Back to our Past show, RDS.

BowWow

Was at this show this morning. Very bad, very few stands, even Ancestry not there.
Unless you are going for the talks you will be disappointed....

pinkypinky

(Just moved it into its own thread so we can discuss more prominently)

I was there last night to help set up the IGRS stand.
The event has been getting smaller and smaller over recent years.

The main reason I'll go on Saturday is to help out and see people I know. I do hope to get a Y DNA test for a family member and expect there'll be some small discount on it. I love the Genetic Genealogy talks too but they will ultimately be online for the ones you can't get to in person.

However, if you're a beginner, it's still a great place to go because you can chat to knowledgeable people and hear useful talks.

BowWow

I was disappointed Ancestry not there. Last year I renewed my subscription at the show and got 20% off. My sub is up now - will have to wait for a special offer....

pinkypinky

Nah, let it lapse. Ring them in a couple of weeks and say you let it lapse because it was dear. They'll probably give you the 20% off again.

ifconfig

The Genetic genealogy sessions which coincide with the BTOP exhibition/show are very well attended and excellent presentations. There are some great domain experts over the multi disciplinary fields which make up that area of research. I think they originally had 3 days of presentations but this year 2 days but quite intense and back to back with no breaks in between.

Fantastic research presented such as Lara Cassidy of Smurfit school of Genetics on the origins of the ancient Irish via ancient Irish genomes, a gent named Dr Iain McDonald on SNP and Y-STR match dating and others including rare mitochondrial DNA and founder effects in Newfoundland, Canada. The presentations were attended by a decent mix of layperson enthusiasts as well as established genetic genealogists and domain experts. Maurice Glesson the organiser and ISOGG volunteer must be congratulate for his organisation and chairing of the event. I know that previous sessions (with exception of pre-published work) made their way to Youtube in recent years. Hopefully same this year for anyone who missed it or is interested in looking at getting DNA tested and trying to further the connection between traditional genealogy and genetic.

pinkypinky

I know they are planning to put most if not all of the talks online.

GGI dropped to 2 days this because BTOP had.