Countdown: MyHeritage LIVE in Oslo or Bust

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Just two weeks, and you know what is happening?

If you said the MyHeritage LIVE User Conference in Oslo, you would be right.

I’m so excited! I can hardly wait!

Speakers

This promises to be a wonderful conference with 20 speakers and panelists presenting over 2 days.

You can take a look here for yourself and then scroll down for the schedule.

Sessions

The only hard part will be choosing which sessions to attend!

Three tracks are offered: Genealogy, DNA and Workshops.

For some reason, I’m partial to the DNA track. Just sayin’😊

If you’re attending MyHeritage LIVE, I’ll see you in the DNA track at 4:30 on Saturday for the panel discussion DNA, Genealogy and Privacy which is MCed by Thomas MacEntee with Prof. Yaniv Erlich and yours truly.

Yes, I said MCed. If you know Thomas, well, you’ll appreciate why I said that. If you don’t know Thomas, please come and get to know all of us.

Here’s a picture of Thomas MacEntee from Rootstech. You just know looking at him how much fun he is!

On Sunday at 3:30, I’ll be with Prof. Yaniv Erlich again along with Dick Eastman discussing What’s Next for Genetic Genealogy?

As you might guess, this is one of my favorite topics.

Registration

There are still a few tickets for MyHeritage LIVE available for 100 Euro, about $115 US, which is a great value. Your all-inclusive ticket provides:

  • Reception with drinks on Friday night
  • Choice of lectures and workshops on Saturday and Sunday
  • Lunches on both Saturday and Sunday
  • Party with live band on Saturday night

That’s some bargain!

To register, keep scrolling to the bottom until you see the registration form.

I just checked airfares and there are some great deals out there. It’s not too late.

Have you ever been to Oslo? Me either, and I’m going to treat myself to Norwegian culture after the conference. Food, chocolate, museums, how can any of that be bad?

My Heritage did me the favor of detailing the Top 5 Destinations You Should Visit in Oslo over MyHeritage LIVE.

Registration Discount for My Friends

I received an e-mail from MyHeritage saying if I referred a friend, the friend would receive a 25% discount upon registration if they use the following code at checkout.

All my blog followers are my friends, so here you go:

mh25ticket

Now, the deal is even sweeter. Please friends, in Oslo, make a point of introducing yourself and tell me you’re a blog follower!

Excuse Me, Did You Say Party?

Not that a party would influence you one way or another. Right? Of course not, but let’s just say that the MyHeritage parties are legendary.

At Rootstech, earlier this year, this photo was taken of me with Gilad Japhet, the Founder and CEO of MyHeritage. If you’re wondering about the orange feather bouquet, it was a flapper theme party with many people in full costume.

Gilad, of course, will be our host in Oslo, and you’ll see him at all of the events. He’s opening with the keynote and I wouldn’t be one bit surprised to find him speaking at one or both lunches and the closing session. If you’ve never had the pleasure of hearing Gilad speak, it’s the equivalent of going to a genealogy revival. You leave unbelievably stoked and inspired!

Can’t Go?

Bummer. I’m really sorry.

However, since I’m attending, I’ll see what I can do to help out. Is there something in particular you want to learn? I don’t mean a question about your own personal genealogy, but a more general question.

Let me give you an example.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out which features and functions are included with each subscription level or package. I just can’t get it straight, so one of my goals is to come back with an answer and if a chart doesn’t exist, to make one for you.

Is there something in particular that you’d like to understand better about MyHeritage DNA or products? I’m not making any promises, but I’ll do my best on your behalf.

If so, post your question in the blog comments.

Social Media – #MHLIVE2018

If you follow any type of social media, including Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, follow the hashtag #MHLIVE2018 during the conference.

Daniel Horowitz, the MyHeritage Genealogy Expert will be posting on all 3, as will other attendees.

I’ll be blogging from the conference daily, assuming of course that I have decent Wi-Fi. Don’t forget that you can subscribe to this blog for free (if you don’t already) by clicking on the grey “follow” button in the upper right hand corner and every article will automatically come directly to your email inbox.

Harnessing the Power

We’ve never had more or better tools!

In order to fully harness the power of genealogical research today, it’s essential to test your DNA and let the gift of your ancestors work for you to find them. The MyHeritage combination of DNA, trees and records is second to none and I would encourage you to order DNA kits for yourself and family members by clicking here.

