Enhance your Rootstech Experience

Sorry there aren't any pretty pictures on this post. Blogger won't let me upload any!

In the recent contest I held to give away a Rootstech 2018 Free Pass I asked entrants to "please tell me three things a Rootstech attendee needs to take to Rootstech to enhance his/her experience."

I had promised to collate the advice I received from entrants into a blog post and here it is. I hope these suggestions help you in your Rootstech preparation. Some of the suggestions were made multiple times.

The most popular suggestions related to footwear

• Good, comfortable walking shoes to get around the big convention center.
• Tennis shoes will be my best friend when walking from class to class or through the exhibit hall. 
• Comfortable flat shoes. Not joggers as I like to look more professional than joggers make you look. (I have to agree about the joggers)

A full four day pass.  Who wants to miss any of this! 

Many were concerned with comfort

• Comfy clothes, (maybe ever a blanket so I use all my focus)
• Layering clothes is also a good idea.
• A warm coat so you can go out at night with all my genie friends for lunch, dinner or to go up to the Family History Library when it is old outside.
• Food (and water), so I can concentrate.
• A water bottle and snacks.
• A body that is rested,refreshed  and ready for Rootstech.
• Friends 

Technology was mentioned a lot

• Your favorite tech tool to take notes.
• My laptop! For taking notes and looking up my tree quickly! and everything else I would need.
• Portable battery for cell phone/laptops so you can take pictures, notes, etc. 
• A camera or phone camera - one must take lots of photos (and selfies)
• Your smartphone, because you'll want the Rootstech app
• Connect on social media.

Some people preferred traditional tools

• Lots of colored pens to write notes.
• Lots of note paper - with so much to learn, one will need to take so many notes to remember all of the inspiration received!!
•  A good notebook and pen.

Attitude is all important

•  A great ATTITUDE
• Desire - one needs a passion and desire to do familyhistory. Then it is easy to get addicted.... 
• Open mind and heart - to listen and learn ways to research families, preserve families now and to feel our family love.
• Eagerness to learn and absorb all of the information available from various presentations.

There will be lots of shopping opportunities at Rootstech

• Largest enough suitcase to bring back all the goodies you'll find in the exhibit hall.
• Credit Card that give the best airline miles for purchasing deeply discounted DNA Test Kits and other deeply discounted genealogy tech items and cool things available at the expo.

Some people are more organised than me

• Map of conference center.
• Make a list of vendors you wish to visit.
• Create a personalized class schedule ahead of time.
• Plan to spend time at the Family History Library.
• Upload any documents/software you may need while in Salt Lake City.

Trove Tuesday - On the Move

The GeniAus family is on the move so I am on the lookout for tips to make the process a little more painful.... Trove to the rescue.

I entered the simple search "Moving house"into the Trove search box to see what I could find.

The first article was a bit blurry so I corrected the text which I will share.

Moving House.

THE problem of "making things flt" when changing houses can be very expensive if some ingenuity is not used by the housewife.

Linoleums that are too small should be treated frankly as squares, the edges trimmed neatly, and a order of enamel given to them as a finish. Such squares look well with a stained wood border.

If it is necessary to cut a seamless carpet, the best plan is to remove à whole length of the border pattern

over-sewing the edges very carefully. Then cut away the length that is re-quired and replace the border neatly.

Stair carpets can be made to look wider by placing under them a strip of felt the width required.

If removing from an old-fashioned house to a modern one and the old-fashioned cornice poles have to give place to an infinite number of short casement rods, a good and cheap de-vice is to buy the required length of electric wiring conduit. This is steel tubing, and is very strong.

In cutting down long curtains a quick way to sew on the seemingly endless small rings (if by chance they

are used to-day) is to do it on the sew-ing machine when sewing the hem. Take a tiny piece of tape about an inch long, fold it in halves and put a ring through the loop thus formed. Tuck the two ends of the tape under the hem and machine them in. Thus for curtains too long.

Those too short can be bordered with contrasting material, and really make the room look nicer than the plain ones.

1929 'Moving House.', Advocate (Burnie, Tas. : 1890 - 1954), 3 January, p. 6. , viewed 28 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article67790574

1975 'Moving House', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 3 October, p. 32. , viewed 28 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110660965

1931 'MOVING HOUSE.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), 17 July, p. 4. , viewed 28 Mar 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32356185

Although some of this advice was given many years ago there is a lot of sense in what has been suggested.

Trove Tuesday - Heatwave

As Sydney swelters in summer heat and I sit indoors in air-conditioned comfort I wondered how earlier generations coped in our steamy summers. Trove was the obvious place to seek some answers. Here is what I found.

