Friday, June 7, 2013

Jamboree 2013

This weekend is the 44th annual Jamboree genealogical conference in Burbank, California. It's hosted by the Southern California Genealogical Society. Several notable speakers are on board--Judy Russell, John Phillip Colletta, Lisa Louise Cooke (Genealogy Gems podcast), Lisa Alzo, Cyndi Ingle Howells (Cyndi's List), Thomas MacEntee, and many more.

What I love about the Jamboree is two-fold: first, it's close to home.  Located in the city of Burbank, and surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, it's close to home for me. That means no airfare, no hotel stays needed. Just a twenty minute drive from home. Secondly, I hooked up with six of my fellow colleagues from the Pro Gen study group for lunch on Friday. One of the ladies is already a graduate  (from the Pro Gen 8 group), two of us are from the Pro Gen 15, one from Pro Gen 16 and one from Pro Gen 19.  The other two are budding genealogists. Even though most of us had only met for the first time today and we are from different study groups, it felt like lunch with long-time friends. What a great feeling.

I know I've mention the Pro Gen group before in previous blogs, but I cannot praise enough the experience I've had.  It's a  serious 19-month commitment, but it's worth it. Here's the link to the home page: http://progenstudy.org/

Back to the Jamboree: if you can make it for the Saturday and Sunday sessions, here's the website: http://genealogyjamboree.org/.  If not, maybe I'll see you next year?

Saturday, June 1, 2013

SLIG registration

Registration of the 2014 Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) is opened just over an hour ago. One of the course tracks--Advanced Genealogical Methods (track #9)--is already sold out!  It was rumored that this course would sell out in 10 minutes, and the rumor came true.  Yours truly signed in at the top of the hour (9 am, mountain time) and succeeded in enrolling in the track.  There is a waiting list for the track, and I suspect that the waiting list will also fill quickly. In fact, as of 10:20 mountain time, J. Mark Lowe's class has only 4 seats left.

However, there are other tracks still wide open and all are recommended. What makes SLIG so great is the organizers--the Utah Genealogical Association--do bring in the top talent in the genealogy world. Among the stellar speakers include Thomas Jones (he's track 9!), Paula Stuart-Warren, J. Mark Lowe, Richard and Pamela Sayre, John Phillip Colletta, Kory Meyerink, Kimberly Powell, Angela McGhie and Elissa Scalise Powell.

More information can be found at the Utah Genealogical Association's website, at  http://www.infouga.org/cpage.php?pt=42

Have a great weekend!!