If you have already tested at either Family Tree DNA, Ancestry, LivingDNA or 23andMe, you can upload your results for FREE between now and December 1st. The upload will always be free, as will matching, but after December 1, some of the advanced tools will require payment. So, upload today.

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42 thoughts on “Countdown: MyHeritage LIVE in Oslo or Bust”

  1. Roberta,
    There are two items on my wishlist for MyHeritageDNA match pages. Maybe you can find out if they are considering these.
    1. I would like to have at least 4 personalized folders that I can move my matches to if I figure out which grandparent they relate to. If I can’t have folders then I need 8 colored stars so that I can color code my matches and have the stars appear on my match list. I cannot remember all the matches so when I look at my list I need some way to mark and sort them.
    2. When I click on a shared match or a triangulation link and go back to my shared match list, I would like NOT to have to start over at the first page of the shared matches.
    Please encourage their tech people to fix this.

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  2. I will be interested in how many people come to Oslo. Sweden has been pretty successful over the past few years – but the population there is about 4 times the size of Norway.

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      • No – we did go to Oslo by train from London and back in 2017. Right now, my wife has broken her right shoulder and I am very sad to miss Genetic Genealogy Ireland – having made all the reservations. I really have no idea how this will go down in Norway. I assume it is a two days Conference.

        Next year we seem destined for 3 major family history Conferences in England – which reminds me of AD 69 and the year of the three Emperors. In 2020, there will only be one – and I am genuinely scared that what I have worked on for 10 years via ISOGG will be subsumed by FamilySearch – and their vision of RootsTech.

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        • I’m so sorry Brian. I have a really stupid question. How do you go to Oslo from London in a train?

          As for RootsTech, the one in the US is mammoth.

          I hope your wife feels better soon.

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          • You get to Oslo by train by taking the Eurostar from London to Brussels – then an ICE train from Brussels to Koln – and a German train from Koln to Hamburg. Overnight stay in Hamburg. Early morning train from Hamburg to Copenhagen – which puts the train onto the ferry (one of the very few places left where this still happens) – Copenhagen to Goteborg (Gothernburg) and then a final train from there on to Oslo. The “Guy in Seat 61” website is excellent for describing train travel across Europe / the World. This way you do not have to cross stations in Paris. You can now go direct from London to Amsterdam by Eurostar – then on from there to Hamburg.

  3. I will think about general questions and get back to you. I will be giving a presentation on MyHeritage to our Genealogy Society early next year so a breakdown of DNA features with each membership level would be great. Also please mention that light grey fonts on a Website are nearly impossible for old eyes to read.

    I envy you going to the conference – the topics and speakers sound outstanding – but Oslo in November? Think layers and try to stay warm.

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  4. I booked to attend the conference when it was first announced. Too good an opportunity to miss. And theoretically Norway is our neighbour, just across the North Sea from the UK, although I have never visited Oslo. I’m really excited too.

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  5. I am new to My Heritage, so maybe this is obvious, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to see what sources are being used for the information in my matches’ trees. This is crucial for evaluating the match and deciding whether or not I want to add the “new info” to my tree. At Ancestry it is obvious when there are no sources and if there is a source, I can quickly check it to see if I agree that it supports the claim. Is there a way to do this at My Heritage?
    Thanks

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      • When you receive a SmartMatch we always suggest and encourage people to contact directly the administrator of the other tree. Not everyone writes source citations in their trees, and by contacting the other person you may learn more than what the match show you.

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        • Is there an article someplace that describes what happens to your account when you accept a SmartMatch? Does all of their information automatically populate your tree for that match? I’ve always been hesitant to accept because I don’t want that to happen.

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        • So few people actually respond, and of those even fewer have relevant sources, that it feels like a waste of time to even try. It would be nice to be able to see at a glance if it is worthwhile to try to contact the administrator of the other tree.

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          • Roberta, thanks for asking the SmartMatch question. I never accept them anyway because I am very independent and want to do my own research instead of borrowing from other trees.

            BTW many of those sources people are using on Ancestry are not reliable.. For example, marriage indexes that have co!piled the info from trees. They even have names wrong for couples.
            Even with valid records and documents, people are blindly accepting them when the document is for a different couple of the same or similar name. In my family we have Isaac and Elizabeth Durham from Caswell Co NC. There are at least 3 other Isaac Durhams. One is Isaac Durham from VA who married Elizabeth Baldwin from VA and they lived in VA not NC. Not my Isaac Durham but dozens of cousins have accepted this hint without doing the research to evaluate whether it is our Isaac and Elizabeth. It is not. So be leary of hints and information from other trees.

