Jamboree 2014: Conference report

This year was the 45th Southern California Genealogical Society’s Jamboree, a great gathering of attendees and presenters covering the entire spectrum of genealogical pursuits, from DNA to specific countries.

We were happy to help attendees learn more about MyHeritage.

Chief genealogist Daniel Horowitz (far right) assists attendees.

Jamboree attendees get one-on-one help from MyHeritage staffers

As always, many geneabloggers attended, including our chief genealogist Daniel Horowitz (far right, middle row) and myself (fourth from left, middle row). Here’s the official annual photo:

Geneabloggers at Jamboree 2014 (Credit: Randy Seaver)

Here’s the MyHeritage/Geni booth and staffers:

MyHeritage staffers (from left) Mark Olsen and Daniel Horowitz; with Geni's Mike Stangel and Amanda Tantisalidchai (Credit: Randy Seaver)

On Friday morning, tables were set up for Genealogy World. Each table covered a specific topic with specialists facilitating discussions. Daniel and myself each did a session and we also covered DNA. DNA specialist Elise Friedman was at my session fielding questions, while Daniel’s later session saw FamilyTreeDNA.com founder Bennett Greenspan helping to answer questions. I visited the Social Media and Technology table, chaired by geneablogger Randy Seaver:

Geneablogger Randy Seaver headed the Social Media and Technology Table. Schelly (standing) dropped by to say hello. (Credit: Randy Seaver)

The main conference ran from Friday-Sunday, June 8-10, while Thursday was DNA Day and offered numerous expert speakers on many aspects of DNA testing, including forensic DNA cases, understanding results, the future of genetic genealogy and more.

This event was the last year for long-time conference co-chairs Paula Hinkle and Leo Myers. We met the new incoming team at an evening event and we’re sure they will continue in Paula and Leo’s footsteps, as they continue to organize one of the major genealogy conferences each year!

We’re already looking forward to 2015!