NGS 2013: The Sessions

Although most of my NGS 2013 Conference blogging is taking place on The In-Depth Genealogist, I thought I would share a bit, here, too.

First, it was amazing. If you ever get the chance to attend a conference like this: do it.

We had wonderful opportunities to meet with other people, network, attend sessions, participate in un-conferencing discussions, and much, much more. My colleague and friend at IDG, Terri O'Connell, even won a registration for next year's conference in Virginia!

Terri O'Connell at Opening Session right after
winning a 2014 registration!

I was able to attend several sessions, some of which held local interest for me, which was great. Here's the list of what I was able to see:

• People, Policy, and Records: The Importance of Historical Background (Opening Session), Marian Smith
• Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, Mary Penner
• The Genealogical Proof Standard in Action! Case Building When No Record States An Answer!, Elizabeth Shown Mills
• Birdie Monk Holsclaw Memorial Lecture. Impossible Immigrant! I Know Everything About teh Man Except Where He Came From, F. Warren Bittner
• Maximizing Your Use of Evidence, Thomas W. Jones
• The Civil War in the American West, Rick Sayre
• Borders and Boundaries: Creating Locaility Profiles for Research, D. Joshua Taylor
• ProGen Study Groups Breakfast, Angela Packer McGhie
• To See the Elephant: The Lure of Riches, Jean Wilcox Hibben
• Solving Historical and Family Mysteries with DNA, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak
• Baker's Dozen to Writing Research Reports, Elizza Scalise Powell
• Striking it "Rich" with a Great Genealogical Career: A Guide For Professional Researchers, J. Mark Lowe.

I've been asked more than once already which was my favorite, and my answer is... well... I just cannot say. They were all good in their own way, all the speaker's brought something completely different to the podium, and the lessons learned varied with each. 

As an Official Blogger for the conference, I am very grateful to F. Warren Bittner, D. Joshua Taylor, Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and J. Mark Lowe for letting us sit down with them for some one-on-one time. You will be able to read more about those conversations on the IDG site. 

Some truly fantastic ideas came out of the week in Las Vegas, and I'm looking forward to being a part of some new projects and taking advantage of all that networking to move closer to reaching my professional goals. 

I made several new friends in the industry, and we had some very good times, enjoying each other's company and talking about dead people. We raised a glass to Uncle Boone. I have so much more to write about, I really don't expect my "job" as an Official Blogger to be over any time soon. I might be able to get it all done before NGS 2014....