Mesa, Arizona Family History Expo to be Held This Weekend

Are you in or near the greater Phoenix, Arizona, area? If so, I'd suggest you plan to spend Friday and/or Saturday at the Mesa Convention Center on North Center Street. If you are a genealogist, I suspect you will enjoy this event.

This will be the first annual (hopefully) Mesa Arizona Family History Expo, sponsored by Family History Expos.com, formerly known as My Ancestors Found.com. I suspect this title will hold true: I bet it will become an annual event.

The same company already sponsors annual family history expos in St. George, Utah, and in Logan, Utah. The company's other expos have been successful (see my earlier articles at  http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/02/wrap-up-family.html, at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2007/02/day_1_of_the_st.html and a video made by Roots Television at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/02/video-family-hi.html. I imagine the Mesa event will be similar.

This event is billed as an "expo," not as a conference. There are numerous differences. An expo is more like an "open house." There is a strong focus on the vendors. The presentations are a mix of topics for beginners, intermediate, and advanced genealogists alike. However, the emphasis is more on beginners' topics than at traditional genealogy conferences with their in-depth presentations. An expo may not attract as many nationally-recognized speakers as a national conference, but typically there is more information available for beginners at an expo than at any of the national conferences I have attended. Entrance fees are usually lower at expos than at conferences, which again attracts more beginners.

Despite the differences between a conference and an expo, the Mesa expo has attracted a surprisingly large number of nationally-recognized speakers. A complete list is available at http://myancestorsfound.com/events/presenters.php?eventID=43. I am especially looking forward to the banquet speech by Beau Sharbrough. His talk is entitled, “Genealogy, Music and Cyber Space: Bringing it all together.” I'm having difficulty imagining what that talk will be like, and I want to see and hear him "bring it all together."

The list of vendors is also impressive: FamilySearch, Family Tree Magazine, Legacy Family Tree (Hey! It's a local show for them!), Incline Software, Footnote.com, World Vital Records, RootsMagic, Genline AB (from Sweden), The Jefferson Project, Ancestry.com, Southern California Genealogical Society, Generation Maps, The Genealogy Shelf, The Genealogical Institute, DearMYRTLE, and Ohana Software (from Hawaii). A complete list of exhibitors may be found at http://myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43#exhibitors.

I will also be at this conference. I should be in or near the Footnote booth much of the time. Please drop by and say, "Hello."

The Mesa Convention Center is a great place for a genealogy expo. It is about a 15-minute drive from the Phoenix airport. Unlike most of the national conferences, Mesa has many reasonably priced hotels within a short distance of the convention center. You can see the expo organizers' list of nearby accommodations at http://myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43#lodge although I might suggest the much bigger list on Google Maps at http://tinyurl.com/eogn3. It will be difficult to spend more than $100 per night for a hotel room, including parking! These are nice hotels, too.

For more information about the Mesa, Arizona, Family History Expo, look at http://myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=43.

This should be a great conference. If you can be there, I'd suggest you do so. If not, I hope you will read my report next Sunday or Monday.

Comments

[Lisa Louise Cooke]

Can't wait to see everyone in Mesa - it should be terrific. DearMYRTLE has done a fantastic job of interviewing dozens of speakers and exhibitors for The Family History Expos podcast which you can find at the Family History Expo website under the Podcast tab. Genealogists can listen and get a feel for the upcoming classes and great services offered before they go. A great planning tool! See ya there, Lisa Cooke, host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast at www.genealogygems.tv

[Dae Powell]

I have prepared two presentations for this Expo, too, "Researching in City Directories" and an fun, interactive case study, which I call "What's Next?" -- bring your sense of humour! See you there!

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com

[Colleen]

I will be there with bells on. Well, not with bells, but you know what I mean. I've been doing genealogy for several years now, but this will be my first ever conference. I'll definitely stop by.

I also lived in Tempe for 10 years and currently live in Tucson, so if anyone needs directions around the east valley, particularly central Mesa, Tempe, and Chandler, steer them my way and I can probably help! Just don't ask about getting around Phoenix as I get lost there!

[Lane Hancock]

Thanks for your help in Mesa! You are a gentleman and a scholar!

Lane Hancock

[Dick Eastman]

It was great working with you, Lane. I hope we can do that again.

- Dick