Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE is the largest family history and genealogy event in the world. A spin-off of the television show, the event runs annually in London, England. Since its inception in 2005 the exhibition and surrounding events have been hosted at London Olympia and have attracted 10 – 15,000 visitors per year. The show consists mainly of exhibitions, stands and break-out sessions for individuals wishing to learn more about researching genealogy, family history and building family trees.
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Activities and interests
The exhibition has to date had a “Live show” type theme. Alongside the exhibitor stands various events and showcases have been provided to add interest for visitors. In 2009 this included Scottish drummers and pipers and in 2008 a Second World War tank was the centre piece of the show. The annexed 2nd floor at the Olympia Earls court venue, hosts various educations break out areas where visitors can consult experts in the fields of genealogical and historical research.
Throughout the 4 days of the show there are various sponsored and independent speakers giving their views on this hugely popular subject area. In 2009 notable speakers included Nick Barratt, 5-season presenter of the UK show that started the brand and Megan Smolenyak, self-styled super genea and DNA genealogy expert. On the fringes of the show there are wider interests served including military memorabilia, heritage buildings, coin collecting, maps and personal archiving.
Demographics and numbers for the show
• 91% of the visitors fall in the ABC1 category with 97% falling in the 45–65 years age range. There is a slight skew towards female attendees.
• 61.5% of visitors attended the event for the first time
• 26.5% have started researching their family history in the last two years, 57.9% have started within the last 5 years and 14.4% have been researching for more than 15 years.
• 99.5% of visitors are actively researching their family history
Exhibitors and organizers
In 2008 there were over 200 exhibitors from around the world. The most notable included Ancestry, Arcalife, English Heritage, Family Tree Maker, Family Tree DNA, Findmypast and The National Archives.
Despite its name the Live show is only a spin-off of the television series Who Do You Think You Are? and the event itself is operated by Wall to Wall Media.
Other related events
Other notable but smaller scale events around the world are the southern Californian Genealogy Jamboree, the FGS conference and the NGS Conference. All of these conference are held annually with the FGS and NGS events moving location each year.