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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Virtual "Meet and Greet"

Oh, boy, am I nervous and excited.

Tonight I am hosting a Hangout on Air about Genealogy Cruising for Unlock the Past. I am nervous because Mr Unlock the Past, Alan Phillips, has put his faith in me to carry out this task for UTP. I will try my best no to besmirch the reputation of his organisation.


Sometimes the Google Hangout application can be a bit flaky and sometimes my internet connection is dodgy (I do have a backup plan) so that adds to my anxiety. I also don't know exactly who will be on the panel until they actually join so I can't really script the activity. I just make do with a rough runsheet.

Overriding all of this is my excitement. I love the Hangout tool which allows people from distant places to join together in an online teleconference that is livestreamed to the world. Potentially thousands of people could watch our little broadcast tonight.

I am excited because I am going to meet fellow presenters and cruisers prior to our cruise in three weeks time. I know that presenters from three countries will join me (technology willing) as well as seasoned cruisers and some first-time sailors. We plan to chat for 45 minutes (but may have to stretch to 60) about who we are, why we love geneacruising and what we expect to get out of the cruise. We hope that our newbie or any potential cruisers come armed with questions to ask.

This Hangout will be of interest to anyone who wants to meet some renowned genealogists, find out about geneacruising or just spend some time with fellow family historians. While the 4th Unlock the Past Cruise will be our focus we will share details of future cruises and geneacrusising in general

You can watch this event at 8:00pm Sydney time tonight directly from here on the Unlock the Past Youtube Channel.  If you wish to comment or pose questions during the event you should join the Unlock the Past Hangout Community on Google+. You need to have a Google account for this, if you have a Gmail account you can log in to plus.google.com with your Gmail username and password.

Disclaimer: As their Hangout Host I am being compensated by Unlock the Past. The excitement is all my own.


2 comments:

  1. You will be great Jill - and no doubt the hangout will be too. Most of us are raw beginners at this kind of thing - so will be learning the technology and process as much as we will about the cruise/s.

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  2. You do a great job every time Jill, especially when the technology isn't willing as it was that night. Takes talent to cope with those curved balls! it was great to hear everyone's advice and to meet Kirsty Gray.

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