Follow Friday: Long Lost Relatives

This edition of Follow Friday is a shout out to a blog which has been around for a few months and whose owner I had the pleasure of meeting personally at the Midwest Family History Expo back in late July 2010.

Susan Petersen runs Long Lost Relatives and she is a vocal advocate of genealogy blogging and social media.  She is one of many genealogy bloggers who "get it" when it comes to the way in which the genealogy industry must change, must embrace emerging technologies in order to not just come into the 21st century, but to attract new and younger genealogists.

Susan and I share very common ground in terms of training and delivering training in a work setting - it is what we both did for many years. And now we can both draw upon that experience in our genealogy careers.

I ask you to take a look at Susan's site, add her to all your follow lists for Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and other social media.  She is a delight to correspond with and to chat "genealogy" and even more fun in person!

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

My New Book Now Available In Print

I'm happy to say that my "proof" copy of my new book, Approaching the Lectern: How to Become a Genealogy Speaker, arrived, approved and now you can purchase the book in print at Lulu.com.

Click here to learn more about the book at The Connected Genealogist and get a sneak peek at the table of contents and a few sample pages.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Reflections on #FGS10

I am finally back home in Chicago and recovering from a long but fun and productive week in Knoxville, Tennessee at the Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference. As I sort through photos to be posted on blogs, a stack of business cards to enter into my contacts, thank you emails to be sent, etc., I have these thoughts about my experience last week:

• There were over 1,000 attendees with an unanticipated number of first time attendees - to the point that there were not enough First Time Attendees ribbons to go around!

• Yes, I did get more ribbons.  Thanks go out to Tonya my account manager at pcnametag! I will be displaying them here soon!

• Some felt that the numbers were "down" over previous FGS conferences.  I can't speak for past conferences since this was my first FGS conference, but keep in mind that the Knoxville Convention Center holds 20,000 people - it is absolutely enormous!

• The people in Knoxville are amazing - from the minute my limo met me at the airport through to the time I left, everyone was helpful, polite and told me they were glad to see me and all the genealogists in Knoxville.  The Market Square district had many good restaurants and places to grab an adult beverage.

• I love meeting up with other genealogists, especially my old friends and new bloggers! Amy Coffin and Missy Corely provided lots of laughs and good conversation about the genealogy industry.  Amy and I almost got in trouble at Preservation Pub no thanks to a Belgian beer called Delerium Tremens with 8.5% alcohol content.  The pink elephants on the bottle should have served as a warning.

• It was hot in Knoxville.  Hotter than two June brides.

• I attended the Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 and was impressed by the event, the content of the seminars and the chance to network with colleagues. I spoke at the roundtable later that evening and will be describing the event over at my other site, High-Definition Genealogy.

• Most of my time at the FGS event was spent helping out at the ISGS booth with my fellow board members from the Illinois State Genealogical Society. We had a good time and helped spread the word about next year's conference.

• I had the longest "conference beard" - aka group of ribbons - at the conference.

• On Wednesday evening, I had dinner with 17 other members of various ProGen study groups. A great time and got to meet some interesting people.

• While standing in line at the restaurant for ProGen I got to meet three of my genealogy idols: Elizabeth Shown Mills, Dr. Thomas W. Jones and Elissa Scalise Powell.  All of them were involved with the Boston University program and are genealogy scholars I respect greatly.

• I kept telling myself, "It's not the heat, it's the humanity."

• There were opportunities to meet with vendors: the Family Search breakfast on Thursday, another meeting as an ISGS board member with Family Search as well as an ISGS breakfast with Ancestry on Friday.  Which reminds me, I need to update my Disclosure Statement page.

• Many folks were surprised at the quality of the education sessions and the topics covered. For those who thought that FGS was just about genealogical societies you should know that this is a perfect genealogy conference for individuals, especially intermediate genealogists.

• I don't do well with mornings.  Someone asked that I meet for breakfast at 6:45 am and I actually laughed.  And that was 6:45 am Eastern time.  Silly rabbit.

