ChicagoGenealogy: Research Insights from Study and Serendipity

Did you ever think about whether or not you have a genealogical superpower? It's a question that we toss out when we interview researchers for a spotlight over on our Genlighten.com site and it's one that I've been thinking about recently. I'd like to think that I do. I'm pretty good at finding Chicago-related things at the Wilmette Illinois Family History Center --I can usually pull badly misspelled index entries out of the Illinois Statewide Death Index and there have been a few occasions when I've found Chicago death certificates that just didn't seem to be there--and people are always saying, "Ask Cyndy. She'll know." Truth is, though, I don't have all the answers and I don't have any superpowers at all. When I am able to help people with tough research questions, it's just a matter of having learned what records are available and what information they generally include. A person looking for an early birth date for Chicag

Last week I received an email inviting me to be a "Blogger of Honor" at the upcoming Family History Expo in Springfield, Illinois. In return for a number of perks including free conference registration, I would need to share information about the event beforehand, report on presentations and exhibits on the Friday and Saturday of the gathering, and wrap up with a post-conference summary of my experience. I gave it a lot of thought, and decided to give it a try. I've been to a number of conferences over the last couple of years, but I've always gone as an exhibitor for our website, Genlighten.com , and I've never  attended classes. This will be a first! My plan is to approach the conference with three questions in mind: 1) What can I learn that might be of use to Chicago researchers? 2) What can I learn that might be of use to me in my own genealogy-related activities? 3) What can I learn that might help me better meet my clients' needs? Browsing