[APG Public List] National Genealogical Meetings

[DonnDevine at aol.com]

I just received an invitation from a large professional organization in 
another discipline to submit an abstract for a possible presentation at its 
March 2010 national meeting. The lead time is four to five months, depending on 
the subject matter, with the applicable cutoff dates set by the committees 
responsible for different portions of the program.
 
Our national genealogical organizations have submission deadlines up to 14 
months in advance of the meetings, with the result that there is little or 
no opportunity for recent developments and discoveries to be considered for 
the program.
 
In most professions where research plays an important role, national 
conferences are the means by which practitioners stay on the cutting edge. 
Conference presentation usually precedes publication in peer-reviewed journals. 
However, in genealogy the very early conference proposal deadlines give print 
journals a clear edge on timely reporting of new findings.
 
Can anyone explain why genealogy is so different from other scholarly 
disciplines? Are presenters unable to propose recent discoveries because of the 
early deadlines? Or do conference planners even look for previously 
unpublished research findings and breakthroughs, like more effective methodologies, 
discovery of old errors, or use of novel sources?
 
Donn Devine, CG, CGL
Wilmington DE 

CG, Certified Genealogist, CGL, and Certified Genealogical Lecturer are 
service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under 
license by board certificants after periodic evaluation, and the board name is 
registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.
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