The following information is from GENTECH’s Web site:

The GENTECH 2002 conference will take place 25-26 January 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts and is co-sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogical Society. This call is an open invitation to propose lectures consistent with the objectives of GENTECH and with the tracks identified below. Lectures will last for 60 minutes, and will take place at 90-minute intervals, providing ample time for attendees to move on to the next lecture and/or visit the exhibit area. The Program Committee will select from lecture proposals submitted in response to this Call, but may also solicit specific topics from lecturers as needed to provide a well-balanced program. If you propose a panel discussion, please indicate who would be on the panel, and have their agreement to serve. We encourage you to suggest as many lectures as you are comfortable with.

The theme for 2002 is "Connections." We will explore the ways technology assists in establishing connections to our ancestors, to our extended families, and to historical resources. Emerging Web applications, data transfer techniques, search methods, and publication tools will be featured. Your lecture is not required to address the conference theme, but we are soliciting lectures that will allow a full treatment of these concepts. Program areas into which your suggested lectures might fall include:

• Community building. Use of the Internet by societies, families, and commercial organizations to publish and exchange information.
• Online resources. Web sites, libraries, archives, search engines.
• Documentation. When, how, and why to track electronic sources.
• Imaging. Scanning, photography, optical character recognition.
• Publishing. Private and commercial options for publication online or on CD.
• Applications. Databases and utilities that ease the research task.

Each lecture should address the current state of the art, as well as open doors to future directions in each category.

Please include a brief (not more than 200 words) biographical sketch describing your experience in genealogy, technology, and lecturing. If you have not previously lectured at a national genealogical conference, but some of your past lectures have been taped, we would appreciate a copy of the tape to assist us with our selections. Tapes will not be returned. Though helpful, professional training in technology, genealogy, or public speaking is not a requirement. We welcome new faces and new ideas that further our mission.

Each lecturer will be paid an honorarium. Please share this call with other potential lecturers.

Provide your name, postal address, e-mail address, phone, and fax numbers. We prefer to contact lecturers via e-mail. Watch the posts on our Web site as plans for GENTECH 2002 progress.

I have always been a fan of the GENTECH conferences and have attended every one. I certainly plan to be at the 2002 event, since I only live about 30 miles from the conference site in Boston. I have been in the Hynes Convention Center many times and can report that it is a first-class facility. One thing I like about it is that it is connected to three major hotels, probably 25 restaurants, and maybe 100 or so stores by indoor walkways. Even though this conference takes place in January, you will not need a sweater or jacket for the several days of the conference. You can walk from the conference hall to the hotels, restaurants, and stores in 72-degree comfort. In addition, two or three more hotels are within a five-minute walk, although they are not connected by temperature-controlled walkways. If you stay at one of the non-connected hotels, you will want to wear a jacket when walking to the conference center.

I might also add that the New England Historic Genealogical Society and the Boston Public Library’s excellent genealogy and local history collection are both within walking distance of the GENTECH 2002 conference location. You will want a jacket for those walks, however.