Day #2 of the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! show got underway today at 9:30 AM, London time. The show was basically a continuation of yesterday's event with a few minor variations. For one thing, the crowds seem to be a bit bigger. I assume that is because it is Saturday; more people have the day off and can visit a show like this.
You can see just a bit of the crowd in the picture to the left in which Nick Francis of AncestralAtlas.com demonstrates the new online service to Megan Smolenyak.
Today's crowd also seemed to be a bit younger. I saw quite a few couples pushing baby carriages, something I am not used to seeing at genealogy conferences.
Yesterday I mentioned all the DNA talks. There were more today but, unlike yesterday, I did see one DNA talk with a few empty seats in the back of the DNA theatre. I also attended lectures by DNA experts Katherine Borges and Chris Pomery; both of them had no empty seats.
I noticed that the busiest booth seemed to be the one selling gelato (Italian ice cream). I know they got four pounds of my money, and it was worth it! My favorite flavor is pistachio, and I can vouch that pistachio gelato is excellent at this vendor's booth.
I had two "high points" today. Early this morning, I was an eyewitness to a "family reunion." Chris Haley from the United States – nephew of Roots author Alex Haley – recently found a perfect DNA match with a man in Scotland. The man's daughter came to the show in London, and yesterday Chris jumped on a plane to London. These two "cousins" met for the first time this morning in the hotel lobby, and I was fortunate enough to be there with camera in hand. I wrote a separate article about that which you can read at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2009/02/haleybaff-family-reunion-thanks-to-dna.html.
My other "high point" of the day was when I delivered a quick presentation to the genealogy fair in St. George, Utah. Not a bad trick, considering that I was seated in the Exhibition Hall of the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! show in London. We had two-way audio and video. Apparently, live video of my face was projected on a screen in a meeting room at the St. George conference, and my voice was transmitted over the public address system there. I was able to see live video of the audience and also heard more audio from them than I had expected. We ended with a question-and-answer session in which the audience could ask me questions and receive immediate answers.
That's not bad, considering that we were more than 5,000 miles apart!
I was especially pleased at how well the remote video worked and how easy it was to set up. We used off-the-shelf equipment that can be purchased at any computer store. Set-up time was less than five minutes, and I spent most of that time looking for a longer network cable. I will write a separate article about "How to Videoconference at Genealogy Events" within the next few days.
I do want to thank FamilySearch for allowing me to "borrow" their Internet connection in London and especially for putting up with me for nearly an hour as I did the "broadcast” live from the FamilySearch booth in London.
I snapped a few more pictures today as I walked around the WDYTYAL show. You can see them, along with yesterday's pictures, at http://blog.eogn.com/photos/2009_wdytyal.
The third and final day of this conference will be tomorrow, March 1. I hope to write a wrap-up report tomorrow evening.
