![\"decision\"](\"http:\/\/lh6.ggpht.com\/-KByXnQsjHTs\/Uczp2_EGtOI\/AAAAAAAAI2I\/1buxHeKEk18\/decision%25255B12%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"decision\\"")
Figuring out what sessions to attend at a conference can be overwhelming, especially large, multi-day conferences that run several sessions at a time.\u00a0 So how do you choose what session to attend when everything sounds so good?\u00a0 And just how do you squeeze in time to visit vendors in the exhibit hall when your schedule is packed with sessions?\u00a0 In this post, I\u2019ll share my philosophy along with a few other tips along the way.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Choosing a Session<\/strong><\/p>\n Session selection is based on my educational goals.\u00a0 At this point in my genealogy research and career, I\u2019m particularly interested in topics that deal with methodology, record sets that I am not familiar with, and locations that I primarily research.\u00a0\u00a0 When nothing in a time slot fits that criteria I do one of three things (in this order): a) opt to visit the exhibit hall instead of a session, b) attend a session where the topic is completely foreign to me, even though it isn\u2019t part of my goal (as an example, I don\u2019t research in the South and have no desire to do so, however, I\u2019m always open to learning something new\u2014you never know when you might need it!), or c) attend a session on something I am already familiar with as a refresher and hey, I might learn something new.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0 For sessions that I think may be popular (such as anything presented by Elizabeth Shown Mills and Thomas W. Jones) I really try to get to the session as early as possible.\u00a0 But I always have a backup session in mind just in case the room is full.<\/p>\n Making Time for the Exhibit Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n Depending on how much time is between sessions and where the exhibit hall is located in relation to the sessions, I may try to pop into the exhibit hall.\u00a0 However, I usually find there is not enough time, or I have too much walking to do to get from Point A to Point B and back to Point A.\u00a0 With my health condition, that\u2019s just not an option.\u00a0 So, I usually schedule a few blocks of time throughout the conference to visit the exhibit hall.\u00a0 I also have a plan for the booths I want to check out, which I usually highlight on the exhibit hall map.\u00a0 Knowing where I want to go helps keep me from wandering around aimlessly and wasting time.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0 Once the list of vendors is announced, I do some pre-investigating and determine if I want to stop by a particular vendor for a visit.\u00a0 I make a list of those I really want to visit, noting the must-sees.\u00a0 Whenever a map is available, I highlight the booths I want to visit, using one color for the must-sees and another color for the rest.<\/p>\n Keeping Track of My Schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n I am a planner by nature.\u00a0 If you read my previous posts, you know that the minute the schedule for the FGS 2013 Conference was released, I already had the sessions added to my calendar.\u00a0 Everything gets put into Outlook (because that\u2019s where I manage my life\u2019s schedule!) and is then synced to my phone\u2019s calendar.\u00a0 Right now, there are no room numbers because that hasn\u2019t been decided yet, but when those are released, I will simply add the location to each calendar entry.\u00a0 When I\u2019m at the conference, I only need my phone to tell me where I need to be.\u00a0 And, it will remind me fifteen minutes before the start of a session or event so I know when to get moving.<\/p>\n Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0 Using Outlook, I have to make sure to put the sessions in at the stated time in the conference location\u2019s time zone.\u00a0 For example, I am in the Central time zone, but the FGS 2013 Conference takes place in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is in the Eastern time zone.\u00a0 So when I add a session to my calendar, that starts at say 3pm, I add it to my calendar in the 3pm time slot but select Eastern as the time zone.\u00a0 This way, when my computer, phone, tablet, etc. change time zones, my calendar is correct.<\/p>\n Your Turn<\/strong><\/p>\n How do you choose what sessions to attend at a conference?\u00a0 Do you plan ahead or wing it?\u00a0 What about making time for the exhibit hall?\u00a0 Do you have a strategy, wing it, or do you not visit the exhibit hall at all?\u00a0 Love to hear from you, so please share your thoughts in the comments of this post!<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to be an Ambassador, you can sign up <\/em>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget!\u00a0 The Federation of Genealogical Societies 2013 Conference<\/a> is quickly approaching.\u00a0 It will be held from August 21-24 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.\u00a0 The early registration deadline, which saves you $50 on the cost of the full-conference registration fee ends July 1.\u00a0 Don\u2019t delay, head over and register now to save<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Figuring out what sessions to attend at a conference can be overwhelming, especially large, multi-day conferences that run several sessions at a time.\u00a0 So how do you choose what session to attend when everything sounds so good?\u00a0 And just how do you squeeze in time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,301,357,358,25,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to","category-education-genblog","category-events","category-fgs-conference","category-genblog","category-news-events","cat-27-id","cat-301-id","cat-357-id","cat-358-id","cat-25-id","cat-39-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3HcLI-4H","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5548,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions\/5548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogy.julietarr.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"FGS2013Ambassador\"](\"http:\/\/lh6.ggpht.com\/-8dWU419Fcgs\/Uczp3NZJ5yI\/AAAAAAAAI2Q\/6VozS8VhsG8\/FGS2013Ambassador7.jpg?imgmax=800\" "\\"FGS2013Ambassador\\"")
This post was written for the June\/July Ambassador Blogging Prompt<\/a> as part of the FGS 2013 Conference Ambassador Program.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n