SCGS & Jamboree at RootsTech 2017

 Going to RootsTech?

So is SCGS & Jamboree!

The SCGS and Jamboree crew are packed and en route to Salt Lake City, Utah to take part in one of the genealogy community's great events - RootsTech.  

If you are going to the conference, be sure to stop by booth 1140 in the Expo Hall and say hi! 

SCGS members - make sure you stop by and get your swanky SCGS Member ribbon! 

Want an insider tip? If you want to win a registration to either the Jamboree 2017 or Genetic Genealogy Conferences in June - stop by the booth! You could win!!

See you soon!

The 2016 SCGS and Jamboree Team at RootsTech

Southern California Genealogical Society

48th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree

Genetic Genealogy 2017

www.genealogyjamboree.com

jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com

#SCGS2017 @scgsgenealogy.com

SCGS Jamboree at RootsTech!

Are You Going to RootsTech?

So is SCGS & Jamboree!

The SCGS and Jamboree crew are packed and en route to Salt Lake City, Utah to take part in one of the genealogy community's great events - RootsTech.  

If you are there, be sure to stop by booth 819 in the Expo Hall and say hi!  And if you're an SCGS member - make sure you stop by and get your ribbon.  We may have some surprises as well.

We look forward to greeting you, seeing our friends, and making new connections!

See you soon!

The 2016 SCGS RootsTech Team:

Lise Harding

Lynne Parmenter

Barbara Randall

Margaret Rutledge

Jane Van Tour

Southern California Genealogical Society

scgs@scgsgenealogy.com

www.scgsgenealogy.com

jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com

www.genealogyjamboree.com

It's That Time Again: SCGS & Jamboree On The Road!

Over the next few months, SCGS and the Jamboree 2016 team members will be hitting the road. Whether we are exhibiting, attending the conferences and seminars along with you, or stopping on our way through town, we would love to meet you! We love these opportunities to get out and meet you, spread the word about the benefits of SCGS and Jamboree, and interact with potential new members and conference attendees.

This is the time of year when Jamboree really begins to take shape, and if you want to be the first to know important details, stop by our booth, table, wherever you see one of our team members with their "Ask Me About Jamboree" buttons on, and say hi!

2015

• December 12th - Albuquerque, New Mexico with Genealogy Roadshow
• December 12th - Burbank, California SCGS Annual Meeting

2016

• January 13-16 - Salt Lake City, Utah at The Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy(SLIG)
• January TBD - Los Angeles, California with Genealogy Roadshow
• January 30 - Whittier Area Genealogical Society (WAGS) Seminar with Thomas MacEntee
• February 3-6 - Salt Lake City, Utah at RootsTech
• February 13-15 - Long Beach, California at the Queen Mary ScotsFestival & International Highland Games XXIII

SCGS and Jamboree at RootsTech 2015 and FGS

 

Last week the Jamboree team traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to take part in the world's largest combined family history and genealogy conferences, FGS and RootsTech.  Over 20,000 people attended the historic event which featured world class speakers and a huge exhibit hall with hundreds of vendors and societies, including SCGS.

It was an exciting time, and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting our members, making new friends from all over the world, and visiting with the thousands of enthusiastic genealogy fans who stopped by our booth.  It was truly a chance to connect - to each other, to our shared love of family, and to our past.

Each day brought something new and exciting.  Headline speakers such as technology innovator and founder of Emotiv Tan Le, former First Lady Laura Bush and Jenna Bush Hager, the cast of Genealogy Roadshow, Global Family Reunion host A.J. Jacobs and entertainer Donny Osmond energized the crowds and inspired with their personal stories.   Entrepreneurs shared their talent and unique ideas at the first-annual Innovator Showdown, with StoryWorth winning first place, and several genealogy industry leaders announced new partnerships and products.  For those who were not able to attend, you can check out the RootsTech Video Archive here.

SCGS was fortunate to have a centrally located booth that allowed us to visit with everyone.  To all those who stopped by, Thank You.  You made the conference special for all of us.  We enjoyed talking about both the society and Jamboree, hearing about your discoveries and genealogical research plans, and loved that you shared your experience with us.

The fun was clearly evident at the Celebrate Your Heritage: Cultural Night. Even the Scottish Bagpipe and Drum band found it challenging to navigate through the exhibit hall!

One of the highlights: History came alive at the SCGS Booth!  Thanks to the character actors and to Tim Firkowski, The Genealogy Assistant, A Family History Detective.

To the bloggers, speakers and vendors who stopped by to say hello, we salute you and look forward to seeing you in June at Jamboree.

And to all those who entered into our contest.... we have a winner! Sandra Faye Nagy of Duncan, BC Canada is the lucky winner of a 3-day pass to Jamboree 2015.  Congratulations Sandra!  We look forward to seeing you in June!

Lise Harding, Priscilla Pruitt, Barb Randall, Judi Ramsey, and Jane Van Tour.

Jamboree 2015 On the Road

Over the next few weeks, members of the Jamboree team will be on the road, exhibiting at a number of national conferences and genealogical events.  We love these opportunities to get out and meet you, spread the word about the benefits of SCGS and Jamboree, and interact with potential new members and conference attendees.

Here's a tip: When we exhibit at an event, we typically bring along prizes and offer discounts.  Stop by our table and say hi!  While you're there, pick up your copy of the Jamboree registration form and the SCGS Webinar Series Grow What You Know schedule for 2015.  We look forward to seeing you.

Where you can find us:

January 31 - Whittier Area Genealogical Society Annual Seminar with Geoffrey Rasmussen

February 7 - Lake Elsinore  - California State Genealogical Alliance Seminar with Mary Anne Vincent and Jean Wilcox Hibben.

February 11 - 14 - Salt Lake City - RootsTech and The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) conferences.  Two of the largest conferences for family history enthusiasts and genealogy professionals have teamed up for a one-time special genealogy event.  Held at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah the conferences will share the expo hall, keynote sessions and activities.  This promises to be an exciting venue, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to make new friends and say hello to those we have known for a while. On hand to represent SCGS and Jamboree in the exhibit hall booth throughout the conference will be Priscilla Pruitt, Judi Ramsey, Barb Randall and Jane Van Tour.

March 7 - Escondido Family History Fair with Crista Cowan

March 14 - Los Angeles - Discover Your Roots XIII

March 21 - Thousand Oaks - Conejo Valley Genealogical Society Annual Seminar with Dr. Thomas W. Jones  PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS.

RootsTech Announces Fifteen FREE Streamed Sessions

The RootsTech conference will be held next week in Salt Lake City. SCGS and Jamboree will have a booth (#727) in the exhibit hall.

This conference is going to be huge. They are expecting 10,000 attendees in the Convention Center, with another 20,000 online. If you are among the 10,000, please be sure to stop by and say hi to us.

If you are not able to attend in person, you can participate from your Barcalounger. RootsTech will be live-streaming 15 sessions that will be viewed on the FamilySearch.org website. By the way, eight of the RootsTech speakers will also be with us at Jamboree 2014. [Tammy Hepps, Michael Leclerc, Lisa Alzo, Crista Cowan, Daniel Horowitz, Lisa Louise Cooke, Josh Taylor and Randy Whited.] What a great way to get to know these people in advance of Jamboree.
 
The streamed sessions are a wonderful way to attend RootsTech without walking in the snow. It's like getting the entire conference for *free* -- and *free* is always good.

If the streamed sessions are handled like they have been in the past, no advance registration will be needed. Just log on to FamilySearch and enjoy yourself. If that's not the case, we will post an update.

The list of streamed sessions is available on the FamilySearch website. Get more detail on the sessions here, and download the RootsTech app to remind you when it's time to log on.

This is being posted on both the Jamboree and SCGS blogs. Apologies if you receive duplicate emails. The RootsTech streamed videos are in no way related to the SCGS webinar series.

[CA-SCGS] Jamboree On the Road - Stop In and Say Hi!

The Southern California Genealogy Jamboree team will be on the road over the next few weeks, meeting with all our friends and exhibiting at a number of family history events. We hope you all stop by our table and say hi and introduce yourself if we haven't met before.

Here's a tip: When we exhibit at another conference, we typically bring along a door prize (a free basic registration to Jamboree worth $145). If you're not a lucky winner, you can take advantage of a special $5 discount for registrations purchased during the event. Pick up your copy of the Jamboree registration form and the SCGS Webinar Series schedule for 2014.

Here is the schedule, along with links to the conference websites:

February 1 - Genealogy NOW - San Luis Obispo Genealogical Society featuring Judy G. Russell, JD, CG, CGL, The Legal Genealogist, and Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy Family Tree, and Sharyn Hoyt Mills, MLIS, professional genealogist.

February 6-8 - Salt Lake City - RootsTech. The biggest upcoming conference, of course, is RootsTech which is held in Salt Lake City from February 6-8. Please come see us at Booth 727, which is across the aisle from the media hub. RootsTech is one of our favorite exhibiting opportunities because it allows us to meet so many new friends and hug those we've known for a while. We'll have a full contingent of SCGS representatives in the booth throughout the conference: Leo Myers, Paula Hinkel, Jane Van Tour, Barbara Randall and Judi Ramsey. SCGS members pick up one of our beautiful name badge ribbons.

February 22 - Whittier Area Genealogical Society with Laura Prescott

March 1 - Orange County California Genealogical Society Genealogy BASH and Book Faire with a great line-up of speakers: Barbara Renick, Hank Z. Jones FASG, Colleen Fitzpatrick, CeCe Moore, Gena Philibert-Ortega, Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy Family Tree, Randy Seaver, Linda Serna, and Morris Thurston.

March 8 - Hemet-San Jacinto Genealogical Society.
 

Attend (some of) RootsTech from Home

The RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City starts on Thursday this week, and a large group of us from SCGS will be attending. We are honored to have been chosen as one of the handful of societies to have a booth on the exhibit floor. Stop by booth 627, across the aisle from the Internet Cafe, and say hi.  SCGS members, be sure to pick up your "SCGS Member" badge ribbon.

