People often think that genealogy conferences are unnecessary because there are so many other learning opportunities available. There are webinars, podcasts, genealogy blogs and, it seems, endless ways to learn just by searching the internet.
Yes, those are excellent learning opportunities, but there are advantages in attending a conference that are unique and not available “on line”.
Develop Your Skills
Do you have a brick wall that you can’t climb or an ancestor that stubbornly remains hidden no matter how hard you look? Do you need to learn more about effectively researching?
Get Inspired
In a conference, you are sitting with the like-minded people. They all are here for a common goal. The conference can take your research to a new level.
Those brick walls and ancestors that are hiding may make you feel as though you can’t get anywhere with your research and you begin to develop that “oh, no, this is impossible” feeling. Listening to experts in their field and networking with other genealogists in person will fire up that research flame again and provide you with opportunities to view your research in a new and exciting way. You will have the “yes I can” feeling again.
Networking
You will not only learn from experienced and knowledgeable educators in their chosen genealogy field but you will also have the opportunity to speak with them in person or join in on a wide-ranging question and answer session.
You will also have the unique opportunity to network with fellow genealogists who are as addicted to genealogy as you are. You may find someone researching in the same area, researching the same general family or find a cousin or other relative. There are more “cousin connections” at a genealogy conference than you can imagine. It is not only networking, that is inspiring! By knowing who will be attending the conference, you can make a plan on what you are going to discuss with them during coffee breaks, for example.
Have I inspired you to attend a genealogy conference? I hope so, because they are an endless source of learning, entertainment and sheer enjoyment. I have attended on-line webinars, listened to podcasts, read blogs, chatted with other genealogists either by e-mail or through social media, but there is nothing that can compare with actually attending a conference. You will go home from it with more knowledge, inspiration and skills as well as new genealogy friends. It is a win-win situation all the way around.
Having said all that, you may want to find a genealogy conference in your nearby area. If you are new to genealogy and have not yet joined a genealogy society, you may want to look into joining a society in your area. Don’t do genealogy in the closet, get out there and attend a conference or join a society, you will never be sorry and will be amazed at how your genealogy horizons will open.
Our Qualicum Beach Family History Society is hosting a conference on April 20th and 21st, 2018 in Parksville, British Columbia. We have three dynamic speakers:
Thomas MacEntee, an international speaker from Chicago. His topic is technology and genealogy.
Lesley Anderson, the spokesperson for Ancestry Canada. She will be covering both researching on Ancestry and Ancestry DNA.
Tara Shymansky, a well-known instructor on Canadian genealogy. She will be speaking about researching Canadian records with emphasis on census research.
Then there are the fabulous door prizes, great vendors, chances to network with other genealogists – and the list goes on.
For more information about our conference, please visit our conference website at https://www.qbfhs.ca/workshops/unlocking-the-past-2018-conference/
As if that wasn’t enough, you will be visiting beautiful Vancouver Island, one of the jewels in the world’s crown!
Good luck with your research and I hope to see you at a conference somewhere, some day.