Thomas MacEntee – OGS 2013
I met up with old friends Stephanie Pitcher Fishman, Jennifer Alford, Amy Johnson Crow and Shelley Bishop and met new friends Linda McCauley and Cheri Daniels. It was a fantastic experience! I’ll always remember my “first” major conference and the fun I had.
So what is my take away from this event? I learned so very much! Some classes opened my eyes to new research ideas and places to research. Even the lectures I took that covered topics I’m familiar with gave me new tips and ideas. I am always surprised how much easier it is to learn something new when it’s taught in a workshop with visuals. My only negative, if it can be called a negative, is that I learned so much! I didn’t know how I’d be able to retain it all! The excellent syllabus provided and my own notes will certainly help in that category.
Secondly meeting fellow genealogists and “talking shop” was great! I really only have one other person I can discuss research with so being around a group of people who frequent repositories and cemeteries was fabulous! Not once did I see someone’s eyes roll back in their head or fall into a zombie like trance when the word genealogy was spoken!
My final conference thought is how the event re-energized me and my work! In an email to my roomies Jen Alford and Steph Fishman the day before we left I wrote, “I’m really excited about this! I need a little jump-start and I think these next few days at OGS are just the ticket!!” and OGS was just that. I’m excited again about my family research as well as my Civil War research. I have new avenues to explore from websites to libraries. I have many new options I’m investigating. I’m motivated again and it’s all due to my three days at OGS. If you can squeeze a conference into your future I recommend it. The benefits far and away exceed anything you can imagine.
If you attended OGS or have any other conference thoughts let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.
