Program Schedule Now Available on Website
The 39th Annual Conference on Jewish Genealogy is pleased to announce that the program schedule is now live on the Conference website ( www.iajgs2019.org). This Conference will be held at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown hotel in Cleveland, Ohio, from July 28 to August 2, 2019.
Early-Bird Discount Cutoff Date Extended
Early-bird registration for the full Conference at the discounted price of $325 continues through 11:59 PM, CDT (GMT-5), Thursday, May 9, 2019.
After that, prices for full registration and spouse/significant other registration will increase by $50. The fees for daily registration and for purchase of the audio recordings will also go up.
Special Program For Jewish Educators
On Sunday morning there will be a special sub-conference for Jewish educators. It will feature talks from experts on ways to create a curriculum that will excite young students to study their family histories. A grant will underwrite the cost for up to 35 Cleveland-area educators. For details, look under the PROGRAM tab on the Conference website (or click here).
Program Overview
The main Conference will start Sunday morning at 10:15 with the first of some 184 presentations. Sunday will also include the popular SHARE Fair, and the Exhibit Hall will be open. On Sunday afternoon at 2:45, our Keynote Speaker, Daniel Goldmark, Director of the Center for Popular Music Studies at Case Western Reserve University, will describe how Jews contributed to the evolution of rock and roll. That will prepare us for the Sunday evening reception at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, just a few blocks from the hotel. The “Rock Hall” will be open exclusively for us, and heavy (kosher) hors d’oevres will be served.
In addition to the lectures, there will be 11 SIG luncheons during the week, many featuring speakers from the European areas covered by the SIGs. There will also be 11 “Breakfasts with the Experts” that provide the opportunity to sit down in a small group (maximum 25) with top experts in many facets of Jewish genealogy.
The program on Sunday through Wednesday will kick off with workshops for beginners (and those who feel that their skills need some refreshing). They will be led by certified genealogist Dr. Rhoda Miller, Ed.D., who will provide suggestions on how to get started, where to find resources, and how to organize what you are doing. Dr. Miller will also cover how to get the most out of the Conference for those attending their first one.
There are over 35 Birds of a Feather (BOF) meetings along with additional SIG meetings. Eleven computer workshops will be offered, limited to 25 attendees each. Participants will need to bring a laptop computer with Internet access.
Evening sessions will include the annual JewishGen gathering, which will introduce some major changes coming at that organization. Subsequent evenings will feature the Pamela Weisberger Memorial Lecture, the ever popular Jewpardy! game show night, and the Gala Banquet, featuring Michael Krasny, well known to NPR and KQED-FM San Francisco listeners. Krasny, a native Clevelander, will discuss the evolution of Jewish humor, the subject of his most recent book Let There Be Laughter.
During the daytime hours, there will be as many as nine sessions at any one time from which to choose. For most sessions, audio recordings together with the speakers’ slides will be available for purchase prior to and during the Conference.
This year, there will be no video recording or streaming, so if you want to enjoy the best talks, you need to come to Cleveland. See you there this summer!
Ken Bravo & Jay Sage
Conference Co-Chairs
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