Oh my goodness! I am absolutely LOVING this conference. But, I am EXHAUSTED. My brain is fried by 3pm it seems and there is still a speaker to go by that point!
One thing that I have really enjoyed is getting to know all the other genealogists that I can. It’s been great that when someone asks me how I got into genealogy and I start with “well it all started in a cemetery…” that there are no strange looks, just enthusiastic nods. It’s lovely! I get asked that question a lot actually because I’ve been told I’m one of the youngest people here and that question normally follows. To be honest, I’ve loved family history for longer than the cemetery story, that was just when I started researching, 10 years ago (so early 20’s). Funny, when I ask the same question to them, I am told that they started in their early 20’s too so it shouldn’t be surprising to see someone in their early 30’s at the conference 🙂
There are several ways to go about the sessions at the conference. You can just pick and choose classes you want or you can follow a track. Since I plan on getting certified through the BCG, I am following the BCG track. This has led me to some amazing speakers! I got to hear Tom Jones yesterday and Elizabeth Shown Mills today. I’ve heard Elizabeth Shown Mills jokingly (with admiration) referred to as Queen Elizabeth as 1) she has a great sense of style and 2) she is like royalty among genealogists. She is an amazing speaker by the way and I thoroughly enjoyed her session.
I have learned A LOT during this conference already and I can’t wait to go home and try out some new ways to look at my documents to get through brick walls. I hope to be able to do some great new things with my records that I’ll be able to talk about on here and maybe even write my own article (which makes me very nervous to think about, but I do want to do that one day) and write my own lecture! The BCG track also held a great seminar today about the certification process. I feel much better about going through the process after going to that session. I’m not “on the clock” yet but I hope to be by next year. That’ll probably happen after I take the Pro Gen class.
One thing I wish I had done before I came was make business cards! I read about making sure you have these in the conference material before I came but thought I would be fine. I was wrong. Today I went to the first-timer’s breakfast where the point was to network and ask questions. I got several cards today and had to write my information down. Not the best idea so I will be sure to have cards the next time I come.
Some goodies from the conference!
Any plans for any of you to attend an NGS conference or have you in the past?