ancestors - Week 280: #473 Mercy (Kelsey) Cutter (1698-1760) of Woodbridge, New Jersey posted.  Wrote the New Records Available To Search This Findmypast Friday, 31 May 2019 post.  Rested my eyes for awhile, but didn't nap.

*  We went down at 11:15 a.m. to have lunch out on the area between buildings.  Had a hamburger and chocolate chip cookies in the sun.

*  Timed it just right to get into the Exhibit Hall at noon, and visited some of the regulars that are friends.  Noted that all of the major DNA providers were there, but Findmypast, AmericanAncestors, GenealogyBank, Lisa Louise Cooke were not there (there may be others).  The three biggest areas were for Ancestry.com, MyHeritage and Family Tree Maker, and they all had "little theaters."  I noted that there were several new DNA exhibits - DNA2Tree, DNAgedcom, and several others are new.  There are also several jewelry and T-shirt companies with DNA products.  




*  Went to the Pavilion before 1 p.m. to hear Judy Russell's talk on "Death by Undue Means: Coroner's Records."  Had a good talk while waiting with Emily Aulicino and Tracey Berry (?) about DNA and genealogy.  Enjoyed Judy's talk - she always has excellent examples! - but was really sleepy and probably dozed off for a minute or two.

*  After Judy's talk, I decided it was nap time so I went back to the room for a 20 minute snooze interrupted by the maid who didn't clean the room.  

*  Went down to the exhibit hall at 2:40 p.m. and walked around - had a great conversation with Paul Woodbury and John ??? of Legacy Tree Genealogists (their Books product is wonderful), then with Patti at the Forever exhibit, Michael Provard of FamilySearch, Mike and Amanda at the Geni exhibit, Schelly and Daniel at the MyHeritage exhibit, and Gena and Ed at the Moorshead Magazine exhibit. 

*  Joined the "Meet the DNA Experts" panel in the Pavilion in progress but didn't learn much - there were five panelists - Brad, Kitty Cooper, Tim Jansen, Angie Bush and Dave Dowell on the panel moderated by Alice Fairhurst.  

*  Went back into the Exhibit Hall and talked to Geoff and Peggy at the Legacy Family Tree exhibit, and Anna at the Ancestry exhibit.  Had a long discussion and demonstration of RootsMagic 8 with Bruce Buzbee.  There will be many changes to the user interface but not the features in RootsMagic 8 relative to RootsMagic 7.  RM8 should be out this year.

*  I was late back to the room at 5:30 p.m.  and we went to dinner at Don Cuco's in Burbank.  Bleh.  We were back to the hotel by 7:30 p.m.  

*  In the room, I finished up the Genealogy News Bytes - 31 May 2019 post and wrote this post.  Still have more to do tonight.  

So I went to three of the seven scheduled presentation times and was able to make useful contacts in the exhibit hall.  In addition, I met several Genea-Musings readers and briefly talked to a number of friends in the hallways, eating area, and exhibit hall (including Andy and Devon Lee, Diane Hall, Debbie Warner, Pam Paxton, Blaine Bettinger, Denise Levenick, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, Michael Lacopo, Peggy Lauritzen, and Judy Russell).


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Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

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2 comments:

Marian B. Wood said...

Your recap is much appreciated, since I'm #NotAtSCGS2019. Looking forward to more of your posts as the conference progresses.

Linda Stufflebean said...

Wish I was there, too. Sounds like you are making good use of your time. Thanks for the recap. :)