The Southern California Genealogical Society is proud to announce the 44th Annual Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. The popular conference will be held at the home of Jamboree, Los Angeles Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA, from Friday through Sunday, June 7-9th. With about 1600 attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and volunteers, Jamboree is among the largest genealogical events in the United States.

This year's innovative Family History and DNA: Genetic Genealogy in 2013, the first independent DNA conference jointly produced by the Southern California Genealogical Society and the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), will be held June 6. An outstanding slate of speakers, including opening speaker Dr. Spencer Wells and luncheon speaker Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., will be on hand for this very special event.

Speakers for this session are experts in the relatively new tool for tracing ancestors. Are you confused about all of the letters and numbers and terminology and interpretation of results? This is just the event for you. Seating is limited, so register today.

REGISTRATION The Jamboree Shopping Cart is now open for business! Use your Visa or Mastercard to register online. If you prefer to register by mail or by phone with a credit card, print out the registration form, fill it out and send it, or call SCGS during office hours at 818.843.7247 to pay with a credit card. Of course, you can also pay at the SCGS Library. The Early Bird discount deadline has been extended to May 7. Advance registration closes May 24.

By the way, if you are not a member of SCGS, now is a very good time to join. You'll see benefits immediately, including discounted registration fees for Jamboree. You will, of course, enjoy other benefits of membership, such as access to the archived Jamboree Extension webinars.

MEET THE SPEAKERS. UPDATED! Jamboree offers professional, knowledgeable speakers who are dedicated to sharing their skill and experience with others. Whether you have just begun searching for your family or have traveled centuries in your journey, Jamboree offers opportunties to expand your abilities.

Several of our long-time Jamboree family members are returning for 2013; and we are greeting many first-timers. Click here to review our speaker list.


CLASS SCHEDULE UPDATED! With nearly 150 class sessions over the three days, you're sure to find just the tip you need to take a flying leap over that brick wall. Jamboree offers classes for novices who are taking their very first step, as well as seasoned veterans and professional researchers. Jamboree offers search strategies for traditional repositories (libraries, courthouses, historical societies), to dozens of resources on the Internet. Check out the schedule to learn the speakers, title and descriptions of the presentations. This year's theme is "Follow the Path to the Past," and our special emphasis is on military records and African-American research. As in the past, we are fortunate to have world-class speakers leading nearly 150 classes. Of course, we will have a number of special events, including a behind-the-scenes look at Who Do You Think You Arewhich is back in production for a fourth year to be shown the TLC cable channel. Alexandra Orton and other members of the team of WDYTYA will be on hand Friday evening to answer your questions during a Q&A session moderated by Lisa Louise Cooke.

EXHIBIT AREA UPDATED! With nearly 70 exhibitors, the exhibit floor is one of the most popular aspects of Jamboree. The vendors, genealogical societies and heritage societies, authors, software vendors and online data providers are there to answer your questions and boost your knowledge and experience.

The Exhibit Hall is open to the public at no charge throughout the weekend. Visit the booths during lunch times, between sessions, in the morning and before the hall closes. Schedule an hour during the day to visit the booths when the traffic is slower. Strike up conversations with the booth staff and learn the all they want to share. Check out the exhibitor list and check back for updates.


RESEARCH ASSISTANCE. Southern California Chapter of APG is hosting our Research Assistance resource again in 2013. Throughout the weekend, researchers will provide one-to-one consultation. They'll review your existing records, suggest new record types and sources, help you plan your research strategy, and even help you find a professional genealogist to do the work for you. You'll find Research Assistance located down the High-Tech Highway in the main hotel, directly across from the elevators by the pool and exercise room. Watch the blog for more details.

GENEALOGY WORLD is a 75-minute JamboFREE activity that is all about exchanging information. Genealogy World is an informal round-table discussion that allows people with similar interests to sit down at a table and compare notes. If you've had success, tell others. If you need a little help, bring up your question and see what others can suggest. You'll find tables dedicated to many types of topics: ethnic or geographic, record types, technology, whatever comes up. If you'd like to recommend a topic or host a table, we would love to hear from you. Drop us a note at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com.


LODGING UPDATED! The conference hotel is the LA Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel. The Marriott has designated special room rates for Jamboree attendees. Make your hotel reservations online before May 17, 2013, to receive special pricing of $155 for single or double. You can also register by phone at 800.736.9712 and mention group JAMJAMA.

Parking is available for $10 per night at the Marriott. Parking at the Marriott is at a premium and overflow parking arrangements have been made with the Burbank Airport. As we draw closer to June, we will post maps and other instructions to help to relieve the pain of parking. Check the blog for more detailed information.


SEATING POLICY NEW THIS YEAR!
All seating is first-come, first-seated. For the safety of our guests, classroom doors will be closed once the room limit is reached. The Burbank Fire Department will be on site to insure that we do not exceed room occupancy laws. In the spirit of sharing resources among all Jamboree attendees, "saved" seats will be released 3 minutes before the beginning of the session. One person can "save" no more than two additional seats.

What we are doing to help: This year’s schedule allows for repeated "due to popular demand" sessions, as well as video and audio-recorded sessions. New this year, we will have overflow rooms for many of the streamed video sessions.

What you can do to help: You can volunteer to serve as a room monitor for the session(s) that are on your don't-miss list. You'll be guaranteed the seat of your choice. You can purchase a recording if you miss a session. And you can identify a Plan B session in case your first-choice class is full.

But the most important thing you can do is to tell us what sessions you are planning to attend. We need your input to accurately plan the room assignments. We use the information to assign the sessions to the best room. The most popular sessions get the largest rooms; specialized sessions go in smaller rooms. It is impossible to accurately assign rooms without input from everyone.

In May, the Jamboree Committee will send you an email with a Subject JAMBOREE - IMPORTANT - ROOM SIZE SURVEY. In the email you'll find a link to a questionnaire asking which sessions you are most likely to attend. You are not locked into any session and can change your mind.

Take 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
If you don't do your part, we can't do ours.

If you don't receive a copy of the survey by May 18, please send an email to jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com and ask for another questionnaire invitation.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES

Society Row. BOOTH STILL AVAILBLE FOR SUNDAY We know that no matter how much your society wants to have a table at Jamboree, it is often tough to pay the table fee and get volunteers to commit to staff the exhibit booth for three days. Your Society can have a 6' table in Society Row, located in the Convention Center main foyer, for one day at no cost.  You can distribute literature, sign up new members and sell publications. (Tax permit required). Contact leo.myers44@gmail.com for information.

FREE Society Workshop Friday morning. We are pleased to offer a Society workshop during JamboFREE Friday morning. It runs from 8:00am to 12:00pm and is limited to 100 attendees. While the session is open to the public, we do request that attendees register in advance.

Make Jamboree a Group Event for Your Society Have you thought about putting together a bus trip or group activity for your organization's members?  We'll work with you to help organize the trip. If your society is at least 100 miles from Burbank, we'll give you one basic registration for free for every 10 people in your group. The San Diego Genealogical Society has organized such an event for the past few years. They take the Coastliner train to and from San Diego and they have a great time. If you're interested in putting together a group, contact us at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com and we'll help. Put "Group Tour" in the subject line.

You'll have a great time at Jamboree! Register today!

Follow @SCGSGenealogy and use Twitter hashtag #scgs2013. Join the SCGS Group on Facebook and add Jamboree to your list of events. But the best way to stay updated on all the Jamboree news is through the Jamboree blog. Sign up here to get announcements through email.