Wednesday, May 23, 2012

NGS in Ohio

Never fly to Ohio with your arm in a sling. That is my best advice when you are planning to go to a conference.
Now that we have that covered...
I have some other advice. 

Pack light, you're going to want to bring home all kinds of goodies. The vendor hall at NGS - Ohio was wonderful. Nice wide aisles and lots of great vendors. Books, Books, Books. Organizations to join or support, Classes to sign up for, Genealogy societies to join. Ancestry was there of course as was FamilySearch. 

I had a great time if you can discount the sling thing.

I attended many great classes, not the least of which was a class on Research Reports by Elizabeth Shown Mills. I also attended a class on Paleography and one on Irish research, that were both excellent.

I met up with old friends, some of which I had not seen since the last NGS conference. Others are conference junkies like me and we caught up on what's been going on in our lives for the last few months. I also met up with a gal that I had not seen since we attended the NGS Research Trip to Utah. Then there were the bloggers. Friends that I know mostly online. We gathered almost every night and laughed and got to know each other. Some I felt like I had known forever.

I was introduced to new friends. Some of them were friends of my Blogger friends, some of them were Bloggers I had not met in person before, and some were genealogists I had met before but never got to REALLY KNOW before. 

I had a great room mate. I've spoke of her before, Techie Tutor (Tami Glatz in real life). Tami was so busy working at the Wiki booth I hardly saw her and her Techie Tutor time was severely limited. We did sneak in a short lesson one evening. 

I got some new leads on some upcoming projects. But I won't be attempting anything until the CG is mailed away. (Not for at least another 6 months.)

I networked with great genealogists.

I laughed a lot. I ate a lot. 

I worked at the APG booth. I feel it is important that when you join a group or organization you don't just join and sit like a bump on a log. Get involved. This year not only did I work the booth as I do at almost every conference, but I "participated" in APG (Association of Professional Genealogists) by holding the position of President of the Second Life Chapter. (A chapter of APG in virtual reality)

I accepted an award. As mentioned above I am serving as the President of the Second Life Chapter of APG and this year we were the recipients of the Golden Chapter Award. This was quite the honor, and everyone who worked so hard to put the chapter together and get it off the ground as well as those of us who serve on the present board were absolutely floored and delighted to receive the award. 

All in all I packed a whole lot of stuff into four or five days.
Next up is Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree

2 comments:

  1. It was great to meet you Kim! I can't imagine the challenge of traveling with your arm in that sling. You are a brave woman! Glad you made it home safe and sound.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was great seeing you again at NGS, Kim, and congrats on winning the Golden Chapter Award! How was it that I didn't get a single picture of you with your arm in a sling to remember this time by? It was a fun conference and I'm glad you came, despite the handicap. Enjoy yourself at Jamboree--one of these years I hope to make it there, too!

    ReplyDelete