Monday, November 17, 2008

Report from the Mesa Family History Expo

I'm back. We have been partying again. I so love conferences. I brought you some pictures this time.


I caravaned down to Mesa with Dear Myrtle and Janene Morgan of Family History Expos. Myrt and I were so excited to see 1.99 gas in Panguitch we stopped to take a picture. I thought I would never see that again in my life. Hopefully Panguitch can be an example to the rest of the world huh? Myrt and Janene are great Caravan partners and we had a great time even though it was a long drive. Myrt bought a GPS system while we were down there and we all had a good laugh yesterday while she was telling us about how testy it was on the way home. The lady apparently gets louder and yells at her when she isn't obedient about turning left. You'll have to ask her about it.


We got everything started for Kimberly Savage's baby shower. Do you like the invitations I did? We are all about getting things out where you can see them :-). We are so excited for her. So we did posters announcing the new blog: http://www.babyshowerforkim.blogspot.com/. How else would you expect us to do it? You can find all the information there about where and when and the virtual webcast of it all. It sounds like the "reality" shower is going to be held at the Family History Library in Salt Lake. That would be an appropriate place.


The weather was gorgeous. It is so hard to come home. I can see why people retire to Arizona.
The people at this conference were especially warm and appreciative. I think we have found a wonderful place for a conference every winter. There were lots of people very excited to have us there. You can see the opening session was outside and we had a great crowd. How nice it is to be somewhere where you could plan a gathering for November outside and know it was going to be comfortable. Of course I'm hoping they don't ever plan anything for Mesa in July or August. :-)




I ran around like a one-armed Wallpaper hanger all through the conference. This one was an exciting one for me. If you read my blog, you know how I get along with our printers. Kim didn't come to this conference and my relationship with this plotter held true. I did manage to print everything I needed to, but there was alot of electronic manipulating going on. My lecture on Monday was preceded by a discovery that my powerpoint slides were MIA about an hour before the time slot, and the line at the booth was so long I was almost late to my lecture on Saturday. Lots of things to keep my heart rate up since the hotel didn't have a gym this time. Next time I think I'll just go for the gym--and make sure I bring our printing Guru. (Although--don't tell him--but I think I learned enough that I could pull the printing off easier next time. I'm actually getting pretty good at it.)

There was a great payoff for me when one person at the conference ordered a chart for his Mother Friday and then brought her in and surprised her with it on Saturday. She was so excited. And we had several wonderful people who were so appreciative. One man said that he was glad I wasn't charging according to how satisfied he was or he would really have to pay alot. I know we helped several people get their information out where they could hang it up on the wall and write in research ideas and findings. And I know we got several databases out and on the wall for upcoming family reunions where they could have family members write on the chart and add information that they needed to collect. And another great payoff this time was getting to meet some fun fellow bloggers. Kathryn Lake Hogan of http://www.looking4ancestors.com/ and Coleen McHugh of http://omchorations.blogspot.com/. I also got to meet Annaleise Taylor Dearinger and many other friends from facebook. It is so fun to get to know people you know online. And of course it is great to see all of our dear old friends that we get to see at all the conferences. We really enjoy the people we get to work with.

And Myrt made sure everyone got a chance to tie the cute quilt she brought for Kimberly. She even had some of the guys helping--it is really only a square knot from scouts right? And could we have matched everything any better? I think a fun time was had by all. (Except maybe my Mother who I brought to be able to go to classes but only got to one because she was drafted to help at the booth.--She says she had a good time though.) So go check out http://www.babyshowerforkim.blogspot.com/ and plan on coming to the next party.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Message from Family History Expos--Learn the tech to trace your roots.

Learn the tech to trace your roots!
A message from Generation Maps and Family History Expos:

As a sponsor of the Mesa Arizona Family History Expo on Nov. 14-15, Generation Maps has made special arrangements with Family History Expos to extend their pre-registration for our loyal readers, until Nov. 7th at 10 AM MST. We urge you to take advantage of this special by registering at: http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43. This is an opportunity to participate in more than 112 classes from learning about Computer File Management for Genealogists to finding your long lost Irish ancestor.

The EXPO will offer exciting presenters and exhibitors from all over the World. Here are a few of the highlights:
  • Don R. Anderson will be presenting in the opening session. Don Anderson is the Senior Vice President of services for FamilySearch as well as FamilySearch Worldwide Support. In his role for FamilySearch, Don has traveled to more than 27 countries on five continents to ensure that services are available to those around the world searching for their ancestors.
  • Beau Sharbrough is the Friday evening dinner speaker. Beau will share his talents by taking us on a musical journey in finding our roots. Footnote.com, as the Banquet Sponsor will be giving each attendee a free one month subscription to Footnote.com. You will enjoy this awesome website and all the documents provided to help you discover more about your family history.
  • Professional Instructors will help you learn what you need to get off and running with your family history research. Enjoy classes like How Charting can further research, How to Find Where to Look, Immigration and Emigration Records on Ancestry.com, DNA Ancestry, Rootsweb: How can this community site assist you in your Family History Research?, Saving the World’s History one record at a time: World Archives Project, Finding your UK Ancestors, U.S. Census and Voter Lists, Mapping Your Family History with Family Atlas, FamilySearch Family Tree, Internet Research Magic… the Future of Family History, You will never look at your old photos the same way again and more!
  • Vendors and Exhibitors in the Exhibit Hall include Generation Maps, DearMyrtle, Ages-Online, Ancestry, Family Tree Magazine, RootsMagic, FamilySearch, FamilyLink, Genealogy Gems Podcast, Legacy Family Tree, Ohana Software, Rootstamps, Family History Expos, LifeStory Productions, Footnote, Creative Continuum and the list goes on.
  • Prizes from the vendors and advertisers offer some really great gifts to registered attendees, from a one week retreat at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City with a professional researcher for guidance, to software, books, t-shirts and more.
Come and participate in this unique opportunity to learn, have fun, meet new people, and get motivated to do more than ever before with your family history. This is an unprecedented bargain for only $75.00, and the benefits are priceless! Share this message with your family, friends, and neighbors through cyberspace so everyone can have an opportunity to participate in the Mesa Family History Expo. They will thank you for helping them discover their family history. We appreciate you!

Stop by our booth to learn about Generation Maps.

Discover and preserve your heritage!
Join us in Mesa, Arizona at theFamily History Expo Nov. 14-15, 2008
Visit http://www.fhexpos.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43 for further information
801.829.3295
Copyright © 2008 Family History Expos