Three Aussie Genies on The Program

Together with my Genimates Shauna Hicks and Sharn White I will be taking to the stage at THE Genealogy Show - Winter Event next weekend. 

We are thrilled to be bringing an Australian perspective to this international event once again after the success of the last event held earlier this year in June.

We hope to see many of our Aussie friends at THE Show which also features a cast of speakers from the UK, Europe and The Americas. The event will open in the early hours on Friday 3rd December in the UK which I guestimate to be 11am Sydney time and runs continuously for 48 hours. You will then be able to access the recordings for a month after the event.

Earlybird registrations at £15 (less then $30AUD) close on the 30th November; closer to the show the cost is still reasonable at  £20. Similar events in Australia cost much more than this. Buy your tickets here: https://www.thegenealogyshowlive.com/plans/show-tickets/

National Family History Month Winnner

I was a winner in National Family History Month. Thanks to Ancestry.com and the NFHM Coordinator, Shauna Hicks for organising such a comprehensive list of prizes.

Return to Port

I have returned with Mr GeniAus to a place where I spent many summer holidays as a child and that later we brought our children for summer holidays. I have many fond memories of summer days spent in this coastal retreat.

Little GeniAus with her Mum and Aunts on summer holidays

Port Macquarie on the mid north coast in New South Wales is a popular destination for seaside holidays and a home for retirees seeking a mild climate away from the madness of big sities.

When it was announced that Port (as the locals call it) would be the venue for the Annual Conference of the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies Inc. I convinced Mr GeniAus that we would need a break by the sea in September 2015. .. and here we are.

Today it took us about four hours to drive up from Sydney on a good straight highway most of the way. I seem to remember that it took much longer when I was a child as we had to negotiate the old Pacific Highway with its many twists and turns. I can remember the car radiator boiling over on Buladelah hill.

We are presently settled in a comfortable waterside hotel in  Port Macquarie; when I was a child we rented a small two bedroom flat (away from the action) in which Mum, Dad and my aunt, uncle and cousin would spend two weeks. Although our accommodation in those days was very basic I have wonderful memories of times spent on the beach, fishing in the river and visiting the various tourist attractions in the area. As we arrived at dusk I haven't had time to explore these old haunts but will do so after the conference concludes on Sunday.

Meanwhile I am excited about manning a stand (with Mr GeniAus) at the Family History Fair tomorrow for The Hornsby Shire Family History Group and representing them at the forum and annual general meeting of NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies Inc. As this is a first for me it will be a new learning experience.

I have already met a couple of genies in the hotel and I bumped into Shauna Hicks and Max on our after dinner stroll. As much as I love the online world I enjoy catching up with my genimates in the flesh, I am particularly excited about meeting some online friends that I have not yet met in person.

Your Official Blogging Team

Although we are in regular contact on various social media channels your Official #AFFHO Congress Bloggers rarely meet in person as we live in three distant corners of Australia.  So when we meet up "in the flesh" there is lots of excitement.

Shauna, Jill and Pauleen proudly wearing our blogger beads

If you are at Congress and you see one of us please say G'day  ....  and if you want to know about geneablogging ask one of the 30 bead wearing bloggers at Congress all about it.

And don't forget to keep visiting the Compilations of Blog Posts from Congress at http://geniaus.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/geneabloggers-at-congress-posts-from.html where you'll find link sto as many blog posts as I can find from Congress 2015.

Going out on a limb

Out on a Limb

I am going out on a limb with this post as I know that many of my genimates have very strong opinions that conflict with my stance on this matter.

One aspect of sharing in the genealogical community that I found disappointing at the recent FGS/Rootstech conferences was the unwillingness of some presenters to allow attendees to take photos of their slides. After the Conferences I noted some conversations on social media that censured the large number of Rootstech attendees who captured images of presenters' slides on their smartphones or cameras. This practice seems to be accepted at Rootstech, I am one who has snapped slides at the four Rootstech Conferences I have attended.

I have presented at three Rootstech Conferences and am flattered when people find the slides I proffer worthy of capture, maybe I'm a strange bird! I just read a blog post from Australia's Gold Medallist Genealogy Rockstar, Shauna Hicks, who gave some presentations in Brisbane yesterday. On her post Shauna said " as usual my slides are on the Resources page of my website". Shauna is of those Generous Genies who is willing to share her outlines with the community, maybe she's a strange bird too!

