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Archiver > APG > 2002-10 > 1033964289


From: "Joan M. Lowry" <>
Subject: RE: [APG] The line extended out the door...
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 00:18:24 -0400
In-Reply-To: <72.23d31d23.2ad22d9f@aol.com>


Natalie

You asked if the interest in the consultations was due mostly to them being
free.
Certainly, that was part of the attraction, and I think it was meant to be
so. The idea was to assist people, thereby improving their research skills.
It was also intended to spread the word about APG members, in and out of the
US. Many people still don't know about APG and haven't considered hiring a
pro before. So, this may have been their first exposure to what a pro might
be able to do for them.

You asked - Was the benefit greater for the genealogists or for the Road
Show planners and product vendors?
Did the professionals benefit? Well, we all gave up a day off, paid our
own way to get to and from the event, and spent five hours talking for
free... Did we benefit? Probably only in that we can feel good about
pointing people in the right direction.
Did product vendors benefit? Not much, except for some shoppers among the
people who were waiting for appointments. There were many societies and
organizations represented but only a few real vendors.
Did the planners benefit? Well, the main event, the Family History Fair,
is a free annual event sponsored by the Archivists Round Table of
Metropolitan New York. They may benefit in that this gets more people
interested in some of the archives and repositories. But that isn't exactly
profiting as much as it is spreading the word.
The NY APG Chapter planned the Ancestors Road Show (Well, Nancy Coleman did
all the work, but we can take some of the credit.) So, did we benefit? I'd
have to say no to that too, except for raising the awareness of our
existence. The people who had NY questions wanted to know how to do the
work themselves. They probably won't hire someone to do research right in
their own backyard.

Then, you ask, who _did_ benefit? The over 100 people that we were able to
give advice to benefited. (We did squeeze in a number of consultations on
the margins and had nine consultants for part of the time.) Other members
of APG, in and out of the US, may benefit because many of the questions were
about research outside the New York Area. There were, for example, people
with questions about LA, PA, OH, GA, TN, KY, MA, TX, Canada, French
Canadians, Cajuns, Native Americans, Germany, Italy, Puerto Rico, Czech, and
I better stop there or I could list a bunch more.

In my opinion - the day was a great success for what it was intended to do -
demystify the professionals and assist the amateurs. Would I recommend it
to other chapters? Yes, because getting paid to do research isn't the only
reason to do research. Sometimes it's just plain fun to see someone else
get really charged up over doing some new bit of research that they had
never considered and to you it was no-brainer! Would I do it again next
year? Yes, and with less hesitation than I felt about doing it for the
first time.

Joan M. Lowry
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