Colorado Family History Expo - Wrap-Up

It seemed the day would never come as I waited for the Colorado Family History Expo conference, and now it’s come and gone. I arrived in Loveland Thursday afternoon and had a chance to spend the evening with my cousins, Mel and Mary Jo Haack. I have been IM’ing with Mary Jo for about 2 years now and this is the first chance we have had to meet in person. I was treated to a wonderful home cooked meal and a chance to share some family history. Of course I got lost on the way to their house, but believe me that is pretty normal for me. As I returned to the hotel the sun was setting over the mountains to the west and a full moon was rising over the Plaines.

 Friday morning I ran into Becky and Jamie Jamison at the elevator. I recognized her immediately from her pictures on her blog Grace and Glory. I had a chance to visit with Jamie a little in between times and really enjoyed our visits.

The conference was kicked off with a Key Note speech presented by Beau Sharbourgh titled “Let Your Light Shine.” He had us all laughing in acknowledgement that sometimes we are the only one who cares about our families genealogy..

It was a difficult decision deciding which classes I wanted to attend there were so many to choose from. I attended Thomas MacEntee’s class “Facebook for Genealogists”. Thomas went over the basics of setting up an account and using the search feature to locate possible family connections. I’m anxious to try that when I get home. Thomas emphasized that it is our responsibility to take ownership of making sure our privacy settings are in place to protect our identities. I also attended Thomas’ class titled “Social Networking: New Horizons for Genealogy”. Amazing how many different sites are available to promote your business.

Since my ancestors all emigrated from Germany I was especially interested in Baerbel K. Johnson presentation on “What’s new in German Research”. I was amazed at the wealth of websites that are continually being added to the internet and I’m very excited to have new sources for my own research. I also took Ms. Johnson’s class titled “Find Your German Ancestor Now!”

I attended Arlene H. Eakle’s class on “American Church Records”. One of the points I thought was interesting that you can tell a person’s religious background by the spelling of their name.

The last class I attended was Tom Underhill’s presentation titled “Making a Personal History Video is Easy”. Beside all the great chocolate Tom passed out he explained the ins and outs of setting the scene before shooting any film. He also gave great examples of how to interview the subject in order to avoid

those indefinite answers like – “yes”, “no”, and “fine”. Tom brought up the small things that many of us would never think of.

I want to thank Holly Hansen and her Expo crew members as well as all the volunteers who made everything run smoothly and on time! Holly has a very special gift in presenting a well organized and well thought out conference – one that I personally am happy she is willing to share.

I look forward to next year’s conference and hope if you are able to attend a Family History Expo somewhere near you that you do!

When I was a kid my Dad always asked if I had learned anything new in school that day – Well Dad I learned many things over the last two days!