We will keep you updated through blog posts during the conference, which is expected to draw a crowd of over 3,000. Some will be genealogists and family historians; many will be high-tech wizards who develop the software programs, equipment and technology that we use today and will use years from now.

So you can't travel to Salt Lake City? Never fear.  Fourteen of the sessions will be lived-streamed so you can watch from home.  Here is the schedule as released by the RootsTech. I have highlighted the sessions that are being given by speakers who will be with us at the 2012 Jamboree:

SALT LAKE CITY—RootsTech, a leading family history and technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 2-4, 2012, announced today that fourteen of its popular sessions will be broadcasted live and complimentary over the Internet. The live broadcasts will give those unable to attend worldwide a sample of this year’s conference content. Interested viewers can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org. The second-year conference has attracted over 3,000 registered attendees.

The free online sessions include the keynote speakers and a sampling of technology and family history presentations. Following are the fourteen broadcasted sessions and speakers. All times are in Mountain Standard Time (MST):

Thursday, February 2

8:30-10:00 am, Inventing the Future, as a Community (Keynote Address) by Jay L. Verkler

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Do I Trust the Cloud? by D. Joshua Taylor  

1:45-2:45 pm, Effective Database Search Tactics by Kory Meyerink     

3:00-4:00 pm, Twitter – It’s Not Just “What I Had for Breakfast” Anymore by Thomas MacEntee  

4:15-5:15 pm, Eleven Layers of Online Searches by Barbara Renick     

Friday, February 3

8:30-9:30 am, Exabyte Social Clouds and Other Monstrosities (Keynote Address) by Josh Coates

9:45-10:45 am, Publish Your Genealogy Online by Laura G. Prescott     

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Optimize Your Site for Search Engines by Robert Gardner    

1:45-2:45 pm, Genealogists “Go Mobile” by Sandra Crowly  

3:00-4:00 pm, Google’s Toolbar and Genealogy by Dave Barney      

Saturday, February 4

8:30-9:30 am, Making the Most of Technology to Further the Family History Industry (Keynote Address) by Tim Sullivan and Ancestry.com Panel

9:45-10:45 am Genealogy Podcasts and Blogs 101 by Lisa Louise Cooke    

11:00 am-12:00 pm, Future of FamilySearch Family Tree by Ron Tanner

1:45-2:45 pm, Privacy in a Collaborative Environment by Noah Tutak   

RootsTech App: A Wonderful Resource for Attendees

The final details about RootsTech are being released and it looks better and better all the time.

The RootsTech App is now available for iPhone, Android, and other systems, including BlackBerry.  The RootsTech app was developed by Core-Apps, the same industry-leading team that developed the Jamboree app. It was great fun and instructive to see how another organization used the features available on the app's software.

Those who remember the Jamboree app will recognize the icons on the dashboard. Because of the app's intuitive design, new users will quickly become familiar with navigating through the many ways to help attendees stay organized and updated at a conference.

 You can start with the "Events" section.  Review the session schedules (selecting developer or users only, or viewing all sessions in a single list)

• Pick the sessions you want to attend.
• Click to create schedule, using either the schedule provided in the app, or the smartphone's calendar you use every day.
• Just like when you started high school, take a few minutes to review the floor plan to find path around the Salt Palace. 

Or you can start looking at the "Speaker" section first. Many RootsTech speakers will also be with us in Burbank.

• Navigate easily through the various sections of the app.
• Pull up the list of speakers to make sure you don't miss your favorites.
• Read the speaker's bio, see all of the sessions they are presenting, and then click to jump directly to the class description. 
• Rate the session when it's finished.

Learn all about RootsTech and conference producer FamilySearch:

• Watch FamilySearch and RootsTech videos
• Stay in touch through the Twitter feed (#RootsTech) and feeds from selected blogs and conference announcements
• Tweet directly from the app.
• Look at photos that have been uploaded

The app offers features that have not yet been activated in the RootsTech version. I hope it will be added in the next week.

• The exhibitor section contains valuable details about each of the Expo Hall exhibitors: contact information, links to the exhibitor's external website, description of the exhibitor's business, the organization's logo, and PDFs of product information available for download.
• Photos of the speakers
• Syllabus articles - the most valuable element of the app last year. The articles were downloaded by hundreds of users.
• Jamboree's app included advertising and special offers from onsite exhibitors as well as "virtual exhibitors" from authors, bloggers, nonprofits and commercial organizations. Many of the ads contained special offers and discounts. It's understandable RootsTech would not use that option.

RootsTech's video section is outstanding. It really increases the value of the app. We didn't use that section last year for Jamboree, though we hope that we'll have content in 2012.

I didn't remember having issues with the Friends feature but then I realized we didn't activate that service either. In brief, the friend number can be used with only one friend. To add another friend to your list, you need must get a new number. A new friend, a new number. Repeat. Maybe Core-Apps will redesign Friends between new and June.

Stop by booth 627, the SCGS booth, and say hi. Between now and then, keep your eye on the Jamboree blog. We have a couple of surprises for you, including news on how to win a free registration to Jamboree.

Stay tuned.