WDYTYAL - Day #3

If you have been reading this newsletter for the past couple of days, you know that I have been reporting from the "Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE!" event in London, England. Today was the third and final day of this exposition, and I have just returned to my hotel room. I'm exhausted, so I know that it must have been a successful event!

The final day was essentially a repeat of the first two. The crowds were a bit reduced today compared to Saturday although bigger than Friday's numbers. I never obtained a final count of the attendees as a few last-minute folks were still arriving when I was leaving. However, the crowds appeared to be significantly bigger than last year's report of nearly 13,000 people. I'm guessing the total attendance at this year's event was well over 15,000 paid admissions, perhaps 17,000 or more. I'll report the final numbers when I hear them. Whatever the final count, this has to be considered a successful show and one for others to emulate.

In response to someone who asked in e-mail, I did get some still photographs of "the hat lady" and her latest genealogy bonnet. If you did not see the video from last year's event (available at http://www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=931731244), Jacqueline Depelle wears some of the most original ladies’ hats I have ever seen. They have a genealogy theme, listing her ancestors. It is a great way of showing her interests as well as honoring her ancestors. Jacqueline's newest hat is just as interesting as last year's model.

You can see the Day #3 photos at: http://blog.eogn.com/photos/wdytyal2008day3.

I also had an opportunity to talk with many people at the conference. Many of those talks will be available in coming days and weeks on Roots Television at http://www.RootsTelevision.com.

Comments

[theKiwi]

Thanks for the 3 updates with all the pictures. Very interesting to see the variety of exhibitors there.

Cheers

Roger

[Albert]

The people in attendance all seem to be well into middle-age. Were there no young adults, then?

[Dick Eastman]

---> The people in attendance all seem to be well into middle-age. Were there no young adults, then?

The crowd tended to be middle aged and beyond, but I saw many exceptions. I saw lots of schoolchildren and young parents pushing baby carriages. I didn't see more than a handful of teenagers, however. The schoolchildren seemed to congregate around the archaeological exhibits.

- Dick Eastman

[John Hebden]

An interesting look round the exhibition but apparently no examples of British Family History Societies - did you not see any?

[Richard Heaton]

Hi,
I'm still recovering ! I certainly had a good mix of young adult and older adult family historians visit the stand I assisted on - mostly from the UK (and from across the UK) but some from Australia, Canada, US, and Ireland. And a complete mix of experience levels, from the just taken "the very first step" who were so excited to find the facts supplied by their Uncle or Aunt matched facts in the Census, to those who were stuck in the 16th, 17th, or 18th Century and didn't know what to do next.

I only hope that family history societies who attended either recruited enough new members, were appreciated by their existing members who attended, or sold enough copies of their publications to justify the expence of attending.

Best Regards
Richard Heaton

[Paul]

In answer to John Hebden's question, there certainly were many English family history societies in the hall. I helped on the Oxfordshire FHS stall on Friday, and we were very busy. Not only did we sell our range of books and CDs, we also had our Search Suite - a number of linked databases of indexes and transcriptions - on two laptops so that we could try to give instant help to those researchers with Oxfordshire interests.

The website of WDYTYA suggests that in excess of fifty English family history societies were in attendance.

[Liz]

While reading your accounts of the event in England, a couple of us thought we would like to plan a trip there for next year. Do you have next year's information?
Thanks!

[Dick Eastman]

According to Elsa Churchill in a conversation she and I had last Sunday evening, next year's date is not yet set. (Elsa is the lady in charge of the show for the Society of Genealogists.) The exhibition hall is not available on the preferred weekend next year so either the date must be changed or the location must be changed.

There is a proposal to hold next year's exhibition in the same place on the weekend of February 28 and March 1, 2009. However, as of last Sunday, that was a PROPOSAL, not a confirmed decision. The final decision will probably be made within the next few weeks and I hope to publish that info as soon as it becomes available.

- Dick Eastman

[Kay East]

I have planed my trip I am in Australia don't move the event out of May 2009 please I don't want to miss out Regards Kay