In this post, I am not talking about genealogists in general, I am thinking of the commercial genealogical enterprises. I count about 133 exhibitors on the list as of today. It is interesting, for example, to compare that list to a list of genealogy software programs. Apparently, genealogy software companies do not see the need to attend genealogy conferences. This is especially true of any of the Apple Macintosh genealogy program developers. From my perspective Leisterpro.com, the developers of Reunion for the Macintosh have always been conspicuously absent. This year, despite a huge online campaign, Heredis.com, with both Windows and Mac programs, is also absent. Ancestry.com is there and so the Family Tree Maker programs are covered. This is true of MyHeritage.com and their Family Tree Builder software. Other notable genealogy database companies who are on the list include the following:
Don't you wonder what the other software developers are thinking?
Another interesting group of people who are missing are the archives and the libraries. FamilySearch.org is there, of course, it is their conference, and the Harold B. Lee Library is on the list. But, what about the The Church History Library, almost across the street from the conference and where is the University of Utah? or the History Department at BYU? What about the other Utah universities and colleges? I do see Salt Lake Community College there. Also, the other large genealogical libraries, Library of Congress? Allen County Public Library? Mid-Continent? Aren't we missing a lot of the players in the larger genealogical community?
I see the Federation of Genealogical Societies on the list and the National Genealogical Society, the New England Historic and Genealogical Society and the Utah Genealogical Association and the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and the Southern California Genealogical Society.
What happened to the rest of the larger genealogical societies?
I also see the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Board for Certification of Genealogists and ICAPGen. I guess we don't yet merit a visit from any of the history organizations.
I guess from this we have a long way to grow. One last comment, I am glad to see OCLC will be there. I hope to have time to talk to them.
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