Good Classes at Midwest Family History Expo in KC

http://www.fhexpos.com/

"Establishing Your Own Migration Trail" by Michael John Neill of Casefile Clue (if you haven't read his cases, get a sample free!) fame was a class I was really looking forward to attending. He is so analytical and provided some really useful thoughts on migration patterns and how to research them. It was well worth attending! Thank you, Michael John!  ;-)

Thomas MacEnfee, our GeneaBloggers leader, was teaching a class on Genealogy Blogs - how appropriate!

Laura Best, CEO of EchoRoad, gave a neat presentation on researching ancestor occupations - a subject that really interests me. She had many very good suggestions. How about that Furniture Mover on the screen behind her!

Here is Laura, a little later, working in her EchoRoad company exhibit. There were some busy folks among the presenters and exhibitors... more on that in a bit!

Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D, President of The Genealogical Institute, was another that moved regularly from the exhibit booth, to presenter, and back. She was one of the first familiar faces I saw on Friday!

Later, here she is, lecturing to a large group on Southern Genealogy:

She stayed after, as most presenters would, to answer questions from her 'students.'

Sometime later, she was back a the Institute exhibit, answering more questions.

This exhibit was right across from the Beacon of Bloggers 'lounge' in the exhibit area. One more big THANK YOU to Holly Hanson and her staff of the Midwest Family History Expo for a great couple of days - and her fine support and encouragement for our work!

I didn't get to meet all of the Bloggers, but here is one more I did see: Bart Brenner. Neat!

A couple of 'cleanup' shots - here was the registration desk:

And the Family History Expo 'prize drawing' exhibit area - we also put our evaluation cards in the drum - sneaky way to get a lot more evaluation forms! Good for them!!

I will have a bunch more exhibitor photos on Sunday; and, more on the Midwest Genealogy Center presentation - and their new website - on Monday.

Finally, as I was leaving, a nice photo of our facilities - Holiday Inn and KCI Expo Center! THANKS!

Families are Forever!  ;-)

More Exhibitors at the Midwest Family History Expo in KC

Biff Barnes was kept business at the Stories to Tell booth:

Family Search seemed to always be busy:

RootsMagic folks received many questions:

The ladies at the Mid-Continent Public Library responding to patrons questions:

AGES online had a busy exhibit as well:

More later...  ;-)


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Early classes and exhibits visited on Friday

At the Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City

My first class today was "Taking Your Photos from the Shoebox to the Digital Ear" with Tom Underhill of Limited Edition Publishers and Publisher, senior designer and author of nine books at Creative Continuum.

Tom provided much useful information on scanners and using Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements) for creating better photos for your genealogy and family history projects. I was pleased to be able to get a copy of his book, "Make your photos really ZING!" I want to use my PhotoShop software more effectively. I think this will really help me.

At the Beacon for Bloggers exhibit, we exchanged taking photos of each other. Here, Susan Petersen to a photo of Jenna Mills and me.

Then, I took a photo of Diana Ritchie

Then, Diana took a photo of Susan and I:

My next class was "Family History Books: Editing, Design and Publishing," with Nancy and Biff Barnes of "Stories to Tell," editors specializing in creating family history stories and memoirs. They made a fine presentation highlighting the elements each of us should consider in order to move our "idea" of preparing a family history book to "a published work." Many good ideas to consider.

During the break, I visited some of the other exhibits; here RootsMagic was doing a demo:

and, I visited with the ladies from the Jackson County Genealogical Society.

The next class was "Family Search's Research Wiki, Forums & Blogs," with Tom Peterson from Family Search.

I was especially interested to learn how the Research Wiki worked. I came away with good ideas, and also inspired to possibly helping out sometime with indexing and some other Community Projects that he stressed during his presentation.

A final note for this post: at lunch at the KCI Expo Center, I enjoyed seeing the TWA Museum exhibit; here is one piece of it:

I'll share some more observations on the Midwest Family History Expo tomorrow.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Midwest Family History Expo Underway

Lori Cox-Paul, Dirctor of the Kansas City Branch of the National Archives, got the Expo off to an excellent start giving the Keynote Address to several hundred persons in attendance early Friday morning.

Thomas MacEntee, of GeneaBloggers, along with Lisa Ann Alzo, The Accidental Genealogist, got the Beacon of Bloggers exhibit going in fine fashion.

Off to classes. More to follow.


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Follow Friday - 30 Jul 2010

 

Follow Friday - 30 Jul 2010

My recommendations this week. As usual, I normally pick a good post from my week's readings, or left from the prior week! Hope they are useful or at least interesting to you, as well! If it is your first visit, even better!  ;-)

POST 1:

This week I am recommending the post: "Resource: Atlas of Historical County Boundaries" at the Illinois State Genealogical Society Blot.

Thanks to Jen at Family History Research for bringing it to my attention!


POST 2:

Research and preservation tips from Sassy Jane:
http://sassyjanegenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/07/wisdom-wednesday-five-simple-things-you.html




Families are Forever!  ;-)

Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City started Friday

I have arrived in Kansas City for the Midwest Family History Expo, ready to get to bed early and be registered and ready for the 8 a.m. Keynote Speaker, Lori Cox-Paul on the National Archives in Kansas City.

For detailed information, go to: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e2tsp645bd0ef395

The Bloggers attending will gather briefly in the Exhibit Hall after the Keynote to coordinate their planners. We are each looking forward to a great Expo, here in Kansas City!


Families are Forever!  ;-)

Treasure Chest Thursday - Neighbor's passing remembered

Lester Rex LeNeve

24 Sep 1923 - 25 May 2010

[We missed the memorial service the family held while we were in Utah. Rex was our next door neighbor, here in Hollister, and a dear friend for 10 years. We miss him a lot!]

Families are Forever!  ;-) 

Neighbors can sometimes feel like family, as well.  ;-)