I’ve been waiting to share this information with you until everything was nailed down, and now I can.

I’m going to be attending and participating in MyHeritage LIVE in Amsterdam this September 6-8^th. If you recall, I attended the first MyHeritage LIVE conference in Oslo last fall and loved every single minute.

If you want to take a look, I wrote about that conference, complete with photos, here and here.

This year’s conference will be held in Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities. MyHeritage wrote about it in their blog, here.

Confession

I confess, some of my ancestors were from Amsterdam. And yes, I’m incorporating the conference into an “ancestor trip” with Yvette Hoitink, Dutch genealogist extraordinaire whose blog can be found on her website here. Yvette will be presenting at the conference too, so if you’re attending, you get a chance to both hear and meet her.

I’m actually thrilled that Yvette is presenting, because I was her first customer in 2012 when she replied, then as an employee of the Dutch National Archives, to my blog article about my “hopeless” Dutch ancestors. Well, they not only weren’t hopeless, Yvette has been my genealogist ever since and we still discover documents and new ancestors on a regular basis.

Here’s that fateful exchange which was the beginning of a wonderful friendship AND of me adding more than, drum roll…2 dozen ancestors to my tree – and we’re not brick walled yet!!!

Not only that, but the newspaper articles for northern Indiana, included as part of my MyHeritage subscription, have helped me make countless discoveries in my Dutch Ferwerda (Ferverda/Fervida in the US) line after they immigrated in 1868. And I’m not referring to a couple of articles, but literally hundreds. Yes, hundreds.

With Yvette’s help, I’m connecting the Dutch DNA matches that my mother is receiving at MyHeritage. I transferred Mom’s autosomal test to MyHeritage because she’s one generation closer than I am and MyHeritage has a significant European presence. I’m so grateful that MyHeritage facilitates DNA transfers because mother passed away years before they began DNA testing. You can upload your DNA to MyHeritage for free by clicking here or order a DNA kit here.

Ok, enough excited rambling from me. You’re probably wondering who’s speaking and the presentation topics.

Who’s Speaking?

Gilad Japhet, MyHeritage founder and CEO opens the conference with the keynote. If you have never heard Gilad speak, you’re in for a wonderful treat. Gilad is a passionate genealogist and an amazing human, a trait that radiates from him as he speaks and infects the audience. No, I’m really not biased.

Last year as Gilad was discussing why he had ordered indexing of addresses in city directories in addition to names by giving an example of finding one of this ancestor’s relatives in New York City, I sat in the audience and found the building on Google maps for him, showing him afterwards. One genealogist to another. He’s that approachable.

Of course, there ARE other speakers too, many of whom I’m sure you’ll recognize!

Oh look, Yvette’s photo and mine are side by side! How perfect.

I’m very fortunate to count many of these folks as my friends and can’t wait to meet others.

And of course, I look forward to meeting and talking with you. One of the best part of conferences is who we meet.

You can take a look at the schedule, here.

The Party

I probably shouldn’t even mention this, because far be it from me to suggest that a world-class party would in any way influence your decision to attend – so let’s just say that the MyHeritage parties are both famous and infamous.

At last year’s party, the 2018 EuroVision winners performed. This year, EuroVision was held in Israel, with MyHeritage as the sponsor and a Dutch man, Duncan Laurence won. In fact, you can watch and listen here.

Now, I don’t know what’s in store for the MyHeritage party this year, but don’t miss this event! It’s legendary.

Early Bird Pricing

Right now, the conference price is 150 Euros which is equivalent to about $170 US. You can still get discounted flights too because the conference is several weeks away.

Early bird pricing ends on July 31. Click here to sign up or read more.

OK, that’s it for now. I surely do hope to see you in Amsterdam. Let me know if you’re planning to attend!

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