I asked permission of several FGS presenters to snap their slides and permission was granted, thank you. Instead of having my head down typing furiously I was able to snap the slides and be released from tedious notetaking, I could listen intently and make eye contact with the presenters. Others said "no" so I respected that and busily typed the content from their slides into Evernote. In all cases I managed to copy the content of slides.

The issue we discuss should not be about the format in which we take notes it should be about the ethical use of the notes we capture. 

I understand that slides are the presenters' intellectual property and subject to copyright. Presenters are worried that their work will be copied and distributed to others and that others might even take their work and use it to develop their own presentions on the topic. I wonder how many people who took pictures of slides in Rootstech presentations are actually going to prepare and present the topic as their own in another forum! I suggest that if people are going to plagiarise others' work and present it as their own they will do it irrespective of the format in which they captured their notes.

What I think people fail to realise is that slides are/should be just an outline of a presentation, they may be an aide memoire to keep a speaker on track, a reinforcement of important concepts/points or a scaffold for the audience. Without hearing the full spoken content of  a presentation it would be quite difficult to reproduce a presentation from slides.

I can't understand why presenters who don't permit photographing of their slides don't ask attendees to refrain from taking notes during their presentations, these are just two ways of capturing an outline of a presentation and achieve the same purpose. Those who take hand or typewritten notes during a presentation can also distribute them to others and develop presentations based on the notes.

We should be discussing the issue of how we use the notes we take at the events we attend not the means we use to collect those notes.

I think we should look at the bigger picture, give permission for people to record notes in a format that is convenient for them and concentrate on educating our audiences in ethical use of conference notes, handouts etc.   

Australian Genealogists Daily

Several years ago (I can't remember when) I set up a Paper.li Paper "The Australian Genealogists Daily. I was reminded of the usefulness of this little experiment by Shuana Hicks in her blog post this week.

What is Paper.li ? Their website states "Paper.li is a content curation service. It enables people to publish newspapers based on topics they like and treat their readers to fresh news, daily. We believe that people (and not machines) are the ones qualified to curate the content that matters most."

How do I manage the Paper? I set up an "Australian Genealogists list" on my Twitter account and then went over to Paper.li and chose "Create Paper" from their menu, I followed their instructions and from the options selected "a twitter name or list" from the options displayed in  "Choose your paper’s content", I used my "Australian Genealogists list".  "The Australian Genealogists Daily". was born. Apart from adding new people to the list I do nothing, it is an automated service.

Where does the content come from? It is randomly selected by Paper.li from the tweets of the 89 people and organisations on my list. If you take a look at the list you will notice that there are no commercial organisations there, it is composed mostly of Australians individuals (including expats) or societies who identify as having an interest in family history. As I find someone new I add them to the list. I need your help to let me know of any person or society I may have missed and I will add them.

How do you get the Paper? Both Shauna Hicks and I have a daily automated tweet that lets one know when the paper is delivered or you can subscribe to updates by email here: https://paper.li/geniaus/australian-genealogists.

Front page of today'sedition

If you want to keep abreast of genealogy news downunder then "The Australian Genealogists Daily is a good place to start.

#NFHM2014 Report Card

My #NFHM2014 Report Card

Shauna Hicks drew up this list of 31 Activities for researchers to attempt during National Family History Month. How did I score?







1 Visit the NFHM sponsors page and consider entering the prize draw for
individuals  www.familyhistorymonth.org.au/sponsors
I entered the competitions for individuals. Fingers crossed.

2 Apply for a National Library of Australia e-resources card and explore
genealogy resources online at home if you have not done so before
www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources
A great fan of The National Library I have had my card for some years now and regularly use it to access online resources.

3 Visit your State library and see what genealogical information they hold.
If distant, do a virtual visit. If you do not already have a State library card,
apply so that you can use their e-resources at home.
Also a fan of The State Library of NSW I have had a card for several years and used it during #NFHM2014 to access databases. Did you know that the Library has a family history blog at http://statelibrarynsw-familyhistory.tumblr.com/

4 Check out all the new resources on Ancestry www.ancestry.com.au and
enter the prize draw to win a year's subscription - major sponsor and
prize sponsor
I use Ancestry regularly. Having an annual sub is a luxury I appreciate as it allow me to access the resources wheneve. I'ver I wish. During #NFHM2014 I spent some time checking out the hints on the shaky leaves.

5 Have a look at some of the great genealogy cruises coming up with
Unlock the Past www.unlockthepastcruises.com - prize sponsor
Geneacruising is one of my favourite ways to learn. My schedulae for 2015 is pretty full but some of the 2016 cruises are tempting.

