Next Stop: Kansas City!

I am getting ready for my next speaking engagement:  the Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City, Missouri beginning Friday July 30th through Saturday July 31st, 2010 at the KCI Expo Center.

As previously mentioned, I will be in good company at the event and attending with at least 11 other genealogy bloggers!  And 10 of these bloggers will be presenting over 32 exceptional presentations dealing with various aspects of genealogy and family history.

Hopefully I will get to meet lots of new genealogy folk and perhaps readers of this blog!

Disclaimer: I have been named a Blogger of Honor by Family History Expos for the Atlanta Family History Expo which entitles me to complimentary registration, complimentary wifi access, admission to the Friday evening banquet as well as other promotional gift items. See Disclosure Statement for more information on the material connections I have with Family History Expos and various genealogy and non-genealogy vendors.

Disclaimer: I have been named a Blogger of Honor by Family History Expos for the Atlanta Family History Expo which entitles me to complimentary registration, complimentary wifi access, admission to the Friday evening banquet as well as other promotional gift items. See Disclosure Statement for more information on the material connections I have with Family History Expos and various genealogy and non-genealogy vendors.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

IAJGS 2010 in Los Angeles

While I head out to yet another speaking engagement, let me quickly state that I had a great time at The 30th Annual IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy this weekend in Los Angeles, California.

I had three speaking engagements, including the "breakfast with the experts" shown above.  It was fun to see Schelly Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog and Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems News as well as lots of new friends that I met.

You don't know what you are missing if you haven't attended a genealogy conference lately.  I am looking forward to next year's IAJGS event in Washington, DC!

Photo credit: Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

I Write Like . . .

Over at Karen About Genealogy, there is a post about writing styles using the I Write Like . . . analyzer.  The premise is this: you copy and paste some text from your blog or other piece of writing and the writing style is analyzed.  Your result indicates a famous author with whom you share a writing style.

Funny that Karen should post about this, since I found the same site mentioned in a tech blog I read each day (perhaps Karen and I have similar Google Reader lists!).  Using one of my longer pieces about my mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis, here is the result:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Yet one of my other favorite stories - The Summer Jar - seems to indicate that:

I write like
Margaret Atwood

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Go figure!

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Happy Birthday to My Mother

Happy Birthday Mom!

Jacqueline Austin MacEntee. Photograph. Abt 1997. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2010.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Off to Los Angeles for a Genealogy Conference

Well it is another trip - one of many this summer - to a genealogy conference this weekend.  I leave today for Los Angeles where I am attending and speaking at The 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy which runs from July 11th through July 16th, 2010.

The event takes place at the brand new J.W. Marriott L.A. Live hotel in downtown Los Angeles and I can't wait to check out this new place.  The conference organizers predict 1,000 attendees during this six-day event and I know I'll be attending lots of sessions.

As for speaking, I have the great honor of being asked to give the IAJGS Management Symposium this year.  It is a two-hour talk entitled 21st Century Marketing for Genealogists and Genealogical Societies.  Making sure that both genealogists and genealogical societies take advantage of all the free tools available to them in order to prosper is my passion.

Besides giving my Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists presentation, I will be participating in a fun event with colleagues Schelly Dardashti of Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog and Lisa Louise Cooke of The Genealogy Gems podcasts.  Entitled Breakfast with the Experts: "Only Connect!"—Social Networking & Blogging for Genealogists, it is a panel discussion which should be lots of fun!

Over the next few days I'll have more news on the IAJGS conference here at Destination: Austin Family as well as over at GeneaBloggers.  Stay tuned.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Upcoming Appearance - Bloomingdale Public Library

I will be presenting Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists at the Bloomingdale Public Library in Bloomingdale, IL on Wednesday evening, July 14, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

Bloomingdale Public Library
101 Fairfield Way
Bloomingdale, IL 60108
Main Phone: 630.529.3120

The event is free and open to the public but you are encouraged to register using this link in order to ensure there is enough room for all participants.  I hope to see some of my readers there!

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Are You A Connected Genealogist?

After months of preparing, writing, and researching and with much "pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth," I am pleased to announce my new genealogy business venture: The Connected Genealogist℠, a division of High-Definition Genealogy.  You can read more about the concept here, but in brief this is what you'll find:

• I've decided to create a store on Lulu to self-publish a variety of "knowledge" that I want to impart to the genealogy community.  The URL for the new store is http://stores.lulu.com/connectedgenealogist.

• All "cheat sheets" posted at my various sites such as GeneaBloggers have been retooled and are now located in The Connected Genealogist Store.  They are in large type (14pt) and in PDF format.

• Don't think "store" and then think $. The cheat sheets which have been downloadable for free in the past will remain that way.  The store is simply and easier way to organize them.

• The newest product - available for a small fee - is Genealogy Speaking Templates.  A package of six Word templates you can use for genealogy speaking engagements.  I'll have more details on the specifics over the weekend, but the templates include:  a contract, spec sheets for travel and hotel, a transmittal letter and even a summary description and a syllabus.  These are easy-to-use documents with "click and type" fields and can be customized to suit your specific needs.

• In the coming weeks and months you'll see more products including templates to create a genealogy resume and bio, books on how to become a genealogy speaker and on 21st century marketing techniques for genealogists and genealogical societies and more.

• Beginning in August 2010, The Connected Genealogist will be offering a variety of webinars (virtual presentations) at our Webex site.  Topics will cover Facebook, Twitter, how to use Dropbox to store your genealogy data "in the cloud," and more.  And in an exciting marketing twist, my intent is to make all webinars free to attend - you pay only for the syllabus materials including templates, guides and books.

