Dinner with Dick

Genealogist, Dick Eastman, has been organising genealogy dinners for 22 years. He said that last night's dinner after the closing session of the Rootstech Conference had the largest attendance and was the easiest to organise. It was also more formal than the other dinners. Previous attendees agreed that it was the best ever.

It was formal in that there was an organised activity but it certainly wasn't stuffy, it was a great deal of fun. Held in a banquet room at The Radisson Hotel right next door to the Salt Palace Convention Center it was very convenient especially for those of us who were resident there. It was an international group that gathered to celebrate the end of a very successful conference. There was an Israeli, two Kiwis, two Aussies, a couple of Scots, some Poms, a couple of Canadians and lots of Americans. Although the conference had been going for three days we had an opportunity to meet even more new people in the relaxed atmosphere at the dinner. It was there that I discovered the identity of the other Aussie at Rootstech, it was Professional Genealogist, Allan Murrin, from Joy Murrin Family History Services in Sydney,

After a buffet dinner it was down to business. Sandwiched between a Scot and a Kiwi I had great difficulty cheating in the formal activity of the evening, Genealogy Jeopardy, hosted by Kory Meyerink. I wasn't able  copy my neighbours' answers as we were rather a cluless trio with the majority of the questions having a strong North American bias. Never the less we had lots of laughs and learnt about some foreign resources. This was an excellent after dinner activity that I can recommend to genealogy organisations. Instructions on how to make a powerpoint to use in the activity can be found here.

Prizes were awarded to those with the highest scores in the game, Dick also handed out some lucky door prizes. The gentleman who won an iPad, the main prize in the draw was the envy of many attendees.

Unfortunately I neglected to take photos of this evening so have to rely on my memory for images.

Thanks, Dick, for organising this event that gave us an opportunity to engage in discourse about the conference, have fun and meet more new people.