FGS Friday: And My Non-Fantasy Fantasy #FGS2011 Conference Picks Start...Now

[Disclosure: I am an Official Blogger for the FGS 2011 Conference.]


Doing it Old School Has Its Merits
I love technology. I love computers. I especially love my iPhone. But when it comes to planning stuff out, I prefer doing it old school – paper. And while FGS does provide an online Conference Program of each day’s sessions, I believe the best way to view and plan out your conference must-go-to sessions is by accessing the FGS 2011 Conference’s brochure, downloading it, saving it and printing it out.

Why waste the paper and ink? After all, it’s a 16-page PDF document for goodness sakes. Well, each day’s lectures, luncheons, and activities are in a 2-page table format. Printing it out allows you to see everything for that day at a glance and make informed decisions. [Trust me. They have a lot of choices.]

Steps To Access & Print the Conference Brochure
I stumbled upon this on their site, and thank God I did cuz making my non-fantasy fantasy picks [cuz I'm actually going] is going to be a whole lot easier with these day-by-day session grid table thingies.

• Either access the PDF Conference Brochure  by clicking here, OR you can go to the conference’s main page, click on the Media button,  on the lefthand sidebar click on the FGS 2011 Conference Brochure button, and click on the PDF download button located in the middle of the page to begin the download.
  
• Once you download the brochure, you can view it, save it, and/or print it out. [I did all 3, but definitely print it out.]
  
• Once you print out all 16 pages, take the 2 pages that list each day’s schedule, flip the 1st page for each day over, and line it up with the correct day’s 2nd page so that you can fully read all your choices for each day.

Some Additional Tips & Thoughts

• Each day is broken down into 7 tracks. The first day, Wednesday, is all about genealogical societies, Focus on Societies.   
• The rest of the days of the conference [Thursday, Friday, and Saturday] are researcher-focused, and in the future FGS Conference Friday posts, I’ll go over my picks for those as well. [Just as soon as I decide.]
•  Within each track, the sessions are organized across the 2 pages with the time of the session listed across the top and the name of the tracks listed going down on the left side. [See why you need to print it out? Hair, people. You don't want to pull out your hair trying to figure out if Thomas MacEntee's 21st Century Marketing Techniques for Genealogists/Genealogical Societies is at the same time as Lisa Alzo's Immigrant Cluster Communities: Past, Present, and Future. And BTW, they're not.] Now, if “all about genealogical societies” is your cup of tea, there are some exciting topics that will be discussed with some even more exciting speakers discussing them, and I’ll go over the tracks and my session picks for that day on my next  Friday’s FGS Conference post.
•  And I’m not gonna lie to you. There are some tough decisions to make here for each day’s sessions, but don’t let that deter you. Also? Keep in mind that what you think you want to attend now may change once you’re there, and that’s okay. I mean, someone that you’ve been communicating online with might want to sit down and talk to you over a cup of coffee or tea. [For reals.] And if this happens, go for it. It’s part of the conference experience. ‘K?

So. How are you sorting out the FGS 2011Conference Sessions? Please feel free to share in Comments below.

What do you mean you haven’t registered yet? What are you waiting for? Their link for more info about registering and the conference overall is here.

Next Friday's FGS Conference Post: What I Think Will Be My Non-Fantasy Fantasy Picks for Wednesday

~Caroline

---