My appearance on TechTv's "Call for Help" (http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/) yesterday was a great experience and I had a ball! I met all of the "on air" personalities for the "Call for Help" program and the "Screen Savers" (http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/) program. Since both programs are broadcast live, it was a very interesting experience as well as an education. Prior to the "Call for Help" show, I was taken behind the scenes and was allowed to interact with the support cast and crew. I had makeup applied which was a real experience - thank God it goes off easily! I met Becky Worley (who opted not to do the segment with me because she was off the day before and was not briefed) so Chris Piriollo and I made the presentation. After the segment I was allowed to sit in as a "guest" for "Screen Savers" and watched the rehearsal and the actual show which broadcast weekdays at 4:00 PM (PST). I sat around on the "Screen Savers" set and visited with all of the crew, support cast and the on screen personalities (Patrick Norton and Martin Sergeant). It's amazing how they look on TV but yet somehow different in person. I am impressed with the number of people it takes to put a show on the air. The "Screen Savers" program has a support crew and cast of about 30 people. That does not include all of the people in the control rooms and the technical support people (electricians, computer support, etc.). I came home with a hard disk drive autographed by all of the on air personalities and the members of the support cast and crew. I'll add it to my display case. It seemed like the time flew by but I guess the time on air for me was about 4 minutes. We were not able to really cover the topics that I wanted to, but the show's producer was concerned about keeping the show interesting to TV viewers so we really cut much of the presentation out. I had to ask myself "What's that say about my presentation?" (-: I protested but eventually realized that it was either the producer's way or no presentation. I'm not sure I'll ever be invited back for another presentation but I asked them to consider having a regular segment on either show about computers and genealogy. We discussed some possible topics and they agreed there was some potential. However, as you can imagine, making a presentation on TV which will keep the audience's attention is much harder than making a presentation to a room of people. If you agree that TechTV should have more segments about computers and genealogy, send them an e-mail at [email protected] You can read the short version of the article I wrote for the show by going to --> http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/projects/story/0,23008,3336331,00.html or if you are really brave, you can read the complete article by going to --> http://www.penningtonresearch.org/resources/articles/article01-01.htm. Gene Pennington http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~genepenn/ Researching Pennington - Wann - Stickney - Tankersley - Lancaster - Justis Member of these genealogy associations/groups: Pennington Research Association - http://www.penningtonresearch.org Marin County Genealogical Society - http://www.rootsweb.com/~camargs/ BARUG (Bay Area Roots User Group) - http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~barug/ National Genealogical Association - http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ California Genealogical Society - http://www.calgensoc.org Proud Supporter of RootsWeb - http://www.RootsWeb.com