Wrap-Up: Family History Expo 2008 in St. George, Utah

It's Sunday morning, and I am in a hotel room in St. George, Utah. I attended Family History Expo 2008 for the past two days. It was a good conference. I know it must have been good because I am exhausted.

For details of what was planned, read my earlier article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/01/family-history.html or check the conference's web site at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=1. I can now report that the Expo went off just about as planned. More than 1,000 people attended this two-day event in a small city (population of about 76,000 people). St. George is in the extreme southwest corner of Utah, some 300 miles south of Salt Lake City and with a much warmer climate. While the city is in Utah, it is only about 120 miles from Las Vegas, and its climate is much more like that of Las Vegas than that of Salt Lake City. St. George is a great location for a mid-winter genealogy conference with its mild weather.

I am always surprised at the number of attendees at the annual Family History Expo. I wouldn't expect to see that many in a small city. The area does have a high percentage of LDS members, which obviously helps. Ease of access from Las Vegas via Interstate 15 also helps. Even so, I met people from Virginia, Texas, California, Idaho, and elsewhere, many of whom reported that they traveled to St. George for the sole purpose of attending the Expo.

The exhibit hall included vendors from England, Hawaii, and several east coast states. You can see a list of all the exhibitors at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=1#exhibitors.

The Expo kicked off Friday morning with Beau Sharbrough, Vice President of Footnote.com, giving the keynote presentation. The talk was in a huge room that was filled. I suspect those in the rear of the room needed binoculars to see the speaker! However, the public address system worked well, and everyone probably heard every word of Beau's address. The talk seemed to be well received. While the primary theme of the speech was serious, Beau always manages to inject a lot of humor into any of his talks. I heard a lot of laughter in that room.

For me, the conference then became a blur of presentations, vendors, and people. I stayed very busy in the exhibit hall, where I had a booth for this newsletter. Lots of newsletter subscribers stopped by to chat, which is always a delight. I also met lots of "future subscribers" and told them about the good stuff in this newsletter, convincing them to give it a look.

I brought along a wireless "Wi-Fi" network router as well as EDGE wireless hardware so that all Expo attendees could use their own laptops, iPhones and handheld PDAs to check e-mail or even surf the web a bit while at the Expo. After all, one shouldn't be isolated from the rest of the world simply because of attending a genealogy event. The Wi-Fi network apparently worked well. I noticed that it was in use frequently.

This newsletter's booth also featured three laptops: one running Windows, one Macintosh, and one Linux system, just to prove that this newsletter can be accessed by anyone, regardless of operating system used. All three used the same Wi-Fi network while demonstrating features of the newsletter's web site at www.eogn.com.

The newsletter's booth was adjacent to that of Footnote.com and directly across the aisle from the booth of Legacy Family Tree. That proved to be a prime location with lots of "traffic" from interested genealogists.

I am not sure how many presentations and seminars were made, other than it was a large number. You can see the entire list at http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/speaker_bio.php?eventID=1. I can report that there was a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced topics. The emphasis seemed to be on beginner and intermediate topics, a good choice in my opinion.

The Friday evening banquet featured Jean Wilcox Hibben with a musical look at events that shaped America and the newly arrived immigrants.

The Expo ended late Saturday afternoon with door prizes. I mean a LOT of door prizes. The announcers seemed to announce name after name of door prize winners for nearly an hour! The announcements were made in the back of the exhibit hall. This was the first event I recall in which the exhibitors did not start tearing down their booths early! With a thousand or so potential customers milling around the hall, almost all of the exhibitors kept their booths open and in business until after 5:00 PM. I saw one bookseller still making sales after 6:00 PM!

I am fascinated by one thing about the annual conference in St. George. I travel to quite a few genealogy conferences, and I hear many reports of the various events shrinking in size year after year. Not all of them are getting smaller, but many genealogy events are doing so. Yet the annual Expo in St. George gets bigger and bigger each year. It does so in a rather small city, unlike some of the "national conferences." It also draws a very enthusiastic crowd, probably more enthusiastic than other conferences I attend in the U.S. In fact, that is why I travel more than 2,500 miles (each way) to attend this conference: it is a lot of fun!

Why is the St. George Family History Expo successful year after year while some other conferences are struggling? I do not have all the answers, but I will offer a few observations:

1. First, the Family History Expo is held in the same location year after year. I believe this is a major advantage over events that annually move from city to city. A small group of organizers can handle the large tasks simply because of familiarity. They know what worked or did not work in past years. Most of the workers were involved the previous year and have the experience to immediately dive into the new event each time it is held. A small, experienced crew can be much more efficient than a larger group of "interns" learning as they go each year. The conference center is always a known factor; even most of the exhibitors know exactly what needs to be done as many of them have "done it before."
2. Price: While the price of admission to the Family History Expo 2008 was higher than some previous years, the $65.00 fee was a lot more attractive than the $150 to $200 charged by some national events. If you want a lot of people to show up, make sure you don't price the event out of reach of the average working (or retired) American!
3. The presentations included beginner, intermediate, and advanced sessions, but the emphasis was on genealogy novices. That philosophy obviously worked well as the novices came by the hundreds.
4. Speakers were not compensated, nor were they reimbursed for travel expenses. That obviously allows for lower expenses and lower admission fees, resulting in more attendees. Many of the speakers were also exhibitors and had years of experience in their areas of specialty. The result was a corps of experts offering presentations about topics with which they were intimately familiar.

