SCGS Jamboree 2017 - Thursday and Friday

I arrived at the Marriott Hotel Convention Center in Burbank on Thursday afternoon just in time for the "No Host Social" and in time to meet my roommate before her last DNA session of the day. I was able to pick up my bag of stuff  so that Thursday evening I could look over the schedule of talks and try to decide which speakers I wanted to hear.

Friday morning was devoted to round table discussions of various topics including DNA, Societies. Professional Genealogists, and Genealogy Basics.  I went to the DNA roundtable discussions.  Tables were set up for the various DNA vendors as well as topics like Virginia/Carolinas, Scottish Genealogy and DNA and others.  Each table had a host who moderated the discussion and participants moved from table to table freely to explore their interests.  I spent time at the Virginia/Carolina table since one of my husband's lines began their migration to southern Illinois from Virginia through North Carolina.  Shannon Christmas was the extremely knowledgeable host and shared his knowledge graciously.

The afternoon sessions provided a wide variety of choices with 9 lectures per time period and four time periods with a 30 minute passing period. (Think high school change of class) The thirty minutes and necessary because the classes are held in the Hotel, Conference Center and two tented Pavilions just beyond the Conference center.

I only went to two of four classes offered Friday afternoon since I spent quite a bit of time in the Exhibit Hall. Most of that time was with Kathy Meade of ArkivDigital. She spent time with me working on a record I had found in the Swedish Church Records and was able to help interpret the place my subject had moved to. This may go a long way to solving one of my Swedish brick walls. I did attend Michael John Neill's "Generating Genealogy Blog Content" and have been re-inspired to keep writing my blog. With all of the changes in genealogy software, I went to hear Bruce Buzbee speak on "Roots Magic: Home Base for your Online Research" so I could learn what's new.

At the end of the day, I was ready to meet a high school classmate for dinner and a visit.  We only get together when I am in California so it was a real treat.