11 August 2013

FGS 2013 and Fort Wayne Indiana Here I Come!


Journey Through Generations  FGS 2013 Conference


It has been two years since I attended my very first FGS conference.  I look back on that experience fondly. Once I heard the 2013 conference was going to be held in Fort Wayne, I put it on my schedule.  Fort Wayne is a quick jaunt down I-69 for me and I wasn't going to miss a national conference being this close to me.

I am in the process of preparing for the conference that is 10 days away.  I have selected most of my class sessions, printed the syllabus for the classes I chose, and updated my google calendar.  I was thinking about what else I needed to do to be ready to go the the conference.  I am a list maker from way back and preparing for this conference will be no different.

I was writing my to-do list (put syllabus in folders, finish library research list, get haircut, etc.) and decided to look over the blog posts I wrote when I went to the Springfield, Illinois conference.  One of the posts I wrote included what I would do differently next time:

After attending the keynote speaker, 16 sessions. one workshop, and one dinner-would I do anything different?  Just a couple of things.  First, I think I would look at the total day before signing up for special events.  Pairing a four hour session with a dinner after, might have been better planned on my part.  I hope I was decent company at dinner.  The other thing I would do differently would be to spend the last night at the hotel.  I decided to leave after the conference and drive to Chicago (through six construction zones!) and spend the night with my daughter.  I loved visiting my daughter, but an extra night to unwind after the conference would have been helpful.  And, lastly, take more pictures.  I was so wrapped up in the conference I didn't take enough pictures.

How am I doing so far?  I forgot to look at the total day.  Friday will be my longest day, I plan to attend morning and afternoon sessions, attend the IGS luncheon, and attend the Friday evening event.  I may decide to skip the last Friday session to get ready for the evening event.  I just want to get the most out of going.  I will let you know how it goes.  If I don't blog on Friday, you will know why.

I made hotel reservations for Saturday night, this time, which will be good.  The only other thing I have to remember is to take more pictures.  My husband got a nice camera for Father's Day and I plan to use it this time.

I feel more confident about going this time as I will not be a conference goer newbie.  Are you going to Fort Wayne?  See you there.

If you would like to read my blog posts from Springfield, Illinois, click here.





4 comments:

  1. Brenda, this will be my 1st national conference and I'm going to take your advice to heart, try not to overschedule myself. See you there!

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  2. I hope you have a great time. I am sure you will be in genealogy heaven. See you there!

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  3. Have fun! I wish I could have made it this year. Some great advice for the next conference I get to attend though!

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  4. Thanks, LDC, I hope to see you at a future conference.

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