Conference 2012
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
1-3 June 2012

The Ontario Genealogical Society's Region VIII (Kingston, Leeds & Grenville, and Ottawa Branches) will host the Society's annual conference on 1-3 June 2012 at St. Lawrence College, Kingston Campus. The conference theme is "Borders and Bridges: 1812 to 2012" - chosen because the War of 1812 was a border dispute between England and the United States. Issues such as border crossings; land settlement and pension records (on both sides of the border) of participants in the war of 1812 and other wars; immigration and migration; and genealogical resources in areas bordering eastern Ontario as well as in Ontario will be among the topics covered by speakers at the Conference. Also, genealogy is about making connections between people and families, including bridging gaps using DNA and other modern technologies.

The subject of lectures should preferably fall within one of the following categories:
Borders and Bridges (immigration/emigration, "Old Country" records, research trips)
Location (land records, directories, census)
Military records (not limited to War of 1812)
Technology (software, internet, DNA, etc.)
Eastern Ontario and Vicinity (New York state, Quebec)
If you wish to be considered as a presenter, please submit a brief outline of your proposed talk(s) to conference2012@ogs.on.ca no later than 15 January 2011. Saturday and Sunday lectures will be one hour long, including time for questions. Friday workshops offering a more in-depth exploration should be 2.5-3 hours in length, including time for questions.

Speakers should bear in mind that PowerPoint presentations must be clearly readable from a minimum distance of 20 metres / 65 feet and should employ fonts no smaller than 32 points.

Each proposal should include on one page:

a presentation title
an abstract of 200 words
a one- or two-sentence description of your talk for the seminar brochure
your full name, postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, and website
a brief biography
whether your lecture would be aimed at genealogists working at the beginner, intermediate or advanced level, and suitable for a general or specialist audience. (Multiple proposals are encouraged)
If your proposal is accepted, you will be requested to provide a 4-page summary of your talk or workshop for our Syllabus. This may include references and web addresses mentioned, sample screen shots, etc. It will be submitted electronically (in Word, RTF, WordPerfect, text or PDF format) approximately three months prior to the Conference.

Please include your approximate travel costs, economy class, to Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Remuneration will normally include reimbursement of transportation expenses, free registration, free accommodation and meals on the day(s) of your talk(s), free Saturday banquet, plus honorarium.

Workshop fees may be negotiated.