Learning New Tricks

First before I get to the title, let me apologize for not posting the last two weeks.  Sorry!  Now to the title "Learning New Tricks" I have spent the last two weekends going to genealogy conferences.

The first was one put on by the Midwest Genealogy Library and Ancestry.com called Ancestry Day.  While the conference was a few days long I was only able to attend Saturday.   I was very glad I attended this conference.  The main focus of the gathering as I saw it was two things; one how to use Ancestry.com, and two how to use the Midwest Genealogy Center.  This was great, while I consider myself a Digital Genealogist, genealogy didn't evolve as fast a technology has and I often have to go "old school" and visit the library.  Truthfully this is usually very intimidating as there is huge amount of information at the MGC.  That's is where the conference really started making my light go off.  Their wonderful staff and volunteers gave presentations that helped create new idea's and guidance of where to look and find new discoveries that I hope to share with you all down the road.

The second conference was a wonderful idea by the new LDS church where they simulcast the Roots Tech Conference in Salt Lake City, UT with their own spin on things call Genealogy KC.  It was amazing, first and foremost I got to share my time at this conference with my Mom.  The second thing I loved was this conference was simulcast they also had classes going on at the same time with a wide variety of subjects.  The classes I attended where; Reading Cemetery Stones, the BSA Genealogy Merit Badge, Burial Customs, Analyzing Land Records, Revolutionary War Research, Cemetery Art, Blogging Family History, and the Future of Genealogy.  Each class was very intimate as most classes only had a dozen attendees.  This gave each of the speakers time to brief but also to get Q&A from the audience.

After the Genealogy KC conference I was able to talk with a Program Director and hopefully next year I will be able to participate as a Instructor at this conference.  I think with what I do with Google Earth and Genealogy,  I can help those with brick wall look from a different angle and help to inspire younger genealogist get involved in family history with this visual tool.

I can't wait to put everything I learned into action.  Thank you to all the staff and volunteers that helped put these conferences together and thanks for the opportunity to meet new friends and learn new tricks.  I look forward to see what you guys are able to put on next year.