Entertainment or Education -- the genealogy conference experience

As soon as I got back from Utah and my visit to FamilySearch, I taught
two classes at the Fall Genealogy Workshop of the Family History Society
of Arizona. The conference seemed very well attended but being at a
genealogy conference raises some issues, including whether or not
attending a genealogy class is more entertainment than education. The
classes I taught were on specific software products and it was
interesting that more than a few of the attendees had purchased the
software at a previous convention and had either never loaded it on
their computer or after loading it on, had never used it.

In the regard, I reflect on all of the many hundreds of genealogy
classes I have taught over the past few years. Some of the classes have
been attended by the same people, on the same subjects, time after time.
Yet, each time I teach the same class over, I get similar comments and
over time, when I ask if anyone has used the program or whatever, the
percentage of actual use never seems to increase. For example, I
regularly teach a class on using Google for Genealogy. Even though I
repeat the topic almost two or three times a month and some of the same
people attend the class repeatedly, they still never seem to spend the
time to learn a little about Google themselves. So, is the class
entertainment or education? I guess I would have to conclude that it is
largely entertainment.

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