Obviously, you can’t be in all those places at once, much as you’d like to be. So how do you choose which sessions to go to?

NGS has made the full syllabus available online to those who pre-registered. This gives you the chance to study the sessions more closely. Even so, you may still be undecided for some time slots (I know I still am). With that in mind, here are a few questions I ask myself when selecting between lectures scheduled at the same time:
- Is this a rare chance for me to hear a particular genealogist speak?
- Is one of the sessions likely to rely heavily on a visual demonstration?
- Will one of the sessions help me develop a skill or learn to use a type of record I’m likely to need frequently?
- Could I learn about one of the topics another way, perhaps at a local seminar?
- Are both of the lectures I’m torn between being recorded? If not, I can go to the one that isn’t being recorded, and order a CD of the other one. Although I’ll miss the visual presentation, the bonus is that I’ll be able to listen to the one on CD multiple times. I usually end up ordering quite a few.
And one last tip:
- Be flexible. Sometimes I can’t choose ahead of time between two or three sessions. So I make a note of each of them, and then go to the one I feel like when the time comes. Or sometimes I end going to a completely different session I hadn’t really thought about in advance. There’s something to be said for following your mood and going with the flow. Remember that genealogical serendipity can happen anywhere, any time.
And you know what? You really can’t go wrong. There’s no such thing as the wrong decision, because all the speakers are top-notch. So don’t sweat the choices too much. Just come and have fun!
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