Hello from London! Today I had an opportunity to attend the “Who Do You Think You Are? Live” exhibition held in Kensington. This is the second year of this huge show, and I believe it is the largest genealogy/history/heritage show in the world.
I arrived at the exhibition hall a few minutes before the 10:00 AM opening and found a long line of people patiently waiting to get in. I went for coffee rather than wait in line. I returned about twenty minutes later and found the queue had disappeared, the doors were open, and the show was underway. I already had a ticket, so I walked straight in.
Upon entering this large exhibition hall, the first thing I encountered was a World War I British tank. I don't recall seeing any similar exhibit at any genealogy conference in the United States or in Canada. Admittedly, this is not only a genealogy show, but also a history/heritage/archaeology show. Indeed, much more space was devoted to military history this year than at last year's event.
As I wandered around the exhibition hall, I soon discovered that there was no reduction in the number of genealogy-related exhibits,. If anything, there may have been more than last year. The exhibition space also seemed to be better organized than last year's event with wider aisles. The various stages had been moved to the sides, which worked better for crowd control and noise reduction than last year's stages, some of which were in the middle of the exhibition hall. I believe that those who attended the presentations also enjoyed better acoustics. In short, they could hear better. The presenters didn't have to shout as much.
I could write pages about Day #1 of this year's event. However, if you believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, you'll appreciate the pictures that I snapped with my digital camera. Even if you cannot attend this year's event in London, the pictures will give you a taste of what transpired.
It is now late in the evening in London, and my jet lag is setting in. I'll invite you to look at the pictures. I'll return tomorrow and take more. I also am working with the folks at Roots Television to videotape interviews and other highlights of this year's show. You will see those become available in the next few weeks at http://www.RootsTelevision.com.
The videos are not yet available but my still photos can be seen at http://blog.eogn.com/photos/wdytyal2008.
