Congress 2018 wrap-up

Four days - a busy blur of conference sessions and group gatherings for meals or photos. Now Congress 2018 has ended, and hundreds of delegates have returned home. I expect that like me they were sad to see it end, but ready for a break and a chance to put all they’d learnt into action.

There was a good selection of both local and international speakers, but the speakers are only part of the experience. Jill Ball of GeniAus did an exceptional job of extending the community spirit and camaraderie that exists among genealogy bloggers to the non-blogging conference goers. Or at least that’s how it appeared to me, and I hope that’s how they felt about it!

I caught up with friends I had met online or at the Canberra conference in 2015, with my cousin who was also attending, and also made/met some new friends. I don’t want to name names or I will be sure to leave someone out.

I delivered my presentation on Visualising DNA Matches with Network Graphs on Sunday evening. The conference started on Friday so there were three days for my nerves to build, but also three days to settle in and feel like part of the genealogy community. Several people told me afterwards that they were keen to try graphing their DNA matches, or spoke to me about the insights they had already gained through doing so.

I’ve run through my notes and made a list of things to try, or thoughts to hang on to. Some of my top items:

• Need to investigate the journals section of Trove.
• Possible purchase: Farewell my Children by Richard E Reid (after hearing Pauleen Cass talk)
• Why don’t I have a copy of Phillimore’s Atlas?! Must fix that (several talks prompted this thought).  
• Need to take a proper look at DustyDocs.
• Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist) provided links to sites with public domain photos – bookmark them.
• Freemason records! Now that I’ve learnt more about these I definitely want to follow up on the Freemasons in my family. 
• Lewis’ gazetteer – get hold of that too.
• Lisa Louise Cooke spoke about using Google Earth Pro. I realised I already have it on my computer and promptly lost several hours playing with it. She said that would happen…
• A couple of blog tweaks I should probably make after hearing Jill Ball talk about Beaut Blogs.

One of the highlights was meeting international speaker, Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist).

This is one of the few photos I have of people – I really should have taken more. Between lunches, dinners, group photos and other get togethers it felt like I had taken a million, but apparently not.

It was very disappointing to hear that none of the Societies have put their hand up to host the next Congress. I hope that we will hear good news on that front soon. I will be more than ready to go to another conference in three years from now.

Getting ready for Congress 2018

The biggest event on Australia’s genealogy calendar is the triennial Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry and it’s only two weeks away (Friday 9 to Monday 12 March).

Travelling to another city to attend a genealogy conference takes time and money, and if you don’t know anyone it’s intimidating. Perhaps that’s why I had never felt moved to attend until three years ago when it was was held in my home town. I enjoyed the conference immensely and got a lot from it. After that experience, I had no doubts about going to the next one.

There are going to be two big differences (that I know about) between my experience this time and last time. First, I’ll need to travel. Second, this time around I’ll be speaking at the conference which adds a few substantial to-do items and I’m sure will give me a new perspective on the event.

I’ve been reading Jill Ball’s (aka GeniAus) posts about preparing for Congress (and other conferences) with interest, and adding relevant items to my own checklist.

Let’s see how I’m doing with preparations:

• Conference Registration: Done, as soon as registrations opened. I also paid for a seat at the conference dinner.
• Work: Leave request submitted and approved.
• Family: Leave request submitted and approved.
• Accommodation: Booked and paid for. I’ve arranged to share rental of a small house near the venue with two other genealogists. It’s going to be fun!
• Travel to Sydney: Booked. Although I usually prefer to take the train, this time I chose the bus. It’s quicker, a little cheaper, but most importantly the timetable is more flexible. I can return home at a civilised hour and get to work the next day in a fit state to do some work.
• Travel within Sydney: I’m close enough to the venue that I will be able to walk. I’m sure I’ll appreciate a bit of exercise at the start and end of each day. I already have an Opal card from previous visits to Sydney for when I need to use public transport.
• Devices: I’m planning on taking my phone and my laptop. I need to make sure any information I might want is synced to the laptop. Still to do.
• Note taking: While I like technology for storage, I prefer to take notes on paper. I have a Whitelines note book with a hard cover that I plan to use. The pages are light grey with a white grid, and it comes with an app that will hide the grey background, resize and sync to wherever you want online. It will be easy to keep a soft copy of any of my scribbles that I think are worth keeping.
• Contact cards: I’ve had a small batch of business cards printed up with details of this blog, various contact details for me, and family surnames I’m researching.
• Blogger beads: If you’re not a blogger, you might not be aware of the trend at US genealogy conferences for bloggers to wear identifying beads. Jill Ball has imported this to Australia and it’s a fun way to break the ice at events. I’ve put my hand up for some. Thanks Jill!
• Clothing: It’s too soon to pack my bags, but I’ve invested in some new comfortable shoes that I can test out and break in before the day. I’m not too worried about attire for the conference days, but I still need to work out what I will wear to the conference dinner.
• Speech: I’ve submitted my handouts and slides to the organisers. All I have to do is continue to practice – and keep an eye on developments relating to my topic.

I think I’m as ready as I need to be at this stage.

Let the countdown commence!

The early bird gets the conference ticket

A week ago today, registrations for the 15th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry opened. Congress is a three-yearly genealogy conference and this will be my second time attending. I’m unreasonably excited (so my non-genealogy friends, family and co-workers say) about an event that isn’t until March next year.

Last time around it was held in my home town Canberra, which was my prompt to finally attend. I got a lot out of it – both from the excellent sessions and from meeting other genealogists face-to face who I had previously only known online. There was no doubt I would sign up for the next one.

So last week when Early Bird registrations opened I bought my tickets. I’ve also booked a small terrace house near the venue in company with two other genealogists who have excitement levels about this event similar to my own!

It’s going to be fun.

Will I see you at Congress?!