6 Visit your State Archives and see what resources they hold
and look at their fact sheets and guides. If distant, do a virtual visit.
This is another repository I love. I visited in person last month and have visited virtually several times this month.
Remember to check out the National Archives of Australia
www.naa.gov.au - NFHM launch sponsor
Several virtual visits undertaken this month.

7 Plan to attend a NFHM event in your area.  If none, suggest to your local
society or public library that they participate next year
www.familyhistorymonth.org.au
I've gone overboard in this area having presented and attended online and in person events.

8 Attend one of the online events in the NFHM web calendar
www.familyhistorymonth.org.au/online-event
Enjoyed hosting online events and have attended others. Love connecting and learning from the comfort of home.

9 Explore your surname in the MyHeritage Last Name Directory
http://lastnames.myheritage.com/last-names - major sponsor and prize
sponsor
Missed the boat on the free access period but hope to investigate later.

10 Visit your local genealogy/family history society and see what resources
they hold. If you are not a member, think about joining or perhaps join a
society near where your ancestors lived
Have visited two local societies I belong to this month.

11 Visit the NFHM Facebook page for updates throughout August
www.facebook.com/pages/Family-History-Month/208048719235109
Have you Liked our page yet?
Certainly have.

12 Did any family members fight in WW1? Participate in the National
Archives of Australia new beta website Discovering Anzacs
http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/home
Have visited but have not yet contributed any material. On the gunna list.

13 Download the free August genealogy ebook from genEbooks www.genebooks.com - prize sponsor
Thanks for the reminder. Downloading now, one never knows when it will come in handy. Need to add it to my Librarything so I know I have it.

14 Check out Twitter https://twitter.com to see the latest genealogy news -
use the hash tags #genealogy or #familyhistory and remember to also use
#NFHM2014
I've overdone this one as well.

15 Why not do a photo book on a person or family? Momento have some
great ideas  www.momento.com.au - prize sponsor
I fall down on this one, not organised enough for photobooks.

16 Attend/listen to a webinar or Google + hangout  - why not join Google +
and see what other Aussie genealogists are doing?
Hosted Hangouts, attended webinars - thanks for the freebie MyHeritage.

17 Early NSW ancestors? - have a look at the Biographical Database of
Australia www.bda-online.org.au - prize sponsor
Have a sub to this one. Must check back to see if there's anything new.

18 Read a family history blog or start your own genealogy blog writing
stories about individual ancestors or families.
I am a blogaholic. I read and write them. I started a new fun one in #NFHM2014. Check it out at 
http://geneadictionary.wordpress.com

19 Have another look at that brick wall - construct a time line of known facts
and relook at everything. I'm offering a prize to assist in brick wall
demolitions if I can. See NFHM sponsors page.
I'm looking.

20 Visit your local library and explore the genealogy and local history
sections. Or visit your local historical society or a virtual visit to an
historical society near where your ancestors lived
Attended a talk at the local library.

21 Enrol in one of the free online genealogy courses offered by the National
Institute of Genealogical Studies www.genealogicalstudies.com - prize
sponsor (details of three courses offered are on NFHM sponsors page)
Great offer which I am declining because I never seem to get around to completing these once I enrol.

22 Make a start on scanning all your old photographs. Remember to identify
and file the images as you go.
I get a gold star here. Have nearly 100,000 photos scanned and tagged with the help of Picasa. I need to weed out duplicates.

23 Visit your local newsagent and see what genealogy and family history
magazines they have. Australian Family Tree Connections
www.aftc.com.au and Inside History Magazine
www.insidehistory.com.au - both prize sponsors
I always make sure that Inside History is visible in our local's display.

24 Findmypast www.findmypast.com.au may be available at a local council
library or genealogy/family history society library - book a session time
and see what you can discover - prize sponsor
I'm lucky to have an annual world sub. It's part of the toolbox at my fingertips.

25 Check out the Gould Genealogy & History www.gould.com.au online
catalogue and be ready when the family ask what you want for
Christmas/birthday etc - prize sponsor
If only the family would take note of my hints.

26 Explore FamilySearch https://familysearch.org and perhaps do one of
their online tutorials. Major sponsor
I find their wiki a useful resource. Have visited this month to do some indexing.

27 Join Trove http://trove.nla.gov.au and correct newspaper text after you
make that exciting family discovery! Why not add tags or make a list of
your discoveries?
I'm a Troveite so this month I have shared the joys of Trove with Mr Geniaus who is now hooked.

28 Plan to attend the next AFFHO congress in Canberra in March 2015
www.congress2015.org.au -
Major sponsor and prize sponsor
Barring some major catastrophe I'll be there.

