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11 May 2012

Day Three: NGS 2012 Family History Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio

Here is the next of Jeff's reports:

National Genealogical Society Annual Conference Day Three
11 May 2012 Cincinnati, OH

Day three has been an eclectic one with a variety of presentations. There are reported 2155 attendees and it shows, since Vinnie, Tim and I have seldom crossed paths. The day started with Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG presentation Okay, I ‘Got the Neighbors’: Now What Do I Do with Them? This was followed by Facial Recognition Software: Application for Genealogists? [Not yet] by Greg Kipper. Then Thomas W. Jones PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS who talked about Documentation: The What, Why and Where.

Before lunch, I think for some readers it might be useful to define all those nominal letters, so here goes: PhD I suspect folks know. In Dr. Jone’s case it is in the field of education. CG is Certified Genealogist, CGL is Certified Genealogist Lecturer, FASG is Fellow American Society of Genealogy [this is limited to 50 members only], FUGA is Fellow Utah Genealogy Association and FNGS is Fellow National Genealogical Society.

The NGS luncheon began with about sixty of us standing due to a miscommunication of the number of attendees. The staff at the Duke Energy Center, where the conference is being held, swiftly set up chairs, tables, linens, and silver without missing a beat. The talk was From Goetta to Guacamole: The Immigrant Impact on Cincinnati.

The afternoon was the Ancestry.com staff presentation on Making the DNA Connection. I believe Ancestry purchased the Sorenson Molecular Foundation and its database along with genetree. Ancestry is moving into this related genealogy field and taking reservations for lab tests. They are so backed up in the lab that my sample from 15 Nov 2011 is “still in process.” DNA testing can be expensive and I saw a bargain $9 to be part of their beta test and swabbed the check. I have 67 markers at Family Tree DNA as well as Sorenson as well as the Genome National Geographic project.
 
The day ended with the NGS Quarterly 100th Anniversary Reception. I took a hand full of the sample brochure to bring back to the library. An element that is important in these meetings is the contacts made with others and the stories exchanged about the field of genealogy. Besides class there are opportunities to learn from the other attendees. 
—Jeffrey Vaillant
Read the entire series:
Report #1: 2012 NGS
Report #2: 2012 NGS
Report #3: 2012 NGS
Report #4: 2012 NGS
Report #5: 2012 NGS

Copyright © 2012 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library

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