Tuesday, January 12, 2010

ancestry.com Bloggers Day - Part 1

On Friday, 8 January 2010, I was honored to be part of ancestry.com's Bloggers Day held at their headquarters in Provo, Utah.

I was in great company, as the group included:

Ancestry Insider
Lisa Louise Cooke, Genealogy Gems
Dear Myrtle
Dick Eastman, Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter
Diane Haddad, Family Tree Magazine’s Genealogy Insider
Craig Manson, GeneaBlogie
Leland Meitzler, GenealogyBlog
Kimberly Powell, About.com’s Genealogy Expert

I don't see much value in reposting some of the great information already share by my colleagues above.  What I'd like to mention is that it was a very hectic day beginning with a shuttle pickup at 7:30 am.  Bloggers and work-at-home folks like me know that waking up at a set time runs counter to what seems "normal."  So too does the lack of an afternoon nap.  Heck, one of our attendees even confessed to using the term "naps" as in more than one!

In addition, by the end of the day most of us had eyes and minds glazed over from information overload.  I have to say that the folks at ancestry.com gave great presentations, made it very clear that they wanted to answer as many questions as possible, and wanted to work with the genealogy blogging community as much as possible.  I chalk this up to more than just being a public company as of November 2009: I really can see from some of the new faces on ancestry.com's management team and staff (with hires from Silicon Valley companies like eBay), there is a commitment to openness as well as to improving products and services by listening to critics as well as customers.

I've decided to group "the meals" - meaning the group dinner on Friday, 8 January 2010 and the banquet on 9 January 2010 - into a separate post.  There is much to be said about what happens when you sit down and break bread with others.

For purposes of disclosure, please see my earlier post Disclaimer: ancestry.com.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

1 comment:

Kimberly said...

I really enjoyed getting to finally meet you in person, Thomas, and hope to see you again soon!