NGS 2019 Recap

We’re back from St. Charles, Missouri, where we attended the National Genealogical Society 2019 Family History Conference. A total of 2,324 people were in attendance for this fun and informative gathering of genealogists and family history buffs.

Doors to the exhibit hall

A number of events were lined up throughout the conference including a wide array of sessions for all skill levels. Several sessions were even live streamed for those who couldn’t be there in person.

The Geni booth at NGS 2019

With the exhibit hall open for four days, we got the opportunity to talk in-depth with several new users. We even had a demo with a group curious to understand how collaboration in the World Family Tree worked. Many attendees returned repeatedly to our booth in the exhibit hall to ask questions and get help with their family trees on Geni.

An attendee getting in-depth help with her tree

Several people were able to find their connections to the World Family Tree right at the booth. Part of the fun of connecting to the World Family Tree is discovering how you’re related to others also connected to the tree, so it was a delightful surprise when they discovered that they were distant cousins of Geni’s General Manager Mike Stangel!

Lots of visitors at the Geni booth

Now that GEDCOM imports have returned to Geni, a few people were eager to get a jump start on their tree by importing their GEDCOM files. Those who imported at the booth were entered into a contest for a chance to win a 1-year Geni Pro subscription and a 1-year MyHeritage data subscription. A lucky winner was picked at random at the end of the conference. Congratulations to Sue Marie Carver!

Visitors looking up ancestors in the World Family Tree

We also heard some great stories from users. A visitor came up to us to share that she had found a photograph of her grandfather and photos of his parents on Geni. She had never seen these photos before and was happy to have discovered them on Geni. Another user started an account during the conference and returned on the last day to show us photos and newspaper clippings she had uploaded to her grandfather’s profile. Amazingly he lived to the age of 102!

We had an excellent time at NGS 2019! We hope to see you next year for NGS 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah.