Demographics of BYU Genealogy Conference Attendees

Demographics of BYU Genealogy Conference Attendees

This following is not a scientific analysis of a complex survey of the attendees at the 38th BYU Genealogy Conference. These demographics are based on my observations. These demographics are not intended to offend or upset anyone. As a key member of the WorldVitalRecords.com team, it is important that we understand who our customer is and provide quality products and services to meet the needs of our customers. The following are the frank and candid observations that I made about the attendees.

Older demographics: Most of the attendees are in the 50+ age category. This was also skewed by the fact that many of the attendees are retired and this is how they choose to spend their available time.

Very few are in their 20's or 30's. Most of the younger people in attendance were from technology companies such as WorldVitalRecords.com, Ancestry.com, etc that were presenting or selling products. I have to face the fact that I am now getting into this older demographic and am no longer in the 20’s and 30’s.

Predominantly Female: there was a two-one or three-one majority of females that were in attendance. There were many men in attendance. The presenters had about a 50-50 split between males and females.

Heavier: Most of the attendees are living the good life because they appear to be large people. This may be a reflection of the population in general, or it may be an indicator that the attendees spend their time sitting doing genealogy instead of working out at the gym. (I am trying to use some humor here and not offend any of the attendees.) This may have been more noticeable because the conference was packed and that most of the BYU facilities are planed with teen sizes and shapes in mind. The over crowding seemed to pack the conference rooms, halls, and stairs. I didn’t notice the cramped conditions when my sons went to BYU soccer camp earlier this summer.

Cheerful: These people are genuinely happy. They all seemed to have smiles on their face. It was clear to me that they enjoy what they do and attending the conference made them happy. This may be true of all attendees to conferences of any type. I can only imagine that Star Trek fans would be very happy to attend a Star Trek conference. However, I did get the feeling that these conference attendees are people who are happy and content with their lives and chosen hobby.

This is also tied to the fact that most are extremely out going and talkative. Almost everyone was very willing with only the least amount of prompting to share story after story about themselves or their ancestors. There were very few shy wall flowers in attendance. Maybe the shy ones don’t bother to attend a conference with thousands of fellow genealogists.

Technical: The conference attendees were extremely technical and knowledgeable of modern technology. I am sure that in the age demographic that they are in, they are more technical than their peers. They were all able to quickly give their email address when asked to do so. Almost all of them had personal access to high speed internet. Many of them carried CD’s with their personal genealogy records on them they had burned themselves on their own high end computer.

One of my memories of the conference was of a 50 something lady sitting next to me. She won a drawing for a 256 megabyte flash drive. She was very excited to win it. The lady sitting behind her was 60-something and she wanted to see it and excitedly claimed that she wanted a flash drive for herself. Flash drives are “all that” in the teen and 20 something demographics. It was telling that genealogy and family history has driven technology into the hands of an older demographic. They have watched Genealogy technology change from odd size paper and binders to leading edge database merge technologies and server farms and digital cameras and PDA’s. They are fearless in adopting technology that works and adapt much quicker than the general population.

In addition I noted that they almost all:

• have and use email
• have and use internet
• have and use technology: cell phones, digital cameras, pc's, etc.
• have disposable income to invest in newer and better ways to do things.

Dedicated: It is clear to me that the attendees at this conference are dedicated to their work. They have honed their family history skills through years devoted to their labor of love. They participate in every aspect family history, from data extraction to writing personal histories.

Opinionated: Because of the time spent in their chose field, to a person they are very pointed and are quick to explain why they feel the way that they do. They know why that have stuck with PAF over the years or which PC based PAF competitor they use and when they changed to it. They are quick to jump into the free versus paid resource model debate. They will tell you which subscription model works for them. Most of those that prefer free resources are willing to support their cause with their own time and effort. Very seldom did I hear the phrase “I don’t know.” Because of this, they are willing to share their ideas and hard earned experiences with others. They are very willing to teach others because the have confidence in their own opinions.