The display stand has been checked, flyers counted, train tickets bought, flights booked and hotel rooms reserved… all in aid of the UK’s largest genealogy show.
Yes it’s time for Who Do You Think You Are? Live! which takes place this weekend from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 February 2012 in London’s Olympia.
There will be plenty to see and do over the three days:
- exhibitors from all the major online companies, libraries, museums and dozens of family history societies from across the UK;
- photo-dating experts;
- displays relating to long lost occupations and the daily life of workers from postal workers to nurses, agricultural workers and more;
- specialists from a host of military museums to help you with your military queries;
- celebrities Larry Lamb, Emilia Fox and Richard Madeley from the WDYTYA TV series talking about their experiences filming the show;
- The Society of Genealogists’ ‘Ask the Experts’ area provides an opportunity to get some one-to-one guidance on your family history research.
In addition there’s a full programme of talks and workshops over the three days.
There are some new features in this year’s show:
- a keynote workshop entitled Breaking the Barriers with Social Networking – Strategies and Tricks. The speaker will be Laurence Harris, Head of Genealogy (UK) at MyHeritage.com followed by a Q&A session with invited panellists D. Joshua Taylor, Lisa Louise Cooke, Peter Christian, Paul Howes and Daniel Lynch
- meet your favourite bloggers and tweeters who’ll be wearing rosettes sponsored by the Society of Genealogists
- live broadcast talks from the show on Friday and Saturday:
- Friday 24th February 2012
- 10:30 – 11:15 GMT: First steps: Build your family tree with censuses and birth, marriage and death records
- 13:30 – 14:45 GMT: Ancestry.co.uk revealed: the brand new features in the best-selling family history software
- 15:30 – 16:15 GMT: Before 1837 by TONY ROBINSON: Discover the events that shaped your ancestors’ lives, and the records they left behind.
- Saturday 25th February 2012
- 11:00 – 11:45 GMT: Going further: Discover your ancestors all over the world with our global records
- 13:00 – 13:45 GMT: Parish records: Uncover the records for your area and trace your family all the way back to Tudor times
- 15:00 – 15:45 GMT: Getting started: Build your family tree with censuses and birth, marriage and death records
Find out how to view the live broadcasts on the Ancestry blog at http://blogs.ancestry.com/uk/2012/02/16/tony-robinson-others-to-be-broadcast-live-from-who-do-youthink-you-arelive-to-our-facebook-page/
If you’re a National Institute for Genealogical Studies student come and meet Managing Director Louise St Denis, Director of Scottish Studies Sheena Tait (that’s me!) and Director of English Studies Kirsty Grey. Louise and I will be on stand 87/88 all weekend, Kirsty (who also works full-time as a teacher) will be there on Saturday and Sunday.
With all this going on you can’t afford to miss it.
See you there!
Sheena