Jamboree 2011: Education, technology and fun
The Southern California Genealogical Society’s annual Jamboree is one of the best-run large regional events in the United States. MyHeritage chief genealogist Daniel Horowitz and myself again attended and presented at this year's conference, held June 10-12, 2011, in Burbank, California.
Conference co-chairs Paula Hinkle and Leo Myers, in addition to their large team of volunteers, always make this an excellent experience.
Some highlights:
Some 70 genealogy bloggers – a record number at any gen conference - blogged, tweeted and Facebooked throughout the event, as well as participating in social events, including an ice cream party and a piñata smashing, among others.
There are many good sports among this friendly group whose conference get-togethers are like a family reunion. A blogger media island enabled the bloggers to continuously tweet and Facebook over the three-day event.
More seriously, there were outstanding sessions to attend, ranging from breakfasts to evening dinners and everything in between. Among those attended by Daniel and myself were:
- A free Kids' Camp attended by many young people, including Boy and Girl Scouts.
- World table discussion, where Daniel and I headed the Jewish table at two sessions, answered questions and directed visitors to many resources for their individual quests.
- An informative breakfast presentation on using social media for societies by Thomas MacEntee, and
- A full-day family history writers conference.
Read on for more details.
Continue reading "Jamboree 2011: Education, technology and fun" »
Back to the US
I’m heading back to the US for the largest West Coast genealogy conference - and the largest number ever of participating genealogy bloggers (70) – at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree 2011.
I just finished a short visit home after a long trip covering the East Coast. Here are some highlights of that trip.
At the end of March, I ran the MyHeritage.com booth at the Ohio Genealogical Society regional conference in Columbus. I reunited with old friends and colleagues, met new friends and also gave some lectures for local genealogy groups in Dayton and Cleveland.
The New England Regional Conference - in Springfield, Massachusetts – was next. I tried to find the Simpson family, but it seems it was the wrong Springfield. There were some very interesting lectures and the opportunity to work on my personal research with a lecture about genealogy repositories in Romania and Ukraine. A later conversation with the speakers discovered some previously unknown resources.
David Ferriero and MyHeritage Chief Genealogist Daniel Horowitz
Continue reading "Back to the US" »
A look back at this summer
Geneabloggers collect Jamboree ribbons!
Now that I'm back to my normal routine, I'm trying to review the great experiences from this summer.
Great times included four conferences in California, Washington State and Texas; visiting dear friends and family members; and meeting several relatives for the first time as we shared family history.
At all the conferences, I helped explain what we do at MyHeritage.com and how our tools and features make it easy for families to connect and communicate no matter where they live.
My suitcase now includes several new T-shirts from this year's events and some for 2011 events.
Here are some highlights:
Jamboree 2010
Some 50 geneabloggers attended the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree this year.
Some spoke on various topics, some participated in blogging panels, others just enjoyed the conference and meeting their readers. Continue reading "A look back at this summer" »
Make someone happy: Talk tradition
During this year's round of conferences and travel, I've been reminded more than once that creating contacts, asking questions and talking traditions can produce clues to our family history.
After reconnecting with someone whom I knew in California and who was now in New Jersey, I realized her husband's family's long connection to a small community, now a suburb of a larger city, in that Eastern state. My own family had a long-ago connection to the same community when it was much, much smaller, and more rural.
My great-grandmother's sister and her husband had settled in that small town soon after they arrived in 1905, although my great-grandmother and her family lived in nearby big-city Newark.
I took a chance and asked if the woman's husband, whose family had lived there from the early 1900s, possibly had known my relatives. It was very exciting to learn that my great-grandmother's sister had been the husband's babysitter! Continue reading "Make someone happy: Talk tradition" »
Family legends: Shaking the tree
Genealogy conferences present opportunities to learn more about topics with which we are familiar, as well as new, not yet investigated subjects.
The recently concluded Southern California Genealogical Society's 41st Jamboree presented numerous such sessions.
Sometimes there are sessions at which the proverbial lightbulb switches on. Such essential knowledge is transmitted that the participants then find it difficut to look at their own individual family histories in quite the same way as before.
All of us have family stories that might be termed myths. How can we determine whether a story may be fact or fiction?
A fascinating session on just this topic was given by Jean Wilcox Hibben. With a PhD in folkore, an MA in speech communication, and a Certified Genealogist, Jean is president of both the Corona (California) Genealogical Society and the Southern California chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Genealogical Speakers Guild secretary and much more.
"Shaking the Myth: Proving and Disproving Family Legends" demonstrated the challenges faced by genealogists and family historians. Continue reading "Family legends: Shaking the tree" »
Jamboree 2010: Exciting!
Exhilarating, exciting and stimulating are the most descriptive terms for Jamboree 2010 - the 41st annual Southern California Genealogical Society's conference.
Some of the 50 attending geneabloggers at Jamboree 2010
This is the fourth time I've attended this conference - the largest regional genealogy conference in the US - and each year it gets better and better. The planning committee, led by Paula Hinkel and Leo Myers, does a really excellent job.
The networking has been non-stop with some 50 geneabloggers Facebooking and Tweeting about the great speakers and programs.
Daniel Horowitz, our MyHeritage genealogy and translation manager, presented several very well-received programs on various aspects of our features - one session had more than 100 attendees, while another was standing-room-only.
I participated on the advanced bloggers' panel and also provided a session on creating a DNA project (how to set goals, objectives, letting people know about it, persuading them to participate, etc.).
From left: Thomas MacEntee, Craig Manson, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Lisa Louise Cooke, Kathryn Doyle.
Between attending presentations, networking with my colleagues and assisting at the busy MyHeritage booth, it has been a very busy conference. We've been giving out orange family tree hugger ribbons and chocolate kisses - "hugs and kisses." It's great to see so many people with the orange labels on their conference badges.
Many visitors have been dropping by. On Saturday, Chris Haley, nephew of Alex Haley, author of "Roots" came by and spent some time with us.
I have notes on many sessions and will be organizing and posting them over the next few days.
We're already looking forward to next year's edition!
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