29 Make sure all your photos are identified (both print copies and online)
and explore Picasa's facial recognition capability
http://picasa.google.com.au
See answer to question 22.

30 Why not plan to attend the NSW/ACT conference in Wollongong in
September www.conference2014.org.au - prize sponsor
Considered this long and hard, I love to catch up with my genimates but as the program this year doesn't light my fire I'll be staying home.

31 NSW ancestors - why not look at transcriptions as an alternative to
certificates with Joy Murrin transcription agent www.joymurrin.com.au -
prize sponsor
Compiling a list for when I have more pennies to spare.

Hanging my head in shame

I am proud to say that nearly 50 years ago I started my career working in public libraries in New South Wales and since then I have had an ongoing love affair with those institutions and the great work they do.

On the eve of National Family History Month (NFHM) I am feeling rather sad. Having just checked the calendar for NSW events in National Family History Month I am disappointed that most public library services in my state (and some big metropolitan ones at that) are not recognising NFHM by hosting events during the month.

Knowing that local libraries are cash strapped I offered to do talks for two library services in my area one of which I have spoken at several times and another that I have not. I sent a formal offer to the second library on 21st February and received a reply three months later on May 15 that they would like to take up my offer. I replied on the same day with several dates and in July 2 got this reply:

"Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in getting this planned at our branch and through for approval for our August What’s on promotional material. As such  we won’t be going ahead with this for August.

I am open to future suggestions for sessions and would still love to have you speak at our libraries . Please feel free to contact me with further ideas"

My next communication from this library was to ask me if I would be available to speak in October. We have set a date, they have asked for a bio for promotion so it looks as though that might go ahead. I sent a less formal offer to the other library early in July and have yet to receive a response!!

Surely there is some time that the seminar roms are free in these libraries and that a staff member can be relieved for and hour or two to meet and greet and oversee the proceedings. As for promotion a poster in the library, use of the Councils' social media tools (they have them) and a listing on the NFHM calendar would get the message out.

There are five large library services within a half  hour's drive of my home: Hawkesbury, Hornsby, Ku-ring-gai, The Hills and Willoughby. On checking the NFHM calendar I note that only one of these, Hawkesbury, is hosting any events for National Family History Month. You can see their What's On Brochure here. I am looking forward to hearing at windsor Library "SINGLE FEMALE EMIGRATION 1830s - 1840s" on Wednesday 13 August 10-11.45am – with Dr Perry McIntyre.

What of other public libraries?  Two Eastern suburbs libraries that I worked at, Randwick and Waverley, do not have any events. I am most disappointed that public libraries are not supporting our special month.

As far as I can see Bega Valley, Campsie, Lithgow,Merrylands, Monaro, Penrith and Queanbeyan are the only public library services hosting events. Hats off to these groups for supporting events. I am wondering how much support there is for NFHM from public libraries in other states. Perhaps those libraries that have historical societies or family history groups in their regions are relying on them. I feel that public libraries should be running events to showcase their collections and services that complement those of local societies

Our State Library of NSW is flying the flag with a fantastic program of events that should amuse those within cooee of Sydney. Together with the beaut program of events from societies and Familysearch centres there are many events to entertain and educate family historians. I know that I will be very busy furthering my learning this month.

Shauna Hicks does an amazing job promoting and organizing National Family History Month. Let's get behind her and ask our local public libraries what they have planned for NFHM. 

Trove - Pandora Archive

A couple of years ago I was contacted by The National Library of Australia asking for permission to archive this blog in The Pandora Web Archive. I put the email aside to deal with later and promptly forgot about it.

When I was approached again earlier this year I acted immediately and gave the library permission to archive my blog.

The Pandora site explains:
"PANDORA, Australia's Web Archive, is a growing collection of Australian online publications, established initially by the National Library of Australia in 1996, and now built in collaboration with nine other Australian libraries and cultural collecting organisations.

The name, PANDORA, is an acronym that encapsulates our mission: Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia."

Here is my blog's entry on Pandora:

I notice that several of my genimates including Shauna Hicks and Kerry Farmer have also had their blogs or websites archived on Pandora. You can see a full list of Genealogy and Family History sites in Pandora here: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/subject/80

I am thrilled to have been chosen for the Pandora Archive.

Opening a can of worms or two?

I had a loooong chat with Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past this week, I was thrilled to hear that 230 people (genies and a few partners) have booked for the 4th Genealogy Cruise out of Australia in February - what a genealogy feast it will be. If you have been thinking about joining this cruise you had better do it now as there are very few cabins left.

