Suggestions

I think ANY response on one of those posts will pretty much guarantee a free month. :-)

Moxx

It is quite easy spotting the 4 threads from this year as they are posted as WDYTYAlive......instead of WDYTYA

I would say that this year's "ask a question" has been pretty much a failure!


very disappointing!

very disappointing :(

I wonder what the attendance was like at WDYTYA??

........... eg, was it down overall


It was open Thursday to Saturday .................. and last year it didn't open until Friday

from the Irish Genealogy News blog ......................


"WDYTYA?Live got underway yesterday at the National Hall at Olympia in London's West End.

For an opening day, it was noticeably less busy in terms of visitors than in the last few years, probably due to its shift to a Thursday to Saturday pattern (previously it was always Friday to Sunday). I spent four hours on the stand of the Irish Genealogical Research Society and while there were periods when the table was thronged with people looking for help with their research, there were short lulls between.

Several other exhibitors commented on this pattern. I don't remember those lulls being a feature of earlier years, and I don't remember the visitor numbers dropping off quite so early in the day, either. .........................

Being the centenary of the start of the World War One, there was a strong military presence this year. While they seemed busy, I wouldn't say they were swamped. I even managed to get some information about a medal awarded to one of my ancestors."


- See more at: http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.ca/2014/02/wdytyalive-2014-show-report.html#sthash.yxLqCW33.dpuf



so it seems that Thursday, at least, was quieter than the "usual" opening day of Friday had been in the past.

I was one of the lucky ones to get a free ticket from Ron & Carol at Genealogy Printers. I had planned to go Thursday but switched to Saturday.

I was surprised how quiet it seemed. I thought it would be full of the Saturday crowd and the old Sunday crowd.No horrendous queues anywhere. No waiting to push in to a counter to look at the wares or ask for help. It didn't seem there were people waiting at the commercial stands either. But I did leave about 2 having got there at 9.30. I didn't even have to fight for a seat at the Ancestry Lounge.

My friend, who I usually go with, decided at the last minute to go on Thursday and she felt there were long queues for what she wanted to do.

It will be interesting to hear how other people found it.

Wow there has been amazing take-up for this service this year :-S

Wot!, no queuing, pushing or shoving, room to move?, grief, times have changed, lol. Ron and Carol, Gr members 'lunch eat meets' all made the day even better. Even the aching feet on the way home!.

Chris :)

edits (will live without the free month this year, lol)

"pushing, shoving, room to move?" That certainly went on but it was only on the Clapham Junction to Twickenham part of my journey home. ;-) ;-)

I do wonder if saturation point has been reached with Family History. Fewer new members on the boards, no queues at the big show or even the little more local ones.

Very interesting update on next year from Carol of Genealogy Printers:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/boards/board/general_chat/thread/1336763

So how come there is now a page full of requests? Most of which are woefully short of vital information and fairly impossible to work on :-S

That is odd, that about a dozen requests have appeared several days after WDYTYA finished. :-S

So unless the original enquirers decide to pay up, they will never be able to provide more info!

(Done on purpose, perhaps?)

Some of them, at least, are GR members ..................... and at least one had a thread in 2010 asking exactly the same question, and then posted on Military Chat today ................


so much duplication of effort :-(


That combined with the woeful lack of information ................ and the seeming inability of GR staff to pass on information from year to year as to what the helpers REALLY need to know in order to be able to help requesters ....... is really depressing

I think this is the 4th year that member helpers have TOLD GR staff what we need to know :-)

Why were new questions posted in the WDYTYA board several days after WDYTYA had finished?

No explanation from Genes on their "thank you"post.

Having just looked at the photos on here of WDYTYA

http://lostcousins.com/newsletters/showspecial14news.htm

It looks like GR just asked people to post on postcard and stick it on a board???

So that's why it took so long to post them up

If you click on the link you will see the photos if you scroll down the page

Assuming there is a show next year where our help is asked for
- how about a new board with 2015 or 15 as a suffix?

If they could split the current board (without changing the url) and rename is as WYTYA14 it might help with the current confusion.

A friend and I went on the Friday, also courtesy of Ron & Carol. It didn't seem as packed as other years. Perhaps people who were in a position to go to have already been there, done that and don't see the point if there are relatively few new stalls of interest?

Thanks Jax - those photos weren't taken on the Saturday - too many people!

Did you notice that the pin board in the Genes pic was headed : Missing Persons?

Personally I would have assumed that meant living people!!