SCGS 2015 Jamboree – Day 4

Today’s the last day at Jamboree, heading home after my last class. I’ve enjoyed each and every moment of the past four days. I got to see old friends and make new ones too. I’ll be watching my email for a notice of when 2016 Jamboree registration opens!

Here’s the classes I attended today:

8:30 am to 9:30 am – Michael Booth – Personal Historian 2: Bring Life to Your Life Stories

10:00 am to 11:00 am – Crista Cowan – Getting Even More out of Your Ancestry.com

       Subscription

1:00 to 2:00 pm – Anita Paul – Who, What, When, Where? Using Journalism Techniques to

       Write Your Story

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm – Dr. Michael Lacopo – Incorporating Social History into Your Genealogical Research

©2015, copyright, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott. All rights reserved.

SCGS 2015 Jamboree – Day 3

The Ventura County (California) Genealogical Society, which I’m a member, brought new and used books to sell today at Jamboree. We usually get one small table in the foyer and hope for the best. Yesterday, a SCGS committee member asked if we would like to move into the Exhibit Hall on Saturday. They had an unexpected vacancy and asked us to fill it. We jumped at the opportunity to have four long tables and a prominent place in the Exhibit Hall!

I volunteered to help out with setting up the tables so I had to get to the Exhibit Hall by 7:30 am; the Hall opened at 8:00 sharp. I wrote up books titles on the sales slip, took money, made change, and helped where needed. There were several members helping so I was able to attend several classes throughout the day. Here’s the classes I attended:

10:00 am to 11:00 am – Michael Brophy – Irish Genealogy

2:00 to 3:00 pm – Jean Wilcox Hibben – America: Land of the Farm, Home of the Plow

      My German line were farmers, thought this would be a good class for me. Was not expecting a
      mini singing concert from her.

3:30 pm to 4:30 pm – Mark Olsen – Learn How to Discover New Ancestors Using Magic From MyHeritage

      My family tree is planted at MyHeritage.

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm – Rhonda R McClure – City & Rural Directories; More than Just Names

      I’m going to look for Farmer Directories for my rural ancestors.

A long day today but had fun and spent quality time with friends and helped my society!

©2015, copyright, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott. All rights reserved.

SCGS 2015 Jamboree – Day 2

Since I’m staying at a hotel close to the convention center, I didn’t have to hop out of bed as early as I did yesterday from home. Last night I updated My Schedule on the SCGS Conference App and chose some interesting classes. Here’s what my line up looks like, subject to change.

I have a conflict with some morning classes. I’ve hear all three excellent speakers in the past so it’s going to be tough to choose.

9:45 am to 10:45 am - Thomas MacEntee – Creating a Community Indexing Project

Or
10:00 am to 12:00 pm - Jean Wilcox Hibben – Society Support & Share Open Forum
Or
11:00 am to 12:00 pm - Drew Smith – Crowdsourcing Your Brick Walls

EXHIBIT HALL opens yay!

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm – Michael Brophy – Paddy on the Net: Irish Genealogy Databases

     I don’t have Irish ancestry but I’m helping a friend of mine with her maternal line. Since I haven’t done any Irish research before I’m going to start at the beginning.

2:30 to 3:30 pm – Michael D. Locapo – Methods for Identifying the German Origins of American Immigrants

     German is my mother’s paternal line.

4:00 pm to 5:00 pm – Cindi Ingle - Time lines: The Straight Line Between You and Your Ancestor

Another conflict:

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm – Michael D. Lacopo – Finding and Utilizing German Church Records
Or
Thomas MacEntee – Genealogy Do-Over – A Year of Learning from Research Mistakes
      I’ve been following the Do-Over on Facebook and plan on jumping into the next round when it starts over on July 3.

Well that's it for today. Going to be a long day, but looking forward to it!

©2015, copyright, Gayle Ficarra Wolcott

SCGS 2015 Jamboree – Day 1

I’m in Burbank, CA for the annual Jamboree put on each year by Southern California Genealogical Society. I’ve been a member for several years and try not to miss this national conference which is “in my neighborhood.” No airport, TSA screening, tight seats and recirculating air. I do like to have a hotel room for the duration of the conference because I hate driving 50 minutes to over an hour each way, each day from home.

I attended an all-day workshop titled “Creating a Digital Genealogy Scrapbook” by Barb Groth.

We needed to bring our laptop as the process could not be completed on a smart phone or a tablet.

Ms. Groth sent an email with instructions what to have ready before we came to class. We should have some (not necessarily all) of the following information saved to our desktop in a single folder:

·         Family photos – each should be a minimum of 300 dpi

·         Documents, such as census records, church records, naturalization, military, newspaper articles, etc.

·         Scanned memorabilia – medals, etc.

·         Maps or photos of places and/or locations your family came from or resided in

·         A few Word document with brief typed information about the family or person you are including in the album

We downloaded the free demo version of the software program “ScrapRoom.” http://scraproomsoftware.com/purchase.html  (Scroll down until you see the free demo version.)

We also downloaded free templates and elements to use in the program at http://www.simplyyin.blogspot.com/   (Scroll all the way down the page until you see: Mye De Leon FREE Demo Kit.)

She recommended to watch any scrapbook tutorials on YouTube.com and just have fun! Use Google to look for other free design layouts for scrapbooking.

Ms. Groth discussed the organization of photos, elements and documents on our computer, the ScrapRoom Software and its components, and the organization of the album. We began to design and develop the actual pages of the album. I wasn’t able to complete the album in class. We were learning the techniques, but felt confident I’d be able to complete the album on my own. We could also purchase the Guide that’s been written to help assist with step by step directions. I’ll probably pick it up in the Exhibit Hall tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to completing my album at home.

©2015, copyright Gayle Ficarra Wolcott. All rights reserved.