I am excited that I will be presenting/moderating a new session on the voyage around the topic of ethics in genealogy. I am working on a set of questions/scenarios that I will open to discussion by a panel of experienced genealogists on the cruise. We will cover issues such as publishing sensitive information and how to decide what to include, the right of descendants to know the truth, borrowing other peoples photos and plagiarism and copyright.

Louis Kessler, Shauna Hicks, Alona Tester and Helen Smith in the Social Media Panel  I moderated on the 3rd UTP Cruise

Social Media Panel

I am so cranky with myself.

I didn't think to record the audio from the Social Media Panel I moderated on the 3rd Unlock the Past Genealogy Cruise so  I have no record (apart from my dottery memory) of the responses that were made to the questions I posed.

I couldn't have wished for better panelists than Shauna Hicks, Louis Kessler, Helen Smith and Alona Tester who shared their thoughts and opinions with the disappointingly small audience we had for this session. Because of the panelists' contributions and the differnet format this was one of the best sessions on the cruise program (IMHO). Quite a few who were there asked if can it be repeated in 2014.

L-R Louis, Shauna, Alona, Helen

In the meantime I have realised that the questions I posed would make a good little Geneameme so I will  get around to posting that soon and hope to hear how you would answer the questions.

Tuesday at Sea

The tally of talks I attended today was five, I listened to three and presented two. Additionally I spent a session in the research help zone where I shared some tips on how to access genealogy blogs, gave some tips on research in Western Australia (about which I know little) and organised for Neil Bradley from Western Australia to meet up with the enquirer to give  more informed help.

I sat down the back for Shauna Hicks presentation on Trove as I think I have a good handle on this topic. What I find valuable in these instances is seeing what approach other presenters take when approaching a topic. Shauna emphasised the use and value of tagging in Trove more than I do - something I will consider for the future. As always this talk was well structured and full of great tips.

Shauna Hicks

It was double whammy from Paul Milner today, his morning session " Buried treasures - what's in the English Parish Chest"  reminded me that many of these records are available on microfilm from Familysearch. Before I set off for Salt Lake City next month I must draw up a list of films for Mr Geniaus to search while I am at Rootstech. After dinner Paul presented "English Parish Registers: how to access, use and interpret" was a good followon to the earlier talk.

Paul Milner

I felt more relaxed in my presentations and basked in the positive reinforcement I received after "Google tools for Genealogy" and "Geneagoogling: Effective Google searches". These sessions were great fun; I especially valued the contributions I had from fellow geneabloggers Alona Tester and Linda Elliott.

Keen students ready for my talk

Paul Milner

Louis Kessler has an impresssive family tshirt

Thanks, Shauna

At the recent Unlock the Past Brisbane Expo I gave a talk each day about using the Flip-Pal and organising one's images with Picasa. My three other presentations were on Geneablogging, Geneawebinars and Google+ for Genealogy.


As a former teacher I love sharing knowledge with others and encouraging them to explore new resources and topics. I was thrilled to be given an opportunity to share my enthusiasm for Blogging, Google+ and Webinars at this Unlock the Past event. An important part of any process is evaluation so I was chuffed that many of the attendees took the time to stop by the Gould stand and give me feedback on my performance.


What really made the effort worthwhile was that someone who attended some of my talks took the time to blog about the experience and even better was that the person who did so was Shauna Hicks, one of Australia's foremost genealogy presenters. Shauna said:


"For my second session I decided to go to one of the free sessions and I'm glad I did. Jill Ball gave a great three part presentation on webinars (GeneaWebinars), Flip Pal mobile scanners and Picasa for genealogists. It was a practical session with Jill taking the mystery out of these areas and showing how simple it really is to use these great tools for our family history research. My only gripe was that it should have been longer and part of the paid talk series so that more people could have had the opportunity to attend. The great news is that Jill's slides for all three talks will be on the Unlock the PastResources page soon."


Thank you, Shauna, that paragraph on your blog made my day.


When you enjoy a talk, presentation or a piece of writing do you take the time to give feedback to the person responsible for the work?

Spine Tingling Stuff

Sometimes one is bowled over by a presentation or talk. That was my experience earlier today. Thanks to Cassie Mercer from Inside History Magazine who invited me to this talk which was part of The Free History Group Series at Randwick Library. 