  6. Ha en flott tur, og vær sikker på å få tilbake mange flotte historier! BIG, BIG suitcase, big enough for a fat old man from Seattle to ride along. They will LOVE you Roberta Estes…how could they not… After all, you’re the DNA GURU…and that is NOT a joke… We are so grateful for the years you have spent to become the leading Genetic Genealogist in the world—yes, there are geneticists, scientists, and researchers who may know their specialty more DEEPLY than you, but when it comes to translating that knowledge into REAL PEOPLE language, whether it’s English or Norwegian, you are unrivaled. Thanks so much for your dedication and commitment to DNA EDUCATION! Have a great trip. Takk så mye for alt! 🙂 🙂

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  7. Roberta, if you have time, we enjoyed visiting the Norwegian Parliament Building, the Stortinget in Oslo. Exterior and interior architecture is superb. They have interior tours.

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  8. Have a great time, Roberta! I so wish I could go, but I’m in Claiborne County (maybe the next best place to be!) and will be at Jamboree this weekend. Thought about you yesterday when I was walking Irish Cemetery and saw Estes markers.

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  9. Are there any benefits to someone who has tested directly at MyHeritage that aren’t available to someone who transfers data before December 1st?

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  10. I would like more information on using both Geni.com and My Heritage.com together . I have connected to my father’s maternal (mtdna W1) Norwegian roots this summer, how appropriate right? 😊 I wish I could go to Oslo! Oh well. The researcher, (bless his heart, a wonderful, selfless, person researching through everything for me out of the kindness of his heart) in Norway prefers Geni to share with me. When I research in Geni.com I automatically get info usually sourced from My Heritage, it doesn’t seem to search any where but there or WikiTree. So it goes onto my tree there. Does this make sense? Anyway, clearer instructions for using both sites in tandem. I would like to be able to add easily to Geni information, like children and siblings, found in My Heritage. I would like to easily share from Geni to my personal My Heritage tree too.
    Enjoy your trip, Wishing the sessions were being streamed,
    Kimberli ( we might be connected through Dotson😊) Hartwick

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  11. Roberta, do NOT miss going to see Vigeland Park & Museum! You will be awestruck. Just bring an umbrella. We got caught in an unexpected downpour and riuined a camera.

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  12. Hi Roberta, Hope you have a great conference! Since you asked here is an issue the powers that be need to know about: My Heritage needs to adjust the filters for their smart matches. They keep sending me notices that I’ve got a smart match. Great, except that recently several times the source has been MY TREE! I am so very glad I match me.

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  14. I would love a way to link a tree to each DNA test separately on myHeritage or at least for their smart matches to pick up only direct ancestors (like ancestry does). I don’t want to need a separate login/page for each kit I upload, but at present that’s what I’m contemplating. Otherwise, the smart matches thing is pretty useless. A smart match to someone in their tree but not an ancestor or to someone in a totally different tree (just managed by the same person) is more like a dumb match. 🙁

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  15. Did the time conversion. Hmm. Need to wake up in the middle of the night and stumble to the computer! Can be done. But for 3 days? We’ll see.

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    • Just two days. They’re weekend days, thankfully. And I’ll be suffering from the same jet-lag but will be up, hair done, makeup on and trying to pretend like I’m not jet lagged:) Coffee. Coffee is your friend:)

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  16. I can’t understand why MyHeritage default on their trees is the married name of women. When I’m looking for children of a couple I don’t always know who the female children married and the name of each husband. What I know is her maiden name. Sometimes I can find enough evidence to know that Susie Smith is really Susie Humperdink but not always. If the default on trees was maiden name it would be a lot easier. I don’t think more than 1% of tree makers know they can change the default. I won’t subscribe until that is changed. It’s too time consuming to sort through women with various surnames and still not know who I have. If Elizabeth Smith marries John Jones she becomes Elizabeth Jones. When Elizabeth’s brother, John Smith marries Elizabeth Brown she becomes Elizabeth Smith. As I’m searching through family trees and find Elizabeth Smith, who do I have?

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  17. Pingback: MyHeritage LIVE Conference to be Livestreamed – FREE | DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy

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