Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2014

Well it was last year's Who do You Think You Are Live (WDYTYAL) which encouraged me to start a family history blog and have a dedicated Twitter account for my genealogy (I was previously just using my personal Twitter account), so it is apt that the last few days not only saw me return to WDYTYAL but also tweet a lot about the event and make my 500th tweet on my familytreenat account!

We went to WDYTYAL for two of the three days and despite intending to book a hotel I forgot resulting in us travelling into London for two days which was just as expensive as a trip abroad thanks to extortionate early morning train fares and meant we were a little sleepy at times! Oh well, you live and learn - next year it's definitely a staying nearby event.

Day 1 seemed much busier than Day 2 but both days had a fair crowd. There seemed to be slightly less exhibitors this year but with those who were there having much bigger and better stands.

More space was used upstairs too this year, with a special World War 1 area commemorating the WW1 centenary with exhibitors such as the Imperial War Museum who previewed their Lives of WW1 project.

We attended several talks over the two days including two celebrity theatre talks - one with Natasha Kaplinsky (who looked just as pretty and glossy as she does on TV) who is still coming to terms with her WDYTYA episode revelations eight years after it was filmed and one with Larry Lamb which was very interesting as he shared the stage with the executive producer of the show and the producer and director of his episode who were able to explain the WDYTYA process in more depth.

The other talks we went to covered subjects such as Ancestors Homes, Collaborative family tree research and Scottish Asylums amongst others.

There was lots of opportunities to try out different platforms with all the big players (Ancestry, FindMyPast, the Genealogist, Genes Reunited, My Heritage & Deceased Online) represented and row upon row of stalls - family history societies, book stalls, map sellers and anything else you could ever need for your research.

There was also deals to be had and leaflets to be collected - alongside freebies such as pens, pencils, notebooks and post-it notes.

There seemed to be more seating upstairs for research too which was good - not only for researching, but also for a sit down. Two days of walking around Olympia is very tiring on your feet!

Once again we were amongst the younger clientèle (more about that in another post) but there was a mix of people attending.

I have come home with my family tree interest suitably stimulated and am looking forward to trying out some of the new resources I have discovered through the show. Now - what hotels are good for next year...?

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