The 2012 Atlanta History Expo Begins

2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Conference Participants Visiting Exhibit Tables

The 2012 Atlanta Family History Expo began this afternoon at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, GA with registration at 1:00 PM and the opening keynote session at 2:00 PM by renowned author and speaker Robert S. Davis, M.Ed, MA. Early conference participants began the Expo by visiting the various exhibit tables in which they could talk to exhibitors, see genealogical product demonstrations, learn about useful services to aid them in their genealogy and family history quest, and thumb through books and other literature before making decisions on which one(s) to purchase.

Hanging Out at the Bloggers Table

2010 Atlanta Family History Expo Bloggers of Honor Table

I am looking forward to attending the Atlanta Family History Expo next month. My first expo attendance was in 2010 also in Atlanta. One of my favorite parts of the expo was hanging out at the Blogger table. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I skipped a few sessions just so I could remain at the table and enjoy the presence of my fellow bloggers and the numerous visitors to our table.

I had met most of the bloggers online prior to the conference, but it was even more exciting to meet them face-to-face. The Official Bloggers (also known as Bloggers of Honor) of the Family History Expo receive full registration benefits and have the following responsibilities:

• Pre-Conference: announce and promote the expo, sponsors, exhibitors, and activities, as well as share press releases.
• During Conference: share daily happenings at expo, share blogging tips with attendees, and highlight websites, tools, and discoveries made.
• After Conference: Summarize overall conference experience.

So as I prepare for the conference, I am also preparing for the blogging tasks by looking at new social media tools and new features in Twitter and Blogger. One of the new tools I’m looking at is called Storify which I found on the blog of fellow Blogger of Honor, Linda McCauley of Documenting the Details. Storify is a website that creates and preserves stories or timelines using social media, photos and videos and I like the way that Linda has used it to document the story of other genealogy conferences. Click here for a sample of how Linda used Storify at the 2012 Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Conference.

To others who have served as official bloggers at any genealogy conference, what other tools or tips do you have to share with the  2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Bloggers of Honor?

2012 Atlanta Family History Expo Blogger of Honor

I am pleased that announce that I will be a Blogger of Honor at the 2012 Atlanta Family History Expos. I attended the 2010 conference and had a FANTASTIC time where I met numerous bloggers and genealogists whom I had gotten to know online prior to 2010.

I will also be conducting a workshop at this conference entitled “Thinking Out of the Box - Creating Things with Genealogy.”

(All Levels) Is genealogy only about who begat whom or would you consider thinking out of the box by creating a new way of researching and sharing your genealogical stories? In this workshop, participants will learn ways to be creative in sharing their genealogy research.

Congratulations to the other Bloggers of Honor.

Flip-Pal Demo by Dear Myrtle

This following video was originally posted on my blog November 15, 2011.

I had fun watching Dear Myrtle demonstrate how to use her new toy, a flip-pal mobile scanner during the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos.

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October 31, 2011 - I am pleased to have been chosen as one of seven bloggers to participate in the Simple Gifts Blog Hop, which will run November 4th - 25th.

Congratulations also to the six other lucky bloggers:


* Sheri Fenley - The Educated Genealogist - http://sherifenley.blogspot.com
* Marian Pierre Louis - Roots and Rambles - http://rootsandrambles.blogspot.com
* Caroline Pointer - For Your Family Story - http://www.4yourfamilystory.com/blog.html
* Heather Wilkinson Rojo - Nutfield Genealogy - http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com
* Nancy Shively - Gathering Stories - http://nancyshively.blogspot.com
* Julie Cahill Tarr - GenBlog - http://genblogjulie.blogspot.com/

Like Dear Myrtle, I look forward to having fun using my new toy and I'm sure that my other Blog Hopper Colleagues also anticipate the fun.

Hope that the UPS man drops by today with my toy like he did at Julie Cahill Tarr's house. Will post more later about my plans for using this fantastic gift.

Greetings From Holly Hansen

It was great to meet Holly Hansen at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expo. What a great conference! Thanks to Holly and the others who helped this conference to be a success.