The Connected Genealogist is the culmination of about a year's worth of work.  I want to bring a variety of educational tools to the genealogy community, especially ones that can "raise" the technology quotient.

While I would love to give away this knowledge for free, with over 25 years experience in the Information Technology field and my recent experience with social media, financially I can't survive on free.  I will always try to make as many of these items free whenever possible but some items will have a nominal fee.  My mantra in this endeavor: I want to make a living, not a killing.

* * *

I hope you'll check out The Connected Genealogist.  You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook as well.  And remember, let The Connected Genealogist be your guide to connecting genealogists with new technologies.

The Connected Genealogist is a registered service mark of High-Definition Genealogy

©2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

What I Do

There is a new Internet meme making the rounds (it might be an old meme for all I know) and here is its genealogy in terms of how I found it: The Presurfer got it from The J-Walk Blog got it from Cory Doctorow at Locus Online.

The idea is to list what tools you use for either your profession of your hobby such as genealogy.  For me, working at home as a professional genealogist, here is what I use day-in and day-out to "get'er done."

* Hardware:  Dell Dimension DXC061, Intel® Core™ 2 CPU 4400 @ 2.00GHz, RAM 2.00 GB

* External storage: 250GB external hard drive, mostly stores 140 GB of iTunes files

* Online storage: DropBox (free and amazing!)

* Backup: DropBox and Backupify

* Printer: HP 1200 All In One (printer, copier, scanner)

* Phone: iPhone 3G for mobile, a Uniden cordless phone system for home and office, Skype for computer

* E-mail: Outlook 2007 with 10 different GMail and Hotmail accounts patched through

* Mobile device: see Phone above

* Mobile media: iPod Nano

* eBook Reader: Kindle for the PC

* Browser: Google Chrome

* Calendar: Outlook, Google Calendar for GeneaBloggers items

* RSS: reader is Google Reader, burner is Feedburner

* FTP: Filezilla

* Text editor: Notepad

* Graphics: Microsoft Photo Editor, Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0, PowerPoint (don't laugh - it is amazing what PowerPoint can do!)

* Screen capture: kickin' it old skool with PrtScrn and paste into Microsoft Photo Editor

* Social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter using TweetDeck

* Social bookmarking: StumbleUpon

* Social profile: Retaggr

* URL shortener: su.pr

* Office suite: Microsoft Office 2007, Google Docs

* Accounting: Excel, soon to be QuickBooks for my business

* Web Conferencing: Webex

* Firewall: Comodo

* Virus protection: AVG Free

* Spyware: SpyBot

* File cleaner: MRU-Blaster, CCleaner (cleans temp files and junk off your system)

* Genealogy database: Family Tree Maker 2009, RootsMagic 4

* Genealogy tools: Evernote, Obituary Filer, Surname Suggestion List, Transcript,

* PDF generator: PrimoPDF (free and amazing app!)

* Music player: see Mobile media above - hooked up to bookshelf speakers, iTunes on computer

* Blog: Blogger, WordPress

* Car audio: Thomas doesn't drive. Thomas is driven. But Driver uses a Blaupunkt stereo.

* Other tech stuff: Logitech headset to use with Skype and listen to music, Logitech webcam, ASUS Netbook for travel

I think this meme is important to the genealogy blogging community because it gives others an idea of how we achieve the genealogy "voodoo" that we do do so well.  I've also included links to the programs where possible, making it easier for readers to explore these options.  I am a big fan of "free over fee" when it can get the job done and many of my apps are free.

Note: for some reason Printer was not included in the original list.  I take it that these "kids" just don't do paper anymore. I also took the liberty of adding my own items such as genealogy database, genealogy tools, PDF generator, spyware, virus protection, etc.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Midwest Family History Expo - Blogger of Honor

I am excited to announce that I've been named a Blogger of Honor for the upcoming Midwest Family History Expo in Kansas City, Missouri at the end of the month!

The expo takes place Friday July 30th and Saturday July 31st, 2010 at the KCI Expo Center and since it is a Family History Expo production you know it will not only be fun but also educational!

I will be in good company at the event and attending with at least 11 other genealogy bloggers!  There will be old face, some new faces and perhaps some new faces on old faces!

If you are in the area that weekend, believe me it is worth a 3, 4 or more hour drive to attend at least one day of a Family History Expo.  Holly Hansen and her staff take good care of not only the bloggers, but the vendors and the attendees.  There is nothing better than lots of happy people at a great genealogy event!

Disclaimer: I have been named a Blogger of Honor by Family History Expos for the Atlanta Family History Expo which entitles me to complimentary registration, complimentary wifi access, admission to the Friday evening banquet as well as other promotional gift items. See Disclosure Statement for more information on the material connections I have with Family History Expos and various genealogy and non-genealogy vendors.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

My Latest Archives.com Article - Preserving Genealogy Data

My latest article entitled "It’s 10 PM - Do You Know Where Your Genealogy Data Is?" has been posted at Archives.com.  This is one of many articles you'll find as part of the Experts series at Archives.com - check it out and you will see some familiar faces among the genealogy blogging crowd!

The most recent article goes beyond advocating the backup of your genealogy data: I discuss how to take an inventory of your genealogy data, select the best backup method that works for you, and why you need to "future proof" your data.

If you have an area of expertise within the genealogy field, consider applying with Archives.com to be one of their next Experts authors.

[Disclaimer: this was an assignment for Archives.com in which I was paid to produce a 1800 word article on the subject of digital preservation.  In February 2010, I wrote a similar article for Archives.com with similar payment terms.  In addition to payment, I also received a complimentary membership to Archives.com.]

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee