The FGS Conference Blog & Baseball

In the last few weeks, some important conference news has been posted on the FGS Conference Blog. This is place to keep updated on conference events, news, special details, speakers, vendors, tourism, and just about everything else. View the blog here. Watch the blog for some upcoming exciting news on door prizes, special events, and words from some of the speakers sharing more details about their lectures. In case you didn't know, the lectures at FGS conferences are educational in nature, filled with visual examples, accompanied by syllabus material, and are not avenues for selling products or services. That is saved for the Exhibit Hall. You do get your money's worth of education in four days.

The Arkansas Genealogical Society is the local host and will be sharing more details about the Thursday evening"Arkansas Night at the Ballpark," the food for that night, the entertainment, the door prizes, and of course, the Arkansas Travelers baseball game. All that for only $15.00 per person. The genealogy discussions that evening are free! It is easy to sign up for this event when you register for the conference.

Have you attended a FGS Conference?

I am looking for some human interest stories to use in publicizing the September 2-5, 2009 Federation of Genealogical Societies and Arkansas Genealogical Conference. I need names and contact info for stories related to attending a FGS conferences. The areas I am hoping for are these and others that you might have to share:

a. a great research find because of what was learned at a conference
b. someone convinced to venture out to libraries and not do just online research
c. a person finding a possible relative at the conference
d. great friendships evolving due to conference attendance
e. breaking through a brick wall because of conference attendance
f. chance meeting at a booth in the vendor hall
g. learning a lot about a research facility just by talking with someone at a luncheon

The name of the person submitting the story would be used in the PR as will their city and state.

Thanks,

Paula

My October Arkansas Trip

Though the trip was a business one, I did save a couple days for personal genealogy and visiting friends. I stopped in Clarksville and Ozone, Arkansas for a short while. My late father-in-law was born a bit south of Clarksville, in Jamestown.

Things have changed, but I still recognized important places. Being there always reminds me of the summer we tent camped on the Arkansas River and the humidity and the cicadas kept us awake. Lesson learned: do not go camping in a nylon tent in Arkansas in August. When the relatives in Fort Smith offered a couple of air conditioned rooms we jumped at the opportunity. LOL.

The drive north through the town of Ozone was quite different. A lot of home have been built along the road. I drove north to Branson but driving through the Ozarks did not bring the oohs and ahs of beautiful fall colors -- the leaves were just beginning to turn. Still, the awesome beauty and fresh air of the Ozarks was there on a sunny day as I drove with my windows open.

A great week in Arkansas

I am writing this from Little Rock, Arkansas while attending the Arkansas Genealogical Society’s Seminar. Yes, attending and not speaking. Last night, Carolyn Earle Billingsley, PhD. presented two thought provoking lectures and today Sharon Tate Moody, CG, presented a full day of lectures related to legal research. Tonight my mind is whirling from all the wonderful and clearly presented information from these two women. My other purpose for being in Little Rock was to attend meetings related to a genealogical conference.

In 2009 (September 2-5), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) annual conference will be hosted by the Arkansas Genealogical Society (AGS) in Little Rock. This past week several of the national level committee chairs from FGS for that conference had a joint meeting with AGS representatives as well as Arkansas, Little Rock, and North Little Rock representatives with historical connections. It was a comfortable meeting (of course, very businesslike ) but we had some fun too. I felt that we all were "on the same page" and I felt very welcome. We also were privileged to tour the great host hotel and the convention center.

Of course I explained to the local group why a Minnesotan made sense as a National Publicity Co-Chair for the 2009 conference – my late father-in-law was born in Arkansas and once that genealogy bug hit, our family made multiple trips to beautiful Arkansas. Tomorrow I will visit Johnson County where he was born. The next trip to Arkansas will be less sightseeing and more family research for my children and grandchildren.

Do put the Arkansas dates on your calendar BUT before that be sure to plan for the 2008 FGS Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 3-6. Keep watching the website for that conference and the conference blog for the evolving details of the 2008 event. As I said in a previous post on this blog, some unique aspects are being planned for the Philadelphia conference.