Attending the 2012 NGS Family History Conference Without Actually Attending

This is a big week in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thousands of genealogists, family historians, archivists and others will be traveling to and around Ohio for the 2012 NGS Family History Conference, which takes place May 9-12.

If you are anything like me, travel funds for conferences and other genealogy events are limited, so this year, I am not able to attend. What that actually means is that my physical self will not be present in Cincinnati.

In reality, I will be attending. Via social media.

I learned of the true power of Twitter during this year's RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City. For those that attended with me, whether you were there or not, you know to what I'm referring. The conversations that existed through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, the live streams of sessions and other methods were incredible. I read a comment this morning that was posted, simply saying, "you couldn't tell who was in the room and who was at home in their living room." It was exciting, invigorating, and best of all, incredibly educational and motivating.

I am planning on attending this year's NGS conference the same way.

• A summary of the events is available on the NGS site,  http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info. This includes available downloads, a mobile app for those attending in Ohio, and a daily schedule. 
• You can follow the conference blog here. ( http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/)
• The National Genealogical Society, I'm sure, will be posting news and tidbits on their Facebook page.
• You can follow NGS on Twitter, using @ngsgenealogy. 
• The Twitter hashtag, or #, is #ngs2012. (To make it easy on yourself, create a new feed or column to follow just that hashtag.)
• The conference will have official bloggers, which are folks out in the field, who are attending, who will blog about their experience. One example is Laura Cosgrove Lorenzana, owner of From Roots to Leaves, who will be blogging on The Last Leaf of This Branch. You can find the full and complete list on the NGS Conference Blog, on the right hand side. See link above. 
• Here's a great tip: the Accessible Archives has created an RSS bundle, so you can follow all the blogs very easily. Find that here:  http://www.accessible-archives.com/2012/05/follow-the-ngs2012-official-bloggers/. (My thanks to Gena Philibert-Ortega of the blog Food.Family.Epemera. for the information.)
• Use the NGS TwitterFall to track the tweets easily:  http://twitterfall.com/?trend=%23ngs2012%21%231F3547. 

So, conference goers, enjoy! Whether you are there in the crowd, or sitting at home with a good cup of coffee in your pajama's (oh, yes, that is most certainly the plan at my house!), learn much and remember to share! We will join in the conference experience and conversation. May the fun begin!