FGS 2017 Conference Recap

We’re back from the Federation of Genealogical Societies 2017 National Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From August 30 – September 2, genealogists and family historians from all around the country gathered at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for a wide variety of sessions held by numerous genealogy experts.

The exhibit hall entrance before opening day

Many attendees also had the opportunity to visit a wide variety of vendors in the exhibit hall. The Geni booth was the perfect place for visitors to get started on their family trees, do some lookups, and take advantage of our premium features for free.

The Geni booth

It was a treat to meet new and long-time Geni users during the conference. On the first day, an attendee stopped by to learn more about Geni’s World Family Tree and asked to do a quick look up. We immediately found his great grandfather on Geni! Much to his delight, we only needed to add just three more nodes to the tree to connect a him to the World Family Tree. Now he can go home and contribute even more information to the tree.

An attendee learning about collaboration in the Word Family Tree

During the conference, several people stopped by to share their experiences with us, including one user who wanted to share her appreciation for the information that she found. She told us, “I don’t trust stuff online, but this [Geni] was spot-on with what I’d put together doing my own research.” She was very impressed that the family tree on Geni had matched her paper trail. It’s always wonderful to hear comments like this! And the World Family Tree will only continue to improve as more people add information and contribute new sources and documentation to existing profiles.

Free Geni water bottles

Not only did attendees get to walk away with a free Geni water bottle, but they also had the opportunity to win a free 1-year Geni Pro subscription by participating in the daily raffle at the MyHeritage booth. In addition to the Pro subscription, participants also had the opportunity to win a MyHeritage DNA test kit or a MyHeritage subscription.

On Friday night, MyHeritage treated a large group of VIPs to a baseball game. We all received matching MyHeritage baseball hats and custom jerseys and had a fantastic time. Playing that night were the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. the Cincinnati Reds. Ultimately, the Reds won 7-3. You know you’re with a group of genealogists when the folks around you are trying to figure out how they are related to the players!

And at the end of the game, we had an amazing view of their very impressive firework show!

Next year’s FGS conference will be held in Fort Wayne, Indiana from August 22-25, 2018. Will you be there?