Tag: GeneaBloggers Tribe

Posted on

On The Road – Preparing for RootsTech 2019!!!!!

The Expo Hall is HUGE!!!

SOOO excited – RootsTech2019 is almost here!!!!

The countdown is ON! I’m finalizing my presentations, collecting my equipment, reviewing and updating my talks – I’m so pleased that Lineage Journeys/I was selected to speak again. I’m presenting You CAN Take It With You: Mobile Apps for Genealogy and Native, First Nations, Indian: Researching Indigenous People . 

Hope you will join me at RootsTech 2019!!!

There is so much to say about how fun RootsTech is – AND it can be overwhelming! The Expo Hall, Salt Palace is so HUGE so you have to be very disciplined about selecting your classes, planning your days there and probably allowing time to be at the Family History Library (really, it’s a very short walk!).

The Exhibitors area is also HUGE – but so worthwhile! There are always discounts for purchasing items at the event (think “DNA kits”!) , getting your family tree printed out on large paper, exploring jewelry with a family history theme, activities, booth workshops, books, tapes, things to buy, people to meet, freebee stuff to get …. yeah, overwhelming. But here’s what I learned from attending last year – my first year: 1- Wear comfortable shoes. You are going to walk A LOT! 2 – Plan ahead. RootsTech has a mobile app with the classes, exhibitors, special events, everything you’d want to know and you can create a schedule using it. DO IT! 3 – Either pre-print your handouts or plan to use the app – you can take notes on your phone or tablet from the app. Yeah, it’s pretty fun! 4 – Plan ahead for your personal needs. There is plenty of food on site – vendors, sit down places, variety. But maybe bring some snack bars or energy bars. And if you are thinking about saving money, some of the hotels include breakfast in your registration (be sure to check!) but many hotels have refrigerators in the room so bring things for meals. There is a grocery store nearby or you could use one of the many food delivery apps to have food delivered to you (yeah, there is a delivery fee and you have to sign up for most). But I brought breakfast foods so that I didn’t have to go out early – I could relax over breakfast in my room (PB&J is easy to bring, as is tea!).

Don’t take it just from me! Here’s a video from our RootsTech hosts about what to think about: The Road to RootsTech

There is also an option to check out some of the content from home – it’s really better to come there, but if you can’t, explore this option: Virtual Roots Tech! VERY reasonably priced, you get great content and you can learn from home. Saves on travel, hotel costs while also giving you access to experts and subjects that are of interest. There are 18 recorded sessions for only $129! A great value!

Hope to see you there – but if you buy the Virtual Pass, watch in the background! Maybe you’ll see me waving!! And watch here during the event, as I will be posting that week about what I’m hearing, seeing and learning as well is pictures of people I meet and the fun we are all having. If you attend, reach out via cell phone/mobile app – I may be with the GeneaBloggers Tribe, the Archives of Michigan, in the Ambassadors area, or around the exhibit hall – let’s meet up!

Posted on

RootsTech 2018 – A retro view

It’s a little under a week after I first arrived in Salt Lake City for my first RootsTech – the 2018 conference was beginning the next morning, and my presentation too. As it has been a week since it began AND I’ve been home since Monday night, I’ve rested, unpacked and recovered. So in this review of my experience, there is a lot to cover.


First, there is the sheer size of the event – OMG!!! Over 14,000 of your best friends … well, ok, I didn’t meet them all. A special mobile app that linked the attendees on site with their FamilySearch tree gave all of us the opportunity to find cousins!!! I had 212 cousins at the height of the conference and was able to meet up with two of them. How exciting!! The mobile app showed you how you were related – all of mine where in the French-Canadian lines on my tree. SOOOO fun! I hope they continue doing that because we all enjoyed seeing how we connected.

I met the winner of my free RootsTech pass competition – Kimberly Savage arrived at my second workshop on Saturday to introduce herself to me and reported that she’d been having a great time. Here is Kimberly and I when we met!! Glad you had fun, Kimberly.

And then there were the presentations – which I was THRILLED went so well. Acadian & French-Canadian Research and You CAN Take It With You: Mobile Apps for Genealogists. By my estimate, attended by between 150 and 200 people, the participants asked great questions, were engaged, came up before and after the presentation to connect with me and I’ll hope the information helped them.

Being an Ambassador too, had some great perks! Here’s the group of fellow bloggers (GeneaBloggers TRIBE) in the Media Hub where we interviewed speakers and keynote presenters, had a place to write our social media and blog posts, and rest. Yea, you needed a place to rest …. for this first-timer, it was very overwhelming, in a good way!

So heaven for a week looked like constant, nonstop conversation, learning and content about genealogy – cousin conversations, stories, researching and how to connect it all. I think I’ll be on a “high” for a while because it was so great for me. I sooooo hope I get to do it again.