Would these same ideas work at all genealogy conferences? Probably not. However, I will suggest that there are some lessons here to be learned by all genealogy conference organizers.

Holly Hansen and her crew at My Ancestors Found hold several Expos in Utah each year. The St. George event is the largest and most successful of these genealogy expos, but Holly reports that the others in Bountiful and Logan are also growing nicely each year and they are now expanding to Mesa, Arizona. The business plan she uses obviously works well.

I expect to be at the Family History Expo 2009 in St. George, Utah. If you want to attend a nice conference in a mild climate in February, circle February 27 and 28, 2009 on your calendar. This year's Expo was a lot of fun, and I bet next year's event will be as well.

Keep an eye on http://www.myancestorsfound.com/ for new details as they are added.

Comments

[SMacangus]

Thanks for explaining pertinent technology in layman's terms so often in your newsletter and cruise talks Dick. Portions of your good article about the Utah Conference were of great interest. Hopefully you might expand on the technology and capabilities you used in a separate future article. By the way, I was pleased to have met you last November on the funtastic and enlightening RootsMagic Cruise.

I understood you to say that you ran three notebooks with different operating systems on a single network which was created at the conference?? How can you do that? Does each notebook have a separate modem-device to access web? Could all three notebooks have web access simultaneously? How did you make this work? A separate question: Can one you/do you use Skype on such an adhoc network or a single notebook when you travel? Or is there no benefit? I'm clueless but curious about Skype's ability to replace my home phone services after seeing Skype mentions in your newsletters.

My own situation lead me to ask these questions. I live modestly in two countries but find with the dollar's devalue I'm living beyond my means and need to economize. I have a little home in Northern Californa and a smaller one in Scotland. Being a bit disabled I work off of laptop computers only which aren't presently networked and able to access the internet simultaneously. The Calif home is in a rural area just off Interstate 5 where Broadband/DSL is non-existent and Dial-up web access drives me mad. The Scotland place is also very rural but broadband service is blissfully available. Neighbors here in California told me Monday that they solved their web speed issue with Verizon Wireless. By Thursday I'd signed for a 30-day trial agreement @ $60/mo for unlimited use. The rep ran some software before sticking a candy-bar sized Verizon USB720 thingy in my notebook's USB port then sent me home to try it out. The internet speed improvement is dramatic!! Apparently the device is very advanced in that it is Rev A over Rev O and Ev-Do over Edge - all of which is Greek to me. He says this particular device won't work in Great Britain though.

I am now wondering if I could reduce my expenses by eliminating both landline phone services (1 Calif and 1 Scotland) and my present Scotland Broadband service and replacing them with two Wireless contracts and Skype? I'm hoping you can enlighten me and lots of other readers. Regardless, many, many thanks! I will post this here but also look for your email to send direct. SM

[Dick Eastman]

---> I understood you to say that you ran three notebooks with different operating systems on a single network which was created at the conference?? How can you do that?

The key thing is to create a network. With today's technology, that isn't hard. Once the network is available, it is simple to hook up as many computers to that network as you wish (up to a theoretical maximum of 253 computers with the hardware I selected) and those computers can use any operating system. Today's networks don't care if the connected computers are Windows, Macintosh, Linux or even some other operating system.

I use a Verizon USB720 device (the same as yours) plus some more hardware to provide Internet connectivity to all the computers on the network.

---> Does each notebook have a separate modem-device to access web?

No. Each computer accesses the Web through the network, not via modems. All the computers on the network have full Web access as all of them are sharing the single Verizon USB720.

---> Could all three notebooks have web access simultaneously?

Yes. In fact, it will support a theoretical maximum of 253 simultaneous computers. I think that would be rather slow, however. I'd suggest a maximum of five or ten.

---> How did you make this work?

That functionality is included with most networking software. The NETWORK must have Internet connectivity, then it shares that with all the computers on the network.

I wrote a Plus Edition article about this perhaps a year ago but have since added mode advanced capabilities. I do plan to write about it again but have two more things I wish to add/experiment with first.

---> Can one you/do you use Skype on such an adhoc network or a single notebook when you travel? Or is there no benefit?

I use Skype MORE when I travel than when I am at home. When I am at home, I have a variety of phone services and options to choose from (standard phone, cell phone, etc.). When traveling, I have fewer choices so I use Skype whenever possible as it is the cheapest method.

---> ...but curious about Skype's ability to replace my home phone services after seeing Skype mentions in your newsletters.

