6 June 2014, SCGS Jamboree, day 1

The first free session I went to was "10 Tips for Finding Newsletter Content" by Gena Philibert-Ortega. Gena comes to our local society, Ventura County Genealogical Society each July and does a mini seminar for us (http://venturacogensoc.org) so I know her talk would be worth my time. I'm not our newsletter editor but I picked up some terrific tips from her about writing articles for our newsletter.

The next session I went to was "Making the Case: Change and Technology in Your Society" by Randy Whited. I've heard Randy talk before too. He use to host the Blog Talk Radio podcast, My Society. He explained the changes that the Texas State Genealogical Society made in the way they conducted their society business.  

So many sessions to choose from, oh my! I finally settled on an old favorite of mine, Thomas MacEntee "Genealogy Cloud Computing." He did not let me down. He's always prepared, always has great handouts, he's knowledgeable and even funny. I always try and get at least one of his classes when he's on the roster.

2:30 p.m. session I chose "Evernote for Genealogists," with Jordan Jones. I was sitting about two rows back from one of the projection screens. I sometimes found it hard to hear Mr. Jones.

4:00 p.m. session was with another all-star speaker, Paula Stuart-Warren, "Manuscript Finding Aids: Locating Migrating Family Records." Ms Stuart-Warren doesn't disappoint, she really knows her stuff! I didn't have her handout printed out in advance but I downloaded it onto my tablet so was able to follow along.

I probably shouldn't have gone to my last session at 5:30 p.m. I was tired, kept watching the clock because the session was going to end at 6:30 and the banquet was starting at 7:30 p.m. Wouldn't give me much time to dash back up to my room, change my clothes and then get in line for dinner. But I went anyway because it was Rhonda McClure, "Following the Crumbs: Tracing Family through Land Records." In my mother's paternal line our ancestors were farmers. I want to start researching Wisconsin land records. I liked her talk and handout; I'll probably refer to it often.

Copyright, 2014, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott