Saturday, February 13, 2010

2010 FGS Conference Registration is Open

Registration for the 2010 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference, scheduled for 18-21 August 2010 in beautiful Knoxville, Tennessee, is now open. This year’s conference theme is “Rediscovering America’s First Frontier,” and is co-hosted by the East Tennessee Historical Society and the Kentucky Historical Society.

The conference schedule includes 173 presentations by 73 noted speakers, including a large number of sponsored luncheons with speakers. There will be two exciting evening events: “Come Sit a Spell: Ballads, Mountain Stories, and Country Fare,” organized by the host societies; and the annual gala FGS banquet, “An Evening in Old Appalachia,” which will be held at the fascinating Museum of Appalachia.


The exciting program includes a completely redesigned “Focus on Societies” day that will present societies’ officers, as well as their members and volunteers, with all new programs and focus group sessions to help improve their operations and effectiveness.


ProQuest is sponsoring Librarians Day, a full day of free sessions for librarians and archivists that includes a tour of the outstanding McClung Historical Collection of the Knox County Public Library.


FamilySearch will present an extensive track of sessions about its resources and projects that you won’t want to miss. Ancestry.com will present a free day of classes for the public and conference attendees on Saturday, plus they will offer free document scanning sessions to attendees by appointment throughout the conference. The Genealogy Guys Podcast will also be there to record a “live” session at the conference.


The Exhibit Hall will be filled with a wide array of vendors and organizations, and a special Spotlight on Societies area will showcase local and regional genealogical and historical societies. There will be extended Exhibit Hall hours on Friday evening, followed by a gala reception, hosted by FamilySearch, to kick off the 1812 Pension Files Digitization Project.


There are more activities and research opportunities too numerous to list. However, you can learn all about the 2010 FGS Conference and register for this exciting four-day event at http://www.fgs.org/2010conference. Be sure to also visit or subscribe to the FGS Conference Blog at http://www.fgsconferenceblog.org for lots more information and travel advice.

We look forward to seeing you in Knoxville in August!


Cherel Henderson and Pat Oxley

National Conference Co-Chairs

2010 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference

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