WDYTYA? Live 2013
Last week I went to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event at London Olympia and had a really great time.
Tickets
WDYTYA Live is a genealogy exhibition and conference built on the success of the TV series (and companion magazine) of the same name and it is said to be the biggest genealogy event in the world. It was the first such event I’ve attended – and it won’t be my last!
View of the ground floor
All the big guns had a stand: Ancestry, FindMyPast, and FamilySearch.
MyHeritage, Mocavo, Deceased Online, TheGenealogist, etc. were there too. There was also a Military pavilion and a whole section dedicated to Migration.
There were several celebrities who have featured on the TV show being interviewed in the main theatre, but there were also guest speakers organised by the Society of Genealogists.
Pat Whatley’s talk
I went to 3 different 45min talks:
- Scottish Kirk Session records by Bruce Bishop
- Google Search strategies by Lisa Louise Cooke
- Scottish Poor Law records by Pat Whatley
All 3 were excellent and I learned a lot!
I bought the book Tracing Your First World War Ancestors by Simon Fowler at the Pen and Sword Books stand for the discounted price of £10 and also got a couple of freebie magazines. I visited the stand for Dundee University’s Centre for Archive and Information Studies who run the post-graduate course that I’m currently undertaking and I got a free USB pen drive. I also talked to Lisa Louise Cooke of the Genealogy Gems podcast and signed up to her Premium Membership – and got her autograph too 🙂
Swag
Earlier on I had an Ask The Expert one-to-one session lasting 20 minutes where I asked about Australian records. So I now know where to start searching on that continent for RETTIE migrants for my One-Name Study.
I would recommend this show for anyone interested in genealogy. For anyone outside of London, it also provides an ideal opportunity to visit the National Archives at Kew, which I did on the afternoon before the show and the morning after.
Next time I think I will go for 2 days instead of 1 – Friday and Sunday – with a full day at the National Archives in between. I’m looking forward to it already!
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back 
Great post.
Can’t speak for the other two talks, but Lisa’s Google Search talk last year was a real game changer for me – so useful.
Interested to hear you’re studying as I took a CAIS leaflet home too. AND… I’m thinking of doing 2 days in 2014 as well.
I did a 5 day trip, TNA on Friday, WDYTYA Sat and Sun, London Metropolitan Archives on Monday. I have just completed Beyond the Internet 2 with CAIS, and will be starting the PG Certificate in May. Had a great time