The U.S. National Genealogical Society will hold its annual Family History Conference on May 11 through 14, 2011, in Charleston, South Carolina. This is one of the biggest genealogy events of the year in North America. If you can be in Charleston late next week, I am sure you will enjoy attending this conference.
The NGS 2011 Family History Conference will be held in the Charleston Area Convention Center, 5001 Coliseum Drive, North Charleston, South Carolina. The convention center is conveniently located near the Charleston International Airport (CHS) and is surrounded by a number of hotels with restaurants and outlet stores nearby. Most of the closest hotels are fully booked already, but others have rooms available if you are willing to travel a mile or more to the convention center. A free trolley shuttle is also available to several of the closer hotels (Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Residence Inn, Hyatt Place, Crowne Plaza, and Hampton Inn Airport). Historic Charleston is twenty minutes away via taxi or shuttle service.
You can see a map of the area at http://goo.gl/maps/0vtQ
NGS conferences typically attract 1,500 to 2,000 or so attendees. More than 75 nationally-recognized speakers will provide 186 lectures on a wide variety of topics, including research in South Carolina and the surrounding states, migration patterns, ethnic research, religious records, research methodology, and problem solving. Lectures about Civil War research will include: records of the Confederate conscription office, life on the battlefields, the service of Native Americans and African Americans, the Southern Claims Commission, Confederate pardon and amnesty records, prisoner of war records, Civil War pension records, facilities for disabled soldiers, and analysis of photographs from the war. Two lectures will also review many of the websites available for military research.
The NGS banquet on Friday night will feature Stephen B. Bacon, Major USAF (retired), speaking on Separating Fact from Myth: A Look at the US Civil War from Both Sides.
An electronic copy of the daily program can be found at http://goo.gl/661dp
While the conference officially starts on Wednesday, May 11, a number of "pre-conference events" will be held the previous day, including Librarians' Day, a BCG Education Fund Workshop, a research trip to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and some special tours of Charleston. Details of the Tuesday events may be found at http://goo.gl/EQmko
Admission fees at this and most other national conferences are a bit "pricey." The 2011 NGS conference full registration for all four days with CD syllabus costs $210 if you are an NGS member, $245 for non-members. If you prefer, you can obtain a single day registration with a CD syllabus for $100 per day.
A printed syllabus was available for "early bird" registrants but can no longer be ordered this close to the conference. I would suggest you want the CD version anyway. It is cheaper, weighs less, is easier and faster to search, and doesn't consume as many trees to produce. I registered in time for a printed syllabus, but I specified I wanted the syllabus on CD-ROM. I don't have room at home for any more printed syllabi as my bookshelves are already overloaded. I prefer the CD-ROM versions and am glad to see all the major genealogy conferences have switched to CD-ROM publishing of bulky syllabi.
My favorite area at any NGS conference is always the Exhibit Hall, and this year promises to be no exception. More than one hundred exhibitors will be on hand to display their products and to provide customer support. Products and services on display will include the latest in genealogical software, online research providers, and DNA testing services.
One thing to note is that the Exhibit Hall will be open and FREE to the public Wednesday through Saturday. If you are in the Charleston area for even one day during the conference, you might want to drop in to the Exhibit Hall at no charge, even if you cannot stay long enough to attend any presentations.
The convention center has wi-fi, but apparently free access is unavailable. The convention center's web site at http://www.charlestonconvention.com/ doesn't mention wi-fi at all. I cannot find any statement anywhere else that clearly states whether free wi-fi is available, but a document sent to vendors listing the services available at the convention center mentions wi-fi access codes. Free wi-fi will be available in some of the nearby hotels although not in all of them. Check with your hotel for details. Some hotels offer free wi-fi for members of the hotel chain's "frequent guest" programs but will charge fees to non-members.
The closest hotels are sold out, but one hotel not far away is still listed as having available rooms on the conference web site at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/accommodations. I think I'd call the hotel to make sure, since rooms are filling up fast. In addition, I found a number of available rooms a bit further away by starting first at Google Maps' list of nearby hotels at http://goo.gl/maps/XiOu
I plan on having a rental car for other reasons, so I don't mind staying at a highly-rated, but much cheaper hotel that is a few miles away. Most of the hotels near the convention center would charge $100 to $150 a night if they had available rooms. Paying $59 a night at the three-star La Quinta with free parking and free wi-fi, I will save more than enough money to pay for the rental car and any possible parking fees at the convention center. I have stayed at La Quinta hotels many times in the past and find most of them to be nice places that are well worth the money. However, they are basic hotels with a clean room, a comfortable bed, a hot shower, and little else. They are not convention hotels with all sorts of amenities. In other words, they are perfect for my stay.
I will be at the conference all four days, wandering around, taking notes and pictures. If you cannot attend in person, I invite you to check this newsletter during the conference to see some of the pictures taken there.
I will also be hosting another EOGN dinner soon after the conference ends late Saturday afternoon. Details may be found in a separate article that follows this one at http://goo.gl/Zh7IB.
If you would like to attend one of the larger genealogy conferences of the year, with presentations and other items of interest to novices and experienced "old hands" alike, I'd suggest spending four days in at the NGS conference in Charleston, South Carolina. I've been attending these for years and have always enjoyed them. I bet you will also, even if it is your first time.
You can learn more about the National Genealogical Society's annual conference if you start at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info and then follow the various links available there. You will also want to check the NGS conference blog at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/
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