A week on from WDYTYA Live

I can't believe it has been a week since Who Do You Think You Are? Live (WDYTYAL)! Where has the week gone?

It was a fantastic event to attend, and even better than I thought it would be. Having only gone for one day tickets for the Sunday on the basis of "Surely there can't be enough to keep you busy for two or three days", I can report that actually there *IS* enough to keep you there for an entire weekend! We were upset we hadn't gone on the Friday and Saturday and next year I will definitely be going for at least two days of the weekend in order to see more workshops.

The workshops were without a doubt my fave thing about WDYTYAL - I learned a lot, and it was good to hear experts talking on a variety of subjects. The most useful workshop we attended was Janet Hovorka's session on using social networking and mobile devices for genealogy (as discussed in my previous post, the session is why I have set up this blog), but I also enjoyed Rebecca Probert's talk on cohabitation and marriage and John Titford talking about tracing London ancestors. I've decided that I'm going to have to see what talks the Society of Genealogists have on in the coming months as I can't wait a whole year for my next genealogy workshop fix!

There were also a lot of stalls to browse, with lots of genealogy companies, family history societies and online family tree sites exhibiting. I bought a couple of books, as well as a Flip Pal scanner which I have been after for ages (more on that in a future post, I am sure) and also came home with a huge bag full of leaflets, brochures and free gifts (my fave being a magnifying bookmark - very handy!).

For anyone who hasn't been, I think WDYTYA is best described as my husband described it: "A bit like the Ideal Home Show, but with family tree stuff instead of home stuff". However, unlike the Ideal Home Show which is held at Earls Court, WDYTYAL was held around the corner at Olympia - which I think is a superior venue.

So, roll on next February when I can go back again :-)
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