My Virtual Assistants - Genealogy Event Curators

Genealogical related events, I love them. I will plan, talk, blog and look forward to them. I am disappointed when I can’t attend one or, even worse, didn't hear about one in time. In addition to face-to-face events, the plethora of online events continues to grow.  Isn't this a wonderful problem to have? It is, but it can drive me crazy too.

I don’t always remember nor have the time to visit each national, regional, state, county or local website to check their event schedule. Let’s face it, we are all busy people. It’s crazy, but it seems my life gets busier every year. So what’s a girl to do?

I listen to Michael Hyatt’s podcast faithfully. During several episodes Michael mentioned certain activities he delegates to his virtual assistant. To make this very simplistic, his virtual assistant’s duties free up his time to focus on other activities. For instance, if he is scheduled to give a keynote address, he needs to focus on writing his address not booking his airline and hotel. While those tasks are important, they take time away from what he actually does for a living, speak to audiences.

I started thinking about what is it I really want to do and what benefits me the most? Do I want to spend my time visiting a dozen different websites, over and over, to look at their events calendar? No, I want to attend the events. With that in mind I've decided to put the power of virtual assistants to work for me: Conference Keeper and GeneaWebinars.

Of course these are not truly my virtual assistants (they are all of ours) but they act in the same fashion. These two sites have taken the time and effort to establish a system to curate and organize genealogy related events and distribute it to me (all of us). There are categories, calendars and directories that allow me to locate events being held across the nation in a centralized location. In doing so, they free up valuable time to do the things I actually want to do, attend and learn.

I recommend bookmarking these sites and visiting often. If you have an event don’t forget to submit it so you can be included as well.

Collaboration Doesn't Have to Be Hard

I'm curious about the amount of collaboration between major, and not so major, genealogy repositories. How much is there? Is there enough?

I know we can't make all of the people happy all of the time (I'm speaking for myself here for sure). However, I do believe in the power of numbers and that reaching more people creates the potential for more happy people. I also believe that cannibalism leads to fewer happy people. What in the world? How am I equating cannibalism with genealogy repositories? I will tell you.

I recently attended what should have been a major event at a well-known, state-of-the-art genealogy library. However, on that very same day a federally operated repository right across town was also hosting an event. The result was they both lost out on attendance and exposure. They cannibalized each other.

How do things like this happen? Did somebody try to reach out to the other and they just couldn't get other dates to work? Did nobody reach out because they are a "competitor" and think "why would we try to work with them?" Or did nobody even think to reach out?

Let's say they didn't want to reach out, for whatever reason, did they try to research online to see what the other repository is doing? Did they visit an event aggregator such as Conference Keepers to see what is listed and make sure their event is listed? Maybe they did. Maybe their hands are tied by some old-school, out-of-touch marketing director who thinks collaboration is "tipping your hand."

No matter the circumstances of how things played out, it's an interesting situation. I'm seeing more and more event options that overlap and/or are scheduled on back-to-back weekends that create conflicts. If that's how it has to be fine, I just want to know that someone actually put some thought into it.

Bold Ambitions for The Genealogy Event

The Genealogy Event & Bridget Bray 09/05 by janeewilcox | Blog Talk Radio

Jane Wilcox interviewed Bridget Bray from The Genealogy Event in her September 5th, 2012 episode of the forget-me-not hour. The Genealogy Event will be held October 26-27, 2012 in New York City.

Bridget has an interesting story of how she came to be interested in genealogy and how she tapped into her background in the exhibiting industry to make this event happen. Be sure to listen to how she differentiates between an event and a conference.

For this first year Bridget is projecting 1,500 attendees for the event! Is that simply bold ambition or is she turning the genealogy conference on its ear, doing something radically different and focusing on engagement?

Last month Thomas MacEntee posted "Can We Get Real About Genealogy Conference Attendance Numbers?" If you view the comments you will see many stating the need for a change in how genealogy conferences are structured. Bridget's model is different from what we have come to expect, is this what the we are after? It will be interesting to see the outcome and I certainly hope the event is a success.

2012 Genealogy Events

2012 Genealogy Events

Events in Genealogy

Genealogy Calendar of Events for November 2011

       (We encourage you to submit your event)

Events in Genealogy

Genealogy Calendar of Events for October 2011

       (We encourage you to submit your event)

Events in Genealogy

Genealogy Calendar of Events for September 2011

       (List is a work in progress, please submit your event)

Events in Genealogy

Genealogy Calendar of Events for August 2011

       (List is a work in progress, please submit your event)

Events in Genealogy

Genealogy Calendar of Events for August 2011

       (List is a work in progress, please submit your event)