Rival event to WDYTYA planned in London for May 2009

[Chris Paton]

On the back of the last WDYTYA event in London, many of the English based FHSs were deeply unhappy at the high costs (there was only one Scottish based FHS, from Shetland, no idea what they thought of it!). The fact that the event organisers have just announced that next year's event will taken place two months earlier in February seems to have become the straw to break the camel's back. Many of the English FHSs are now boycotting the next WDYTYA, and are setting up their own event in London on the first May bank holiday weekend.

I've spoken with one of the organisers and the event is being organised as a non-profit making event by Family History Society members for Family History Societies and related groups. It is currently not endorsed by the Federation of Family History Societies or the SoG, but they are said to be interested - it is very much a grass roots initiative. The venue has been booked in London, but will not be announced until the final arrangements are in place with the borough council responsible. An announcement will be made in the next few weeks.

If any Scottish based FHSs or organsiations decided not to attend on the back of the prohibitive costs of WDYTYA Live, this might be worth considering. For further info, the following are the relevant contact details:

Web: www.theFHevent.info
Email: mail@theFHevent.info
Address: PO Box 2420, Purley, Surrey, CR8 3DX
Tel: 0844 4780410

Chris

[kenspeckle]

are they talking about what it cost them to be part of the event ? or the entry actual event itself?
from an OZ perspective I have seen the success of the Television series here and the young folk that are now totally engrossed in the show and now taking an interest in their own Family tree and also the huge general interest in genealogy that has come about from this series
there have been Family History Fairs for years run in UK where all the societies go along sell things and try and get new members and but I doubt that they have fired the imagination of the public at large like WDYTYA has

I think its a shame they feel they have to boycott the next event surely they could talk to the organisers first if they are not making enough to cover their costs

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_ge ... _thin.html

regards lesley

[Chris Paton]

Hi Lesley,

I absolutely take your point, but whilst I have no connection to the English FHS movement, I do sympathise with them to some degree.

The WDYTYA event has only been in existence for two years, prior to that it was the Society of Genealogists show and was a not for profit event for the organisers. When the SoG ran the show, admission prices were about £7, now they are £20. The hire of a stall at the event is now £400 plus VAT per table - a friend of mine hired a stall at a cost of £2000 and barely broke even. The FHSs do get a discount on this, but not much, and as most are run on a charitable basis, £400 is quite a hit for some of them.

I think the straw that has broken the camel's back here is the decision by WDYTYA to bring the next event forward to the winter, at the end of February. The FHSs are deeply worried that by not holding it on a bank holiday weekend in May they will lose out on the numbers in attendance. I also know that one of the major Scottish institutions will most likely not be there next year, as by bringing it forward to February it now falls in the same business year as the last event, which was not at all budgeted for. The reason for the move to Feb is that another event has already been booked at WDYTYA for the May bank holiday, which seems incredibly short sighted for the new organisers.

It is also worth bearing in mind that whilst the show is called Who Do You Think You Are? Live, it is not a BBC run event. The branding plays heavily on the series success, but as someone who used to work as a BBC television producer of history documentaries, I can tell you that WDYTYA will not last forever, as TV commissioning runs in cycles (for example, the flurry of archaeology programmes on air in the early part of this decade, which suddenly died out overnight). Once it has had its day, the brand will mean nothing, the investors of the Olympia show will then look to set up the next big thing beyond genealogy, and it will be back to a family history show again without all the trappings. I think the FHSs are worried that they will be bankrupted by that stage if they continue to participate, so I see this as them trying to regain some control again.

The simplest thing would be for the event organisers to drastically reduce the costs for all charitable based organisations. If the BBC were running the event, you'd be sure this would happen. But they aren't, the organisers are looking for profit, and nothing more. I do think that WDYTYA and the FHSs would have a much stronger product if working together, and that both will be diminished without the other, but at the same time, the FHS movement is increasingly under threat from all sides now, as their traditional role continues to be eroded by the internet and other sources. On that basis I sympathise with what they are trying to do, but you are right, people from Scotland, for example, are more likely to go to Gateshead or WDYTYA than the new FHS show. At the same time, only one Scottish FHS made it to WDYTYA this year, and I wonder if the costs of getting there and the cost of a table hire just put it beyond the Pale for them? Would the new show be more attractive for them in the way that Gateshead is for many?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Chris

[kenspeckle]

Hi Chris thanks for explaining

Not like us Scots to waste our bawbees !

Yes I certainly know it wont last forever and I do see the push behind the shove
maybe if they talk to the organisers something good will come out of it all
best regards lesley