Sunday, May 20, 2012

Another Great Seminar

Yesterday's all-day seminar with George G. Morgan was a great success--both in terms of audience comments (thank you to those who turned in evaluations) and in terms of revenue for SGS.The SGS Seminar Committee did an excellent job of organizing the event and anticipating people's needs--no mean feat given that we were using a totally new location. It's a pity the MOHAI auditorium will be a pile of rubble by the time our next seminar comes around. The weather's cooperation was a big plus, given how little space was available for dining. I, for one, enjoyed sitting outside and soaking up a few rays before heading back into the auditorium.
I am always amused that the seminar evaluations always include a few comments that the presentations were "too basic" or "too simple" AND comments that they were "too advanced" and "too fast-paced." It seems to me that this says more about the range of experience of our attendees--from total "newbies" to professional genealogists--than to the speaker's presentations.
Personally, I found George's presentations entertaining, informative, and well-organized. Since I've been doing genealogy research for over 30 years, I can't say that I learned anything totally new, but I was reminded of some things I really should be doing to organize my research (creating those chronological profiles with source citations) and to break down some of my brick walls (taking some more meaningful "sidesteps" in my research as opposed to wandering aimlessly through families).
I hope that everyone who attended learned something useful and left with a renewed energy to dive into their research.
Kudos to the Seminar Committee and all our wonderful volunteers. And, of course, to George Morgan for traveling all the way across the country to educate us.