Meeting Bernie Gracy

I was thrilled to meet Mr. Bernie Gracy at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos. I learned so much from the three sessions he conducted on Location Based Genealogy. Prior to the conference, I had begun applying some of the concepts I learned from him though his YouTube videos that I discovered this past summer. (Read more about this discovery.) I also had an opportunity to let him know on Friday of the conference that I had blogged about his work earlier that month.

On Saturday, I saw Mr. Gracy again and he informed me that he had read my posting and even sent it out to his Facebook friends.

Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation, Part 3

My presentation at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos was entitled “Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation” so I decided to videotape greetings from various bloggers and others whom I communicate with online through various social media sites. In most cases, I only communicate with these persons (who will be featured in this series) through writing and seeing each other’s smiling face on photos on social media sites. It was great to meet some of these online friends face-to-face and to greet them with a hug or handshake.

It was great meeting Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog during the conference. Several years ago, I took at least one of Lisa's classes which were offered online through GenClass.

Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation, Part 2

My presentation at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos was entitled “Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation” so I decided to videotape greetings from various bloggers and others whom I communicate with online through various social media sites. In most cases, I only communicate with these persons (who will be featured in this series) through writing and seeing each other’s smiling face on photos on social media sites. It was great to meet some of these online friends face-to-face and to greet them with a hug or handshake.

It was great talking to Linda McCauley of Documenting the Details blog during the conference. For some reason, I kept calling her 'Lisa" and even typed that name when I began typing this blog posting. (Sorry Linda). I don't think I had encountered her online prior to this time, but it was great spending time with her at the Blogger of Honor's table in Atlanta and now communicating with Linda (not Lisa--LOL), online.

Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation, Part 1

My presentation at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos was entitled “Let Your Voice Be Heard in the Digital Conversation” so I decided to videotape greetings from various bloggers and others whom I communicate with online through various social media sites. In most cases, I only communicate with these persons (who will be featured in this series) through writing and seeing each other’s smiling face on photos on social media sites. It was great to meet some of these online friends face-to-face and to greet them with a hug or handshake.

The first is Thomas MacEntee Geneabloggers. This blog is full of information for bloggers and genealogists and has a great repository of links to numerous types of genealogy blogs.

Social Media Panel Q & A

Participated in the Social Media Q & A of 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos. I had a great time participating on this panel and posted this blog posting during the session.

The Audience

The Panel

Myrtle, Tonia, & Amy

Valerie & Linda



Dru

Hanging Out at the Bloggers of Honor Table

Besides conducting a presentation at 11:30 and attending one at 3:00, I spent the majority of my time on Friday hanging out at the Bloggers of Honor table at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos. I had lots of fun talking to other bloggers and visitors to our table, as well as blogging and tweeting.

Podcast Interview

On Friday, November 12, 2010, I was a guest on the African Roots Podcast (click here) hosted by genealogist, Angela Walton-Raji. It was a delighful conversation in which we discussed genealogy in general as well as my presentation, Let Your Voice Be Head in the Digital Conversation, which was presented at the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos.

Professor Dru and Mel Collier

Today, I met Mel Collier, author of Mississippi to Africa. Gotta get my copy of his book autographed before the end of the conference.

Dear Myrtle

I’m excited about attending the 2010 Atlanta Family History Expos next week and being able to meet other bloggers like Dear Myrtle (Old Myrt) aka Pat Richley. I’ve been following Dear Myrtle’s Blog since I began blogging over two years ago.

Today during lunch, I watched two interviews by Dick Eastman of Myrt at genealogy conferences. I learned from the Roots Television videos below that Myrt also has two other websites:

• Dear Myrtle
• Teach Genealogy
  
  

Dear Myrtle Interview by Dick Eastman at Family History Expos


Dear Myrtle Interview by Dick Eastman at Jamboree 2009


To Myrtle and the other Bloggers of Honor, SAVE PROFESSOR DRU A SEAT in booths numbers 605, 606, and 607 at the Atlanta Family History Expos. Smile.