F G S, Day Two

It isn't every conference that has a keynote not just once, but once every day. Setting the tone for each day of the FGS conference "On the Three Rivers" in Fort Wayne this week, genealogy luminaries like Scott Fisher, Judy Russell, Blaine Bettinger and Steve Rockwood set the bar high with their thought pieces. And we get left to process what we can do about such high octane inspiration.

Moving from yesterday's sessions focused on the business of running genealogical societies, we now delve into the meat of family history pursuits. In that, the FGS conference seems like every other large genealogy event—only, perhaps, more oriented to the research needs of the north-central midwest states. Lots of German here, as well as Scandinavian specialties, with a focus on the states contiguous to the host venue.

Unfortunately, my research interests aren't necessarily aligned with this year's educational offerings. Not to worry, though. I have the most excellent out: immediate access, during almost all my waking hours, of the nation's number one public genealogical research library. The Allen County Public Library, with it's Genealogy Center, kindly offered to provide conference attendees with extended hours.

When I say almost all my waking hours, I am not kidding. With a wave of my official conference badge, I can enter the library from its morning opening up through its special closing time of eleven at night—just about the time a wise researcher would call it quits when faced with a start time, the next morning, of eight o'clock.

I wasn't sure there is such a time as eight a.m. But evidently, that is when all good FGS members are to report for today's keynote. Today, in a Big Reveal style session, morning hosts Judy Russell and Blaine Bettinger will explain the test results of four media personalities from the Fort Wayne area who recently agreed to submit DNA tests to AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, and MyHeritage for today's program. Taking the program from there, each of the broadcasters will then be treated to a Who Do You Think You Are styled overview of their family history research results, provided by staff from the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center.

After that event, and the grand opening of the exhibit hall which is to follow the morning session, I'll likely cruise the hallways, looking for people I've been meaning to connect with during this week. And after that? Other than for a few sessions of note, in my case, the pull of the library may well win the day.