I have just returned for Salt Lake City, where I attended RootsTech. This is genealogy conference that combines both genealogy (roots) and different technology (tech) in one place. Held over three days, there is actually four days but the Wednesday is for the Innovator Summit and a few class sessions, late in the day. A few of us started to call it Day Zero. This summit showcases new products and services and they compete for prize money and support for companies (in kind). What starts out as 100’s before RootsTech starts in down to 10 by the Wednesday and five buy the Wednesday night. The winner is announced on the Friday morning.
This year I did two computer labs and enjoyed them both. The first one was on indexing and tagging your own photos and documents. The second was on writing your family story. Devon Noel Lee had us bring a birth certificate and using that start writing, small simple sentences. This then progressed to paragraphs. Really useful.
With the classroom sessions, they run four sessions a day with over 20 different topics. Sometimes you just wanted to clone yourself, as the choices were so good.
Then there was the Expo Hall, with a large range of vendors offering products and services. A veritable feast, to walk through and view.
An then there is the social side of RootsTech, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. This year I attended all three of the evenings’ activities and a sponsored lunch.
A wonderful experience, not I only have to apply what I learnt.