Paul O'Keefe and Geniaus at Randwick Library

Last week I wrote of my disappointment with the recent Keynotes at the 2012 Genealogy Congress in Adelaide; today I heard a talk that left the presentations in Adelaide for dead. At this event at Randwick Branch Library in the Sydney's Eastern Suburbs I sat beside two geneabloggers, Sharn White  and Shauna Hicks who were similarly affected by the talk "The Girl Who Loved Ned Kelly".


Paul O'Keefe is the great-great-grandson of Ettie Hart, the girl that he posits was notorious bushranger Ned Kelly's lover. Having heard Paul's talk I tend to agree. Family stories handed down through the generations in Paul's family had told of Ettie's liaison with Ned Kelly but these were only stories. Paul has spent the last ten years carefully researching this story and has amassed an enormous amount of evidence to support his theory.


Paul delivered his amazing and controversial story with passion, warmth and humour. His talk was illustrated with a rich collection of images that seamlessly integrated with his words to add a visual dimension to the story. The only criticism I have is that Paul read his story but this was only its second public airing. Once he becomes more comfortable he will be able to connect even more with his audience. Today he held the audience in the palm of his hand; some of his revelations caused shivers down my spine. 


In my recent post about keynotes I stated that "I expect a keynote to do more than one of these things: Inspire, Challenge, Educate, Engage, Entertain and Inform." Paul's talk delivered on each of these. Genealogy and Local History Societies and Local Libraries in Sydney should be forming a line to book Paul for their meetings. After the talk I felt like going out, hiring a venue and promoting Paul. His talk centered on one of Australia's most infamous characters, it challenged history and it demonstrated that thorough research can pay dividends. 


Paul's contact details can be found on his website Neducate.


The best things in life are sometimes free.

Family Archives

This is what Shauna is talking about in her presentation right now at Congress today.

Sometimes less is more.

 Follow Friday posts that are generated by some sort of automated program have been annoying me for quite a while. I thought it may have been because I am getting old and crabby but thanks to Carole Riley who directed her readers to a blog post, Please put a stop to the mass Follow Friday tweets, on this subject I realise that I am not alone.

This article clearly echoed my feelings and set out some guidelines fo Follow Friday posts. I am posting the rules put forward by the author (full details can be found in the post) as I believe that they are eminently sensible:

1) If you’re going to Follow Friday someone, make it just ONE person per #FF tweet per week. 
2) Say why you recommend them.
3) Just do it Friday.  

Joseph Ranseth says:
" The Right Way…

Follow Friday is an opportunity to share with our friends the people that we value. We are saying “this is someone that I get value from, and I want you to enjoy what they have to offer as well”. It’s about sharing, giving and providing value to others.

…and the Wrong Way

Follow Friday is NOT about getting more followers. Some people (either ignorant of the law, or possessing a lack mentality) will recommend as many people as they can for #followfriday in hopes that some of them will feel obligated to reciprocate that gesture. By accomplishing this, they hope that they will attract new followers. Sadly, they just don’t get it…"

A lot of my Twitter pals from the world of genealogy just don't get it either. After Judy Webster from Queensland  posted the following on Twitter last Friday there were a few tweets around the topic.

Bravo, Judy. I never take any notice of  my mentions in Follow Friday posts that resemble shopping lists and are produced by some automated service. It was pleasing to see a number of people adopting Judy's policy last week.

I was bowled over by a tweet from Shauna Hicks, who last week also abandoned the automated style and opted for just 1 descriptive #FF post. Shauna selected @geniaus as the one person for her #FF tweet. Thankyou most sincerely, Shauna, this Follow Friday post meant a lot to me.

Saturday at the Roadshow

Quiet Saturday morning traffic enabled me to leave home later and arrive in time for the first talk of the day by Elaine Collins from FindMyPast. Elaine is an experienced and competent speaker who is able to talk comfortably to a large audience. I had missed the first half of Elaine's talk so was pleased to be able to catch it the second time around.  Her news that only one subscription will be needed to access the resources of the UK and Australian editions of FindMyPast in the near future was pleasing. It was good to get an update on the resources that are aavailable through one's subscription. I certainly get my money's worth from my annual subscription.

After hearing Elaine I moved to the smaller room to prepare for my presentation that I have reported on in my post Gasbagging about Genealogy.

After my session I stayed on in the room to hear Shauna Hicks deliver "Archives you may not know - but should!" In her presentation Shauna presented a long list of links to archives that may have relevance to genealogists. Her notes can be found here.

