Fall meetings

The fall meeting schedule is in full swing! One of the best ways (at least for me!) to figure out a brick wall is to talk to another genealogist, explain exactly what I want and what I've already tried, and listen to he/she tell me what I've overlooked! A slightly different perspective coming from someone with different experience often provides me with ideas I can pursue. And the best way to do that? Go to a conference, make some new friends, listen to the lectures for those new kernels or the old ones you forgot. Here's a couple major conferences for you to check out:

The Minnesota Genealogical Society conference is scheduled for Sept 18-19. More details are available on its website at http://mngs.org. There are classes on Friday afternoon, a banquet that evening and a full day on Saturday. You can attend parts or all, depending on your schedule. This one will be held in South St. Paul and features Claire Bettag (and she's a wonderful speaker)!

For those of you near Moorhead, you might want to consider the conference to be held held there on September 26, and described at http://survey.mnstate.edu/heritageed/index.php. They offer six (that's 6!) concurrent tracks, and if you can't find something to help with your problem, it's a real toughie. This is always one of my favorites, because of the diversity and scope of their program.

If those are too close in time for you to get there, consider the Southern Minnesota Conference October 24th on the campus of Mankato State University. Details are available at http://lib.mnsu.edu/archives/genie/expo.html. The full schedule and program are linked, with .PDFs. Looks like an excellent program, too!

And there are more, too, generally smaller in attendance. If you can't get to a conference, how about checking out a local genealogy group? Exchanging stories face to face is a good way to get motivated and looking at some new ideas!