• I was disappointed that several sessions would not allow live blogging or Twitter.  Their loss.  I will be discussing this and other industry issues over at GeneaBloggers as part of our Open Thread Thursday discussions.

Also, in case you haven't already heard, I have been named the National Publicity Chair for #FGS11 which will be held in Springfield, Illinois from September 7-10, 2011 and is co-hosted by the Illinois State Genealogical Society. Visit the FGS2011 Facebook page and click "Like" to receive the latest news on the event.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

The Ribbon King Hits Knoxville

I am off to Knoxville, Tennessee in the morning for two genealogy conferences! The first is the Association of Professional Genealogists' Professional Management Conference on Tuesday, August 17th. I will be on the panel Tuesday evening at the Round Table discussing “Your Internet Presence- How to get IT and what to do with IT: A discussion of what IT is.”

The second is the Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference - Rediscovering America's First Frontier - running from Wednesday, August 18th through Saturday, August 21st.

And as the "ribbon wars" heat up, I will be there with my trusty box of badge ribbons from pc/nametag. If you are a member of GeneaBloggers please track me down (I'll be at the FGS booth much of the time) and ask for your GeneaBloggers ribbon.

In case you know nothing of the "ribbon wars" it seems to have started at the Arizona Family History Expo this past January. Now several of us keep adding to our long "train of ribbons" to the point of endangering ourselves by tripping over the ribbons.

I'm happy to say I have some added ammo for the fight: my sales rep from pc/nametag was nice enough to send me a complimentary stack-a-ribbon® Fun Pack for me to use at FGS and other conferences*. So look for me to bestow a ribbon on you.  Let's see, what are you . . . a diva? a queen? a bored member? certifiable? easily excited?

Photo: Thomas MacEntee at Midwest Family History Expo, Kansas City, MO, July 31, 2010. Photo by Diana Ritchie of Random Relatives - used by permission.

* Please read my Disclosure Page to see a list of vendors and providers with whom I have a material connection and from whom I have received payment or complimentary items.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Follow Friday - Jen Holik-Urban

[Editor's note: I recently looked back at many of my posts here at DAF and realize they've gone off course in terms of my personal genealogy.  I've been busy building a career in the genealogy industry - with lots of wonderful support from the genealogy blogging community - but I want to start getting back to "my roots": posting about my genealogy and my thoughts on certain aspects of the field.]

Instead of recommending one genealogy blog this week, I want to recommend a genealogy blogger with multiple blogs: Jen Holik-Urban who runs Family History Research Tips as well as the Chicago Family History Blog.

I know - living in Chicago and being involved with Illinois genealogy may make me partial to Jen's sites, but the reason I want folks to follow her is this: to me she is an inspiration as a transitional genealogist. By transitional I mean someone who has worked years in the field as a "hobbyist" albeit with all the research skills and ethics of a professional, but who has decided to start her own genealogy business (it is called Generations and specializes in Illinois genealogy research as well as writing and education).

Keep an eye on Jen - she has greats plans, runs some great blogs and finds resources that are valuable (and that have somehow flown under my radar!).  I predict big things in the future for her and her company.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

My Next Book? Perhaps Self-Publishing for Genealogists

After this roller coaster of a week - and mind you, it is only Wednesday - I think I've discovered the topic of my next self-published book: self-publishing for the genealogist.

Seriously, this entire process of writing a book, getting it self-published, converting it to epub format for the Amazon Kindle, etc. has been a learning experience.  And one of the best ways to write a book is to base it on your own experiences and the knowledge you've picked up on the way.

The response to Approaching the Lectern: How to Become a Genealogy Speaker has been overwhelming and I really appreciate the heartfelt and constructive feedback from my colleagues in the genealogy community.  Now that the book is written, here comes the hard part: printing, distribution and marketing.

Some insights for those considering self-publishing:

• Proof, proof, proof. Funny, this is one of my admonitions in the section of my book on creating presentation slides. It seems that no matter how many times you proof a book you've written, something will get by, only to be found by a reader.