I no longer have a standard telephone line and don't ever plan to have one again. I have Skype, MagicJack (which is a lot like Skype) and a cell phone. Actually, I really should get rid of MagicJack as it duplicates Skype but I already paid for it for a year ($20) so there is no benefit to canceling for a while.

For me, the combination of a verizon USB720 plus Skype plus a cell phone gives me more communications capabilities than I need.

HOWEVER, it strikes me that you do not need a network. If you have one computer in California and you already have a Verizon USB720, you already have everything you need to use Skype, except for the Skype software itself and perhaps a handset or headset. The software is free. Headsets and telephone handsets cost ten dollars or so, if you do not already have one. Go to http://www.skype.com for details.

Once you get some experience, return to Scotland and get a similar wireless device from a local carrier there. They are available from several vendors in the U.K. Then do the same in Scotland. You can use the same Skype user name in both places so it effectively means that you are moving your telephone with you. If you obtain SkypeIn or SkypePro (about $3.00 a month), you can have one telephone number assigned and you can answer that number from any location. Your friends could call that number at any time of year and you could always answer it, regardless if you are in California or in Scotland or perhaps traveling someplace else in between.

I have done that from hotel rooms all over the U.S. as well as from Canada, London, Hong Kong, Bombay, and a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. The process is simple. Again, you do not need to add your own network. You already have most everything you need.

- Dick Eastman

[SMacAngus]

Thanks Dick for answering my questions so very thoroughly. Your explanations removed conceptual blinders! Before reading your explanation, I thought all networked PCs needed to be of the same ilk. I thought Skype only worked on land-line based internet services. I thought one needed a separate router/modem/access-point thingy box plugged to a land line phone service to have a "network."

Plus...given that I have four notebooks (Two stay in Calif; One travels with me; the Fourth stays in Scotland) - Its a gift to learn I can create a Calif network with the one Verizon device AND have a second network in Scotland with a UK data device and service. Who'd_have_thunk??

Is it right to assume that the additional hardware your networked computers needed (and I will need) were USB or PC card network adapters? Anything else?

Other possible article topics some day might be wireless printers, reviews of GPS devices and whether Skype can be used on Smartphones such as Blackberries. Others besides myself are probably very curious about which GPS devices you favor and why. As to printing wirelessly, following my brother's suggestion, I recently spent $99 on a HP7460 wireless printer. It is surprising how delightfully "freeing" it is to print from my laptop while perched on porch, patio or snuggled warmly in a downy-blanketed bed. Yes, the ink is a rip-off but the convenience is pure bliss.

Again, Thank You! SM

[Dick Eastman]

---> Is it right to assume that the additional hardware your networked computers needed (and I will need) were USB or PC card network adapters?

In many cases: "Yes." Many of today's laptop computers come from the factory with wireless ("Wi-Fi") adapters built in so that you do not need to insert anything into the USB ports or PCMCIA card slot. Even the $399 tiny, 2-pound laptop I purchased a couple of months ago has built-in wireless (Wi-Fi) networking.

If your laptop does not have built-in Wi-Fi wireless networking, you can easily add it via a USB or PCMCIA card slot adapter. Those adapters cost $20 to $40.

---> Anything else?

No.

---> Other possible article topics some day might be wireless printers...

OK, but all printers can (in effect) be wireless. Hook them up to a wired and wireless router or to a desktop computer that is also connected to a wired and wireless router, then share the printer. ALL the computers on the network can then access the printer, including wired and wireless computers.

I have a network in my home that includes two printers: one laser black-and-white printer and one inkjet color printer. My wireless router also has some computers hard-wired to it in addition to the laptops connected via wireless. (Most of today's wireless routers also have four network connectors on the back for plugging in wired network connections to other computers so it is easy to have a mix of wired and wireless computers.) My two printers are both wired but all my computers can print to them, including Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers, regardless of whether wired or wireless connections are in use. It is simply one network and all computers can (optionally) share all peripherals, including all the printers.

---> reviews of GPS devices and...

I have written several GPS articles in past years, mostly Plus Edition articles. I own too many GPS devices! (smile) Look at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&domains=blog.eogn.com&q=gps&btnG=Search&sitesearch=blog.eogn.com

---> whether Skype can be used on Smartphones such as Blackberries.

The quick answer is "it all depends..." There are many variables involved. Some Smartphones can work on Skype but most cannot. I will add, however, even on those that theoretically can do it, you probably won't be happy with the results. In short, I wouldn't bother even trying. I may change my mind within 2 or 3 years, however, as the technology continues to improve.

- Dick Eastman

[Dick Eastman]

Let's try a "drawing." Depending upon which font your web browser uses, this may or may not look "funny." It is supposed to be a drawing of a typical in-home network with four computers (they can be any mix of Windows, Macintosh and Linux) and three printers. Some computers are connected via wireless, some are hard-wired. One printer is wireless, the other two are wired.

ALL FOUR computers can access the Internet simultaneously and, if configured properly, all four computers can print to any and all three printers.

You can see the "drawing" at http://www.eogn.com/downloads/network.txt

By the way, this is close to being a drawing of the network in my home.