The Thoughtful Ancestor

Earlier this year I was delighted to find that one of my submissions for the Connections2025 Conference had been accepted.

My topic is: The Thoughtful Ancestor: leaving a large footprint for future generations

Image by bobschwenkler from Pixabay

The Synopsis: Researchers spend enormous amounts of time, effort and money on their projects but, if they have not made arrangements before they are dead, the fruits of their labour are likely to end up on a rubbish dump. 

The purpose of this presentation is to make attendees reflect on their practices and to guide them in making decisions to ensure that their work is preserved for future generations. 

In this presentation I hope to cover: Evaluating your collections, Cleaning up your files, Documenting your wishes, Appointing a successor: person or institution, Writing up a clear summary of your collection, Leaving funds for curation.

I'm aiming to make this a practical presentation with many suggestions for leaving a large footprint. In addition to a physical footprint I will mention the emotional legacy we leave for our descendants. 

I feel a serious case of nerves approaching as I strive to put together a talk worthy of the event. When I peruse the program I see that I am in the company of esteemed and experienced presenters.

On my recent return from overseas I created a Powerpoint file to use as a mind map/plan for my presentation. It's time to give up dabbling and get moving as my file is due to be uploaded in less than than a month. I am now in serious research/preparation mode. 

My presentation is after lunch on the last day of the conference so the audience members are likely to be suffering from information overload. I will have to make it light and lively to keep them engaged.

There are a few speakers I would really like to hear at the event but as we are scheduled at the same timeslot I will have to miss Andrew Redfern and David Ryan. I hope there is some audience left for me!

Roll on March. 

Don't dilly-dally

 Hope to see YOU in Brisbane

25 Stackpole Street Wishart, QLD 4122 PO Box 1467, Carindale Qld 4152 www.connections2025.org.au convenor@connections2025.org.au Brisbane | 21 – 24 March 2025

EARLY BIRD – ends 30 November 2024 If you are still to register for Connections Past-Present-Future consider the following: The daily registration fee for the conference is $260, if you register for the Friday only it does not include the Meet and Greet, which would be an additional $33. If you register for two days of the conference only, the registration fee is $520. If you register for all three days of the conference it is $515, and this includes the Meet and Greet and with Early Bird registration the  price is $395. The Conference Dinner, which is on Saturday night, is an additional $66 at Early Bird pricing. Masterclasses on the Saturday and Sunday are filling fast and are $75 per class. Lunches are of your choosing, but you do need to be aware of the venue’s trading restrictions. Early Bird pricing on lunches provided by the venue is $25. See below. Parking  is $10 on Friday and is free on Saturday & Sunday. See Conference Parking Tours on the Monday are Optional.

Save the Date : Connections2025

G'day Genimates, 

I am sharing this Save the Date notice on behalf of our friends at The Genealogical Society of Queensland – GSQ. We encourage you all to follow the Connections 2025 Facebook page  for event updates and to show your support to help make this a wonderful, engaging event for history aficionados all over Australia and New Zealand.

SAVE THE DATE: March 21-24, 2025.

The Australasian Conference - Connections 2025 - will be held in Brisbane over four days in March 2025. Hosted by the Genealogical Society of Queensland, the conference combines the 17th Australian Conference on Genealogy and Heraldry (also known as Congress) and the 5th History Queensland State Conference.                            

Connections 2025 is a must do event for family and local historians. Visit the Conference website for more details and watch this blog for regular updates. 

Some of the 650 Delegates enjoying High Tea at the 2018 Congress in Sydney

I am honoured and thrilled to be the NSW Ambassador for this event. I have attended and enjoyed the the last four Congresses and have found them to be enriching, entertaining educational events. The bonus is that I met up with old friends in person and had opportunities to forge relationships with new-to-me genimates. 

I am hoping to see a strong cohort from New Wales and to meet many genies from beyond our State in Brisbane. The event will have an international flavour, I already know of genies attending from The Netherlands, The United Kingdom and The United States.

With your help we can make this an affair to remember. 

Cheers, Jill aka GeniAus

Congress - So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night

Before I resign from my position as an Official Blogger for AFFHO Congress 2015 I must write my last post. It seems apt to use the title of the song that the organising committee farewelled us with on the final day of Congress as the title of this post.

Farewell from the Organising Team

As has been my practice after some events I attend I will use Edward De Bono's PMI scaffold to sort out the random thoughts I have about the event.

My thoughts follow in no particular order (and I may come back and add more as I think of them)

PLUS

• Kerrie Gray
• The organisation was superb - what an energetic and friendly team.
• Registration went smoothly.
• The venue was convenient to a range of accommodation.
• The food was tasty and plentiful (except at the War Memorial)
• Lunchtime sessions were a great idea.
• The tiered theatres ensured that all had an opportunity to see the presenters.
• Having Official Bloggers was a good idea - thanks for the invitation
• Having a Congress App. (Even better would be a hybrid combining best features of the Rootstech and Congress Apps.)
• Speakers' Corner.
• Papers available in soft copy.
• The Purple Patch People and the Greenshirts.
• Technology support.
• Being able to attend sessions for which I didn't register.
• Having a forum to meet and mingle with fellow enthusiasts.
• The coffee stand in the foyer.
• Wifi availability.
• Your @AFFHO2015 tweeter.
• Feedback from many that the pre-Congress Hangout on Air was helpful.

MINUS

• Sessions on Society Management were absent from the program. As this is a conference for a Federation of Societies this should be a stream in the program.
• Societies were generally absent from the exhibition space. It would have been nice to have a spot where smaller societies could leave promotional material for interested parties.
• The notice board was not announced - I found it in a corner on the last day.
• Two overseas speakers repeated talks from Congress 2015, I was caught.
• Too many speakers read their papers. (They should have attended Paul Milner's lunchtime session on presentations).
• Sessions weren't recorded.
• Several speakers didn't submit papers or offer links where their presentations/papers could be downloaded.
• Recycled overseas speakers. There are plenty of fish in the ocean, it would be nice to see fresh faces visiting our shores.
• Too many 'chalk and talk" lecture style session.

INTERESTING

• There was no function in the Exhbition area to force encourage attendees to linger longer. Perhaps the lunchtime sessions drew people away from exhibitors.
• Wonder if the Interests Register was a success and worth the effort. I had no contacts.
• Do we really need a conference bag?
• I disposed of all the advertising material in my Conference Bag. Is there some other way to distribute sponsor bumph?
• Technology in Royal Theatre wasn't set up to deal with presentations containing hyperlinks.
• The opening function was at dinner time. As it's a reception with minimal food perhaps it should be scheduled at the cocktail hour.
• There were no hands-on computer lab sessions.

Thanks to everyone who read my Congress blog posts and to my co-bloggers Shauna and Pauleen.