"HEAT-WAVE MOTORING" Goulburn Evening Post (NSW : 1940 - 1954) 29 November 1949: 8 (Daily and Evening). Web. 24 Jan 2017 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104532776>.

1952 'Heat-Wave Conditions Leave People Gasping', The Forbes Advocate (NSW : 1911 - 1954), 25 January, p. 1. , viewed 24 Jan 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219130081

1960 'Precautions Advised For Babies', The Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), 28 January, p. 1. , viewed 24 Jan 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105900746

1927 'Hints for Hot Days', Call (Perth, WA : 1920 - 1927), 9 December, p. 3. , viewed 24 Jan 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article210800656

Tips for Genealogy Presenters

I have been notified that someone is sharing a page I posted on Weebly a few years ago when I was playing with that platform (reminder tto GeniAus - ake the old site down).

As I think what I wrote is still pertinent I am sharing it here:

Tips for Genealogy Presenters

My commitment to CGD exposes me to a range of presenters. Over the last eighteen months I have  attended a number of seminars and talks on genealogy and related subjects. Some presenters have been excellent and some have been downright woeful. In a blog post in 2010 I made some suggestions that may assist presenters at genealogy events. I am updating that here.
I have also suggested that Keynote Speakers should Inspire, Challenge, Educate, Engage, Entertain and Inform but believe that all speakers should aim to do more than one of these in each presentation.
Having knowledge of a subject does not qualify one as a competent and engaging presenter.

Each of these points could have helped one or some of the speakers I have heard recently.  

Before the Event

• Update your knowledge of the topic
• Get prior information on your audience 
• Liaise with the host before the event to ensure that you share similar expectations for the event.
• Be prepared for technology failure with a backup plan. Save copies of your presentation on the internet, a thumb drive, a CD. Have some printed notes for reference in case of complete tech failure.
• Ensure that marketing/advertising materials accurately reflect the content and level of your talk.
• Practice your talk in front of a trusted and honest friend or colleague and use their feedback to polish your work
• Make sure that you have enough content/slides to fill the allotted time. 
• Maintain regular contact with the hosting organisation.
• Prepare a handout or disk for distribution to participants or provide links to the presentation on the internet
• Dress appropriately for the situation 
• Arrive early and check the setup
• If you will be using the internet visit the sites you intend to show on the presentation computer  before the talk so that they are cached on your hard drive and quickly retrieved. 

During the Event

• Ascertain if audience members have auditory or visual issues and try to accommodate their needs.
• Set the scene by giving some background information on yourself
• Ask a few of the attendees: Why are you here? or What do you hope to get out of today's presentation?"
• If it's a small group or an all day seminar invest a few minutes in finding out something about each person in the group.
• State the rules of the game - Are you happy to be interrupted or do you want people to keep questions to the end? Can people record your talk? Can they take photographs?
• I shouldn't have to say this -  Never, ever read a prepared speech word for word
• Start with an overview of the presentation's content - Outline your goals for the gig
• State your relationship to products being demonstrated - Some talks are thinly veiled marketing exercises/infomercials - Be honest and upfront about your connections to vendors/products
• Display enthusiasm or passion for your subject
• Establish and maintain eye contact with the audience 
• Speak clearly, coherently and with animation - Engage your audience through good communciation
• Avoid Death by Powerpoint - You are the presenter and the focus
• Remember the people at the back of the room - Use a large (30point+) font on your slides)
• Smiles are free - Use them liberally
• Sprinkle your talk with anecdotes and analogies - But don't overdo it
• Use visual aids and artefacts to embellish your talk - Cater for individual learning styles of participants
• Pepper your talk with questions. Pose a question or problem and give the attendees a minute or two to discuss it with their neighbour. Ask a few to share their thoughts.
• Graciously accept all contributions to the conversation. Avoid putdowns.
• Always take a question - if is too complex to be answered immediately put it on a 'parking lot' list to be answered at the end of the presentation
• When showing internet sites connect to the site - avoid screenshots - use these as backups for times of technology failure 
• When quoting a URL have an accompanying slide in large font or have a word processing doc opened in the background into which you can quickly tyre the URL
• When talking about software - Accompany with a live demonstration
• Be honest - If you don't know the answer to a question say so  
• There may be experts in your audience who can add value to the event - Accept their comments graciously
• Provide handouts in hard copy or provide a link to a site where a soft copy can be found.
• Reiterate your goals at the end of the talk 

Afterwards

• Invite feedback via a printed or online feedback form - Offer a prize draw for completed forms
• Set aside some time to talk to audience members individually after talk
• Provide contact details for audience followup 
• Use audience feedback to amend and polish your presentation for next time

Please, genealogy presenters, recognise that learning is a collaborative exercise. Involve your students. You can learn from them and give them and yourselves a richer learning experience. Updated 12/4/2012