Hey! I was on Mondays with Myrt!

I had the opportunity to join in on Mondays with Myrt yesterday, and it was a ton of fun! 

If you haven't experienced the new "Hangout On Air" format, you really should join in. Great conversation, great people, great content!

I come in at about the 30 minute mark, and had the time to talk about Conference Keeper and #genchat.

Genealogy and Art

There are so many ways to visually express the idea of genealogy and family history. Look around and you will find depictions of trees, trees with roots, pedigree charts, historic photos, maps... the list is really endless. Many of them are great, many are repetitive. 

About a year ago, a cousin of mine posted the below art work on her Facebook page, and I was instantly enamored of it. Although art is her hobby, I could not believe the detail and meticulousness of this piece. I was truly awe struck at her ability and talent. I made several comments to her about the sketch, and before I knew it, the original had landed in my mail box. It was an incredible gift, and it is one of my most treasured possessions. 

Copyright Serrin Boys. 

For me, this is a very hard image to put into words. The idea of human hands holding the tree; that ever to common symbol of family, history, generations past. We are literally care takers of our own history, and it is a powerful and emotional interpretation of such. 

I have no idea what was in her heart or mind when she created it, but I know it speaks volumes to me. I have been honored once again, as she has allowed me to use it as the logo for my newest project; Conference Keeper. 

Truly, I believe it to be rare to come across something that affects each of us so uniquely, and in my opinion, this is a stunning example. Of course, we all have our own reactions to art, and some may not agree with me. That's fine. I hope that each of you is able to one day find that unique and important expression of the importance of your family history. I've got mine.

Imagine This: A List of All Genealogy Conferences

Have you imagined it? What would it look like? There might be a page for "national" conferences, perhaps another to list conferences and workshops by state. Maybe a tab or two devoted to Canada, Ireland, or Australia.

And that, all for free.

I tried to find it. Last week I spent two days searching the internet, then messaged folks on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Only to find, it didn't exist. There were some great options to use; certain organizations posted calendar pages; there is a Facebook page dedicated to the idea of a comprehensive list. But, they all required me to do extra work to find what I was looking for, and it just was not coming together for me.

What do to?

Everybody I asked left comments like, "wow, that would be great", or "awesome idea!"


Enter: Conference Keeper.

It took me all of fifteen minutes to make a decision, create a name, pick a theme and start putting the site together. I have a feeling it will consume a great deal of time moving forward, as I work to stay on top of the variety of functions that are hosted world wide on the topics of genealogy, family history, story telling, technology, small business and more. However, I am going to try.

It's a very simple concept. I've started by focusing on scheduled events around the United States, though I do have a short list of international events currently. It gives just the basics: name, date, city/state, and a link to the website for either the conference or the host organization.

You can easily contribute to the list, just use the "Contact Us" tab on the website, or message me through Facebook on the Conference Keepers page. Assuming I don't already have it on there, I'll add your event.

Time will tell where this will go, but in the end, the genealogy community now has a one stop shop style website to find the conference, seminar, workshop of interest in your area. No more wasted hours spent searching for each individual event, taking notes, comparing dates and "re-finding" the website you had an hour ago to make a decision on what to attend, when and where.

I hope it is helpful, and I hope you utilize it over and over.