Geniaus and Dan Lynch

After a long lunch break I lined up for my fourth presentation by Dan Lynch. Firstly Dan autographed my copy of Google Your Family Tree and then he posed for a photo with me, thanks Dan. As with his earlier presentations I did not learn so much about the mechanics of Google but I learnt about why some media and google applications can be relevant to genealogists. I tend to steer away from video but, after listening to Dan, am going to explore video as a means to put some context to the lives of my ancestors and distant cousins. Dan suggested that by listening to video one can an idea of how people speak and use language in their locations. He also reminded us that both photos and video found on Google show the physical attributes of places and buildings and will add more context to our research. The best tip for me  was, when using Google to search in countries that speak a language other than English, to search with the terms from that country eg use eglise instead of church or frere instead of brother when searching in France. This approach is bound to bring up more hits.

Dan's enthusiasm as a Google apostle was evident through his talk. When people are passionate about their topics it adds an extra dimension to their presentations.

The next speaker I heard, Louise St Denis, was another presenter who was passionate about her subject and who presented with vigour and flair. Her topic "I found it once. Why can't I find it again!" was basically a mini-tutorial on how to cite one's sources according to genealogical conventions. Louise gave a good overview of this meaty topic.

Unfortunately, as an amateur genealogist who has no thoughts of becoming a professional, I  would find it tedious to apply these rules to my hobby. I have blogged about this on several occasions as I believe that, for a hobby, as long as a citation leads others back to a cited source does it matter if it is done according to Harvard, APA, MLA or some other method. The most important thing for me is being able to find something again!

Apart from the speakers I'll comment on some other aspects of the Roadshow. I thought that the venue was very good with ample parking, a variety of food outlets, a lift for those unable to climb stairs and plenty of space to for small gatherings. If radio mikes could be supplied for speakers and a shuttle from a nearby station arranged for those who don't drive this would be a near perfect venue.

The warm welcome given to attendeess by Carole Riley SAG Councillor and Professional Genealogist set the scene for the day.

The Roadshow had a small number of exhibitors and, if the hole in my wallet, is indicative of other attendees' spending then the exhibitors were relevant to the crowd. I was able to subscribe to a magazine, buy some books and sign up for The Irish Day at SAG.

I must commend the stalwarts from the Sydney TMG Users Group of which I am a fairly new member; volunteers, Linda Bishop and Faye Cooke, manned the table for the two days of the Roadshow  demonstrating to attendees the features of The Master Genealogist software. TMG was the only software package that had a presence at The Roadshow.  If I was in the market for software again I would consider this program not just for its merits but becaue there is so much support available to users through the Sydney TMG Users Group and similar groups in other states.

Thanks again to the team from Unlockthepast for feeding my addiction to genealogy via the Roadshow.

2010 History & Genealogy Expo at Parramatta - Friday

The first session of my crowded timetable was Discover Scottish Family History by visiting Scottish expert, Chris Paton. In his first couple of minutes Chris connected with his audience with a relaxed speaking style peppered with humorous asides. Chris' informal style was in contrast to the depth of information he presented in the 45 minutes allocated. After the presentation someone commented that "he went so fast", I love this style of presentation where the presenter can pack plenty of information into a short time. This talk told me so much more than I have heard from other presenters in Australia talking on a similar topic. Thank you, Chris, for not turning your talk into an infomercial for your book but for simply mentioning it in your final slide. I bought a copy!

Chris' blog, Scottish Genes, is one of the best in my RSS feeds, it is an essential read for those with Scottish links. presented Social Media for Family Historians

Carole Riley, a SAG Councillor and professional genealogist from Sydney presented Social Media for Family Historians. Although this talk was targetted towards beginners I was interested in hearing how Carole approached this topic for which I have a passion. In the time allotted Carole gave an overview of a number of products that she uses to enhance her research and maintain family connections. It was evident from the number of questions from the floor that the family historians in the audience had little knowledge of the tools. This talk certainly hit the mark with the majority of audience members.  I must agree with Carole's statement " I think social media is the best thing since the personal computer was invented." Carole did not plug her book ad nauseum - so I bought a copy.

Geniaus meets Chris Paton

I nabbed a front seat for Chris Paton's second talk " Discover Scottish Land Records. Chris made this dry topic interesting  with his clear summary and explanations; I took copious notes but think these are not necessary as all of the information is in Chris' book. Listening to the man in person was far more enjoyable than reading his words on a page.

At the last minute I purchased a ticket to Megan Gibson's "How to get more family tree time: tips for the time poor!" Megan only had a thirty minute slot to share her tips. Unfortunatley her introduction and promotion of her book took up the first fifteen minutes of this time so she was not able to share many tips with her audience. Megan did give a handout of a proforma for documenting a day's activities.

