Conference Highlights #2 - New Exhibitor Booth & Booth Talks

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Dear JewishGen Family,

JewishGen had a very successful and productive experience at the 37th
annual IAJGS Conference (which was held July 23-28 in Orlando, FL),
offering an outstanding variety of sessions, workshops, and luncheons
throughout its duration. During these weeks following the conference,
we are posting highlights of our activity, including a review of some
of the major announcements which were first unveiled at the conference.
The previous issue can be accessed here:
http://tinyurl.com/IAJGS2017-A

Today's focus is on JewishGen's new Exhibitor Booth. We designed this
booth with the intention of offering a more professional experience,
and plan to use it as we expand our marketing efforts and promote
JewishGen to a much wider audience. As part of this strategy, we also
debuted our "Booth Talks" program, whereby JewishGen experts offered
booth visitors a short, five minute presentation on a particular topic.
This enabled conference participants an opportunity to connect with
experts, while giving JewishGen staff the opportunity to engage, and
forge new connections. Throughout the conference, hundreds of people
stopped by the booth, from JewishGen volunteers, donors, users, members
of other organizations, and even some of the hotel staff. Here are some
highlights:

(1) Yizkor Books: A member of the JewishGen family walked up to the
booth, pulled an old book out of her bag, and asked Rebecca Schaeffer (a
member of the booth team, and Assistant to the Director) if she could
identify it. Rebecca explained that it was a Yizkor (memorial) book,
written by Holocaust survivors to perpetuate the history and heritage of
towns which once had thriving Jewish communities. Visibly moved, the
individual asked if there was a translated version in English, and when
she was given the link to the translated book on JewishGen, and started
reading it, she broke down in tears.

(2) Great-Great Grandfathers Matzeiva (Tombstone): Another individual
stopped by and expressed her longing to find any information about her
great-great-grandfather. Nolan Altman (VP for Data Acquisition) was
there, did a quick search on JOWBR (JewishGen's Online Worldwide Burial
Registry) and helped her find the record for the gravestone of her great-
great-grandfather, which also included the name of her great-great-great-
grandfather!

(3)Bar/Bat Mitzvah Projects: A member of the JewishGen family stopped by
the booth, saw the literature about JewishGen's Memorial Plaques Project,
and was so inspired that he committed to having his synagogue's youth
department participate.

(4) Possible Connections: An individual was thrilled to discover the
JewishGen Family Finder, and that there were 90 people researching the
same town she was.

To view a listing of the Booth Talks which took place at the conference,
along with a few pictures, please visit:
http://tinyurl.com/BoothTalks2017

Please stay tuned for more updates.

Avraham Groll
Director
JewishGen.org

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