• Educate yourself on the process.  This is where my new book would help.  There are things I wish I had know before I even started writing my book such as: write it for epub (Amazon Kindle and e-book) formatting and then create the fancier print version. Also there is quite a bit I've learned about graphics, resolution, etc. which I thought I already knew.

• Tap into the marketing machine.  Book marketing has its own process and methodologies. Then add the genealogy book market factor. Many members of the genealogy community have given me good advice on how to get my book reviewed etc. This is also important info that I need to compile and put together for future self-publishers.

So is it worth it? So far, I think so. And not just from a financial standpoint - there really is something satisfying about having your hard work in print.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

Finally! My Book Is Finished!

I am proud to say I have finished my first genealogy-related book! The title is Approaching the Lectern: How to Become a Genealogy Speaker by me, Thomas MacEntee.

Approaching is a 38-page handbook for genealogists and family historians (the hobbyists as well as the professionals) who want to learn how to effectively speak at genealogy conferences, genealogical society meetings and other venues.

You can read more about the book and check out sample pages over at my other blog, The Connected Genealogist.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

News Coverage of My Recent Social Networking Presentation

You gotta love Google Alerts.  This morning one of my alerts (set for the word "geneabloggers") popped up in email and it was for an article in the Itasca Press (IL) about Facebook use among the over-50 set and my recent appearance at the Bloomingdale Public Library.

Entitled Baby Boomers Connect With Facebook, the article discusses the ways in which older Americans are utilizing this social media site to not just keep tabs on children and grand-children but also to connect with others including genealogists.

The article referenced my presentation Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogists which I gave on July 14, 2010 in Bloomingdale, IL.  Included are some photos of me and the participants and I feel the story presents good coverage on the Facebook phenomenon among the Baby Boomers.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

About Those Predictions of Doom

Don't reach for your tinfoil hat right yet or get your genealogy data bunker ready. Despite all the hubbub about comments made by Curt B. Witcher at the recent BYU Conference on Family History and Genealogy, I have to respectfully disagree with those comments as they pertain to genealogy data and its preservation.

Perhaps it is the fact that I usually take a dim view of any predictions of doom, perhaps it is my self-characterization as a "glass half-full" kind of guy, I'm not sure.  But if anything, the use of the word doom so close to the words genealogy and data, will absolutely catch my attention and force me to investigate further.

• Should we be worried about the destruction of records at court houses and other governmental institutions?  Of course, but is this worry a new one?  There has always been the need for vigilance and outside watch dogs to keep tabs on these vital sources of information.

• Should we be concerned that people are not preserving their communications as they once did, say in the letter writing days? We communicate in a variety of different ways in the 21st century and while letter writing is not among the top methods, as new modes of sending information develop, so too do means of archiving and saving such data.  Take Twitter for instance: the Library of Congress recently announced that it has acquired the entire Twitter archive.

• Are we doing enough personally to preserve our own information, such as email? Even for a techie like me, email management is a nightmare.  But the focus should be on backing up ALL of our own data - whether it be genealogy-related or not.  This is my monthly rallying call on the first of each month at GeneaBloggers when Data Backup Day arrives.

One comment with which I agree whole-heartedly, especially as a blogger, is the advice to just write.  I've said this hundreds of times when someone says, "I don't want to get into blogging about my family history because I am such a poor writer."  Nonsense, I say.  Don't write for anyone but yourself.  Write from your heart.  Write to give your ancestors new voices in these modern times.  Write to preserve their memories, and your family's memories, and your memories of all of them.

These are hopeful times in my opinion especially with all the technology available for us to digitize and preserve records.  But we should not become complacent in the fact that technology will take care of this all by itself.  Data preservation does require vigilance, it requires watch dogs and it requires rallying calls.  I just don't know that a doomsday prediction is the right call.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee

APG PMC Night of the Roundtable

Sorry for the bad pun but I am really psyched about this opportunity: I've been named as a participant in the upcoming Annual Meeting and Roundtable of the Association of Professional Genealogists being held on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

You can read more here over at my business site, High-Definition Genealogy.  I can't wait to participate in what should be a stimulating conversation about how professional genealogists can build a Web presence.

© 2010, copyright Thomas MacEntee