Jamboree 2015 - Session Selection Questionnaire

By now, all registered attendees should have received an email with the subject line **Important - Jamboree 2015 and DNA Day Plus! Class Selection Questionnaire.**  In that email, you'll find a link to a questionnaire asking which sessions you are most likely to attend. If you have registered for either conference and have not yet received your questionnaire, click this link to complete the questionnaire.

The questionnaire is the method we use to determine which sessions should go in which rooms. We need your input to accurately plan the room assignments. The most popular sessions get the largest rooms; specialized sessions go in smaller rooms. It is impossible to accurately assign rooms without input from everyone.

You are not locked into any session and can change your mind. Please take 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Of course, you are free to change your mind once you are at Jamboree.

If you have already provided your response, thank you so much for your participation.

Calling Jamboree Attendees: Ancestry Needs You!

Ancestry depends on user input to help mold the future generation of their offerings. A range of opportunities are being planned in Burbank for participants to share their impressions of upcoming Ancestry features across multiple products.  These will include both focus groups and individual interviews all three days of Jamboree and during the Family Tree and DNA conference on Thursday.

Ancestry is looking for subscribers of all levels of expertise, membership tenure, and tree size. To be considered, please fill out the following online questionnaire. Members of Ancestry’s User Research team will reach out to you for scheduling. Incentives will include the latest version of FTM for Mac or PC, an AncestryDNA kit, or a 6 month subscription extensions to your membership.

Please access the survey here: http://ancestry.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5gn6n5glPfQA76B


Please note that SCGS and Jamboree has no involvement in this research effort other than to assist Ancestry with inviting people to participate. If you are interested in helping to shape the future for users of Ancestry, we encourage you to sign up.

Jamboree: Fun With Numbers - Devices and Operating Systems Used

Each year, as Jamboree draws close, the Jamboree Committee conducts a survey with all of the registered attendees. The intent is to determine the most popular class sessions so they can be scheduled in the largest class rooms. Some interesting observations always come out of the survey, and we like to share them.

Here's the first of these Fun With Number posts.

QUESTION:  What type of equipment and operating system was used to complete the questionnaire?

If you are attending Jamboree and have not yet completed your Class Selection Questionnaire, please do so at your earliest opportunity. It's the best way we have to do a good job of scheduling and avoiding room overflows. Help us, and take the time to answer the questions.

You should have received an invitation on Friday evening. If you didn't receive it for some reason, you can click on this link and complete it now:

http://jamboree2014.surveyconsole.com

Jamboree: Class Selection Survey Now Available

Jamboree attendees - the session selection survey is now available for you. You should have received an invitation about midnight Pacific time last night. If you did not receive it, please check your spam folder. The subject of the email is "IMPORTANT - Jamboree Class Selection Survey - Act Today!" If you did not receive your email, please take the survey here: http://2013JamboreeSeating.surveyconsole.com

Your participation in this survey will help us determine the appropriate room sizes for the various classes. It's our way of trying to manage overflow rooms.

Here's what we have done to address the issue:

We have intentionally left a couple of spots open on Sunday, to be used for repeated sessions. If the speaker is available and willing, we will try to reschedule it on Sunday.

Many times, we find that the too-full room is being used for live-stream videos. We have set up a video overflow room (Sunset A/B in the Convention Center) where you can watch.

The SCGS Board of Directors adopted a new seating policy that will be implemented this year.

What you can do to help:

In addition to completing the survey, here are other steps you can take to make sure you can see the classes that are most important to you.

Filling out the Class Selection Survey is the single most important thing you can do to help us

You can volunteer to serve as a room monitor for the session(s) that are on your don't-miss list. You'll be guaranteed the seat of your choice.

You can purchase a recording if you miss a session. In fact, if you are torn between two sessions, you might choose one live performance and one recording.

You can plot a plan of attack if you are attending with friends or family. Divide and conquer and share the details while you sit and chat after the session.

Finally, we suggest that you identify a Plan B session in case your first-choice class is full.

Jamboree Survey Available Online

Those of you familiar with Jamboree will recall that use a questionnaire to help us make lecture room assignments. That survey has now been sent to everyone registered for Jamboree.

The invitation is addressed from phinkel@pacbell.net with a subject line [SCGS] Important Jamboree Update - Act Today!

We sometimes have difficulty breaking through spam filters.

If you have not yet received your invitation to the online questionnaire, please check your spam folders. If you still don't find it, please go ahead and click on the following link and you'll be taken to the survey.

http://Pre-Jamboree2012.surveyconsole.com

Every complete questionnaire helps us plan.

All seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.
No guarantees can be made that there will be available room capacity.
All of Jamboree seating decisions will be made with safety in mind.
Jamboree adheres to the Los Angeles County Fire Marshal requirements.

Thank you for your cooperation and input.

Jamboree: How do I Sign Up for Classes?

Many of you have written to ask how you indicate which classes you want to attend.

If you used the printed registration form, just circle the session numbers on the back page and send in your registration form. It's a snap.

If you already sent in your form and did not indicate your classes, no worries. You'll do what the phone and online registrants do. Read on.


If you register online or by phone, you'll receive an email notice in about a month to complete an online survey. That survey is the method we use to gather information on the sessions that you want to attend.

It is very important that you complete that survey so our results are as accurate as possible. We evaluate the registration survey and make final room assignments based on the number of people who chose each session.  More people = bigger room. In the past, we have gotten answers from only about a third of our participants, which leaves a big margin of error.  Please, please participate.

When you fill out the survey, you'll be able to indicate, day by day and hour by hour, which sessions you plan to attend.

Regardless of how you indicate your selection, here are points to consider:

1. You are not locked in to attending the sessions you list on the survey. You are welcome to change your mind at any time.
2. We cannot guarantee that seats will be available for every session you wish to attend. Seats are filled on a first-come, first-seated basis. 
3. Safety of our guests is our primary concern. We do not allow overflow seating on the floor, aisles, etc.
4. If there are sessions that you are particularly interested in attending, we encourage you to volunteer to serve as room monitor for one or more sessions, which will assure that you will have a seat. 

Room monitors help to get people seated, distribute and collect evaluation forms, communicate with conference leaders when necessary, and assure compliance with fire marshal regulations. If you wish to help as a room monitor, volunteer at http://2012JamboreeVolunteers.surveyconsole.com.

Jamboree: Factoid - Level of Proficiency

How would you rate your genealogical experience and researching proficiency?  Click on the image below to see a more legible version of the table.  Jamboree offers courses at all experience levels.

Jamboree: Factoid - How Many Times at Jamboree

Over one-third of Jamboree registrants are first-timers in 2010.  Close to 20% are returning for their second Jamboree.  Click on the image to see a larger, more legible table.