GENTECH 2001 "Union and Reunion," brought GENTECH's annual conference back to the Dallas, TX area for the first time in three years and also introduced several innovations. Held at the Hampton Inn Suites and Convention Center in Mesquite, TX February 2 and 3, 2001, the Conference was preceded on Thursday by a very well received "Library Day" which featured speakers and topics of particular interest to Librarians. As a result of extensive publicity in the community, many students from local schools attended the conference with their teachers, and a "Public Expo" on Saturday provided low-cost admission to special presentations and the Exhibit Hall for those unable to attend the entire conference. The Friday evening banquet featured the reminiscences of Richard Pence, a pioneer of genealogical computing, and the award of GENTECH's Scholarship to Mary D. Taffet. Last year's recipient, Kevira Mertha, presented results of her work during the Technical Sessions held Thursday evening for developers. Sponsored lunches by RootsWeb and The Federation of Genealogical Societies featured entertaining comments by Desmond Walls Allen and John Colletta. The program of lectures for the 2001 Conference offered a feast for a broad range of appetites, ranging from techniques for searching the web to genetic analysis and from use of portable computers to digital imaging. The Exhibit Hall was equally diverse, providing the first look at Parentèle, a French genealogy program newly released in English, and at Family Tree SuperTools from Wholly Genes Software which provides wall-charting and web-searching options and management. Many other vendors provided enticing exhibits and cutting edge products.
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