Preliminary Session Choices - Wednesday, Day One at RootsTech / FGS 2015

So I figure I'll post my preliminary list of choices for sessions and after the conference we'll come back and see how I did. Okay? Okay. Cool. Glad that's sorted.

[Oh my gawd... I just realized I will actually be AT these sessions only three weeks from today!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!!]

WEDNESDAY'S PICKS

8am - 9:15am Session
(Plenary) Successfully Embracing the Future
"...Courage to Change the Things I Can..." - Curt Witcher
Applying TLC to Create New Growth - Deena Coutant
Being More than "Social" on Social Media - Jen Baldwin

9:30am - 10:30am
Engaging Your Long Distance Membership - Jen Baldwin
-- I met Jen in person at the Ontario Genealogical Society's 2014 conference in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. She was manning (womanning?) the FindMyPast booth in the marketplace. Having seen a grand total of six people younger than age 40 (including Jen!!) at genealogy conferences up here in my neck of the woods, I am very interested to see how the younger generation makes a living at this "hobsession". Definitely looking forward to listening to her speak!
-- second choice was Thomas MacEntee's TechSoup.org talk but after looking at the website it's not something I'm interested in at the moment

10:45am - 11:45am
New Kid on the Block: Embracing Your Society's New Volunteers - D. Joshua Taylor
-- Just for the NKOTB reference alone! J/K

-- I'm a new volunteer with my local society AND I have never seen D. Joshua Taylor speak IRL* - another young'n to emulate!
-- second choice was Rorey Cathcart's Wordpress session but I'm a Blogger user so I don't know if I particularly want to spend my precious session time learning about a whole new service I may never use...

Noon - 1:15pm (otherwise known as LUNCH!)
(Paid) FGS Luncheon: The State of Our Societies: 2015 Update
-- I need to eat and this seemed like the solution. I hear it's usually a pretty good session and many people's favourite luncheon of the event. So sayeth the interwebs.
-- I don't know about you but, in my book, all meals require the mention of food: Plated Lunch Menu = Asian Chicken Salad, Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake! (The operative word here... cheesecake!) #YUMMO

1:30pm - 2:30pm
The Ethical Genealogist - Judy Russell
-- Seriously? It's The Legal Genealogist! No other choice for me. I will make a point of grabbing a spot early as I'm sure her lectures will be packed.

2:45pm - 3:45pm
What Do I Do Now? Your First Year as a Board Member - Jen Baldwin
-- Pretty much Me-To-A-Tee, right there in the title...
-- I think my second option will be C. Ann Staley's Organizing and Carrying Out a Society Project since I should probably volunteer to do something as a board member...

4pm - 5pm
Maximizing Organizational Effectiveness - Jordan Jones
-- Surely some "tips and techniques from 16 years of professional management experience" will assist my personal organization strategies even if the talk is geared toward society org.
-- second choice is Rorey Cathcart again with her Social Media for Societies: It's Not a Bandwagon, It's a Freight Train! lecture. I think I'm pretty in-the-know about social media tools but there are always new things being developed and I certainly am not an expert; neither am I an expert in organizing and strategizing social media in conjunction with the volunteer resources of societies. AND I haven't yet seen Rorey present IRL... Maybe this will become my first choice...

6pm - 7:30pm
(Paid) FGS 2015 Opening Social: Behind the Scenes: Family History & Television







Yes, The Asterisks Mean Something

*IRL = In Real Life