In contrast Shauna Hicks in her presentation "Family History on the cheap" packed a lot of content into the time allocated. Shauna talked to a great number of slides as she showed the audience sites and places where they could research for little outlay. The best tip I got from this talk was on how to search www.findmypast.com.au. I had been disappointed when I had my free trial, that I could not find many ancestors in this database. I had been searching for them in the surname field. Shauna said that many of the documents in the database are in .pdf format and that one must search by the keyword  field to get some hits as surnames are not separately indexed. Now I'd like another free 24 hour trial to test this out. I would add to Shauna's list the GenealogyWise site as a wonderful way to network with other genealogists with similar interests.

I enjoyed most of these talks and took away many ideas from the speakers to help me with my research. One suggestion I have for all of these speakers is to provide a handout or link to a webpage with the slides from the presentation or a summary of the references given.

I usually take a few notes  on my smartphone and take digital photos of the presenter's slides which I paste into the notes. Unfortunately, as I am 5 foot nothing, I could not see the screen when the rooms were crowded and I was beyond the fourth row so I was unable to record some of the URLs given by the presenters. I just hope they are in Chris' book!

See my post on Saturday's talks here

2010 History & Genealogy Expo at Parramatta

I had a wonderful time at this event last Friday and Saturday and, after a hectic weekend, feel the need to blog about it. I will probably do a few posts, a general one and one each for Friday and Saturday concentrating on the sessions I attended.

Firstly I want to thank Allan Phillips and the crew from Unlock the Past for organising the event.It was pleasing to that The Australian Society of Genealogists supported the event. Heather Garnsey and her crew from SAG were very busy proferring assistance to visitors right through the event.  Having been a chair and member of conference  committees during my working life I know how much planning goes into staging such an event.

As with  many such events it is not only the formal program that enriches ones experience but the opportunity to meet and network with like-minded people. I was delighted to finally meet a number of online genealogy contacts in person including Kerry Farmer who was my tutor in an excellent  NIGS Genealogy course and Cheryl-Ann who was a fellow class member. I also got to finally meet Shauna Hicks in the flesh after sharing many months of online communication.

Kerry Farmer proffers advice

The program was varied; providing sessions for those who were beginners to those who were old hands at the genealogy game. There was something on offer to satisfy all tastes. It was regrettable that due to a timing glitch Heather Garnsey, especially as she is such a font of information, was told during her talk that she had to cut it by fifteen minutes. Apart from this sessions ran on time with sufficient time to move from room to room.

I attended around ten talks and found that most of the speakers were knowledgeable in their areas of expertise and had a reasonable presentation style. I thought I had chosen wisely omitting a few I had heard befare who weren't quite up to scratch. So over the two days I would only label one of the the speakers as woeful and a waste of time.  You win some, you lose some!

An earlybird waits  for a talk

I was disappointed that most of the speakers did not provide a handout or a link to a site where an outline of their talk could be found.  Kerry Farmer and Neil Chippendale were well prepared with handouts, sadly others were not. It was disappointing that some speakers appeared to use their sessions as infomercials to peddle their publications. Sessions of this type should perhaps be free.

The exhibition or trade fair had a great representation from voluntary and commercial organisations. There were numerous opportunities to part with ones pennies or pick the brains of enthusiastic volunteers. I spent some time working on The Master Genealogist Sydney User Group Table where users of TMG demonstrated its features to visitors. As a new member of this group I am in awe of  ways members have customised this program to suit their particular research needs.

Arriving at the venue and finding a free covered carpark just across the street put me in a good frame of mind for the event. Registration at 8:30 am was a painless process; I received a smile, an envelope containing tickets for the talks I was scheduled for and a goodies bag within a minute or two of appeearing. When I decided to attend an extra talk it was a simple matter to exchange my $5 for a ticket. This organisation was excellent.

The venue was clean and airy with a coffee shop and bistro facilities. On day two I packed some peanut butter sandwiches for lunch to avoid the long queues at the coffee shop. The bistro dinner shared with TMG mates and Unlock the Past staff was hot, freshly cooked and tasty.

As someone who has mobility problems I found the multi-level venue hard to navigate. There was an inclinator for those who needed help to get to the auditorium for the exhibtion but I could not find an alternative to the steep stairs down to two of the seminar rooms ; I am glad that I was not an exhibitor who had to transport boxes of goods for sale up and down the stairs to get in there.

I commend Allan Phillips and the crew from Unlock the Past for bringing this event (and Chris Paton) to Sydney.