FGS2011 ~ Should You Stay or Should You Go?

While I'm still on my SCGS2011 Jamboree high, I thought I'd start mentioning the Federation of Genealogical Societies' 2011 Conference in Springfield, Illinois coming up in September, especially since I'm an Official Blogger for them. So. I've come up with some pros and cons, or stays and go's, if you will, to help you decide on whether you should stay at home like you do every year or whether you should go and have a fantastic time.






Stays:

• If you stay at home, you'll get to read all the cool tweets and blog posts from all of us who decided to go.
• If you stay, you'll be able to finally clean out your garage.
• If you stay, you'll be able to research that family line again with that huge brick wall that you can't seem to scale, and still not scale it.
  
• If you stay, you can get caught up on that dirty laundry mound that could rival Mount Everest.
• If you stay, you can wash your car. Several times.
• If you stay, you can wash your hair and even play with some new styles for it.
• If you stay, you can continue to communicate with your online genealogy buddies [Well. The ones who decided to stay at home too.], and never get to meet the ones who decided to go. [What do we look like in person anyways?]
• If you stay, you can get all your old photos and documents scanned and digitally organized in between keeping up with all the conference tweeting.
• If you stay, you can read all the blog posts and related tweets about how great and awesome the conference was for weeks on end.
• If you stay, you can see all the you-had-to-be-there-to-understand-it-cuz-it's-an-inside-joke photos and not know what any of them mean.

Go's:

• If you go, you can meet all those online genealogy peeps that you've been tweeting and blogging with so your family members will stop thinking your some online weirdo. [Or is that just me?]
• If you go, you can meet me. Am I the same in person as I am online? I dunno.
• If you go, you won't have "wrinkle hands" from washing your hair. And your car. Several times.
• If you go, you just might go to a session that teaches some new-found way to scale a brick wall, like the one you've been trying to scale. Or perhaps the session teaches you how to tear the dang thing down and haul off the brick debris.
• If you go, perhaps the Laundry Fairy will swoop in and do all your laundry for you. [Snort.]
• If you go, perhaps you'll learn how to start writing your family's history.
• If you go, perhaps you'll finally learn how to use German church records [Using German Church Records with Michael D. Lacapo, DVM.] so you can find who your 2nd Great-Grandfather's, John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt's, parents were. 
• If you go, perhaps you'll learn all about the correct ways to restore your old photographs. [Photo Restoration from Start to Finish Demonstration with Eric Curtis Basir]
• If you go, all your blog readers and Twitter followers can read all about what a FAN-tabulous time you are having and/or had at FGS2011. [Make 'em green with envy.]
• If you go, you can be in on all the you-had-to-be-there-to-understand-it-cuz-it's-an-inside-joke photos. [Or perhaps you'll take the photos. Who knows? You won't unless you go.]

So should you stay or should you go?

Oh. You're asking ME? Well. Duh. Go.

For more details about FGS 2011, please visit the conference's FGS 2011 Website as well as the FGS Conference Blog. And don't take your sweet time about it either. Registration prices go up after July 1st. So get your groove on. Go.

~Caroline

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