RootsTech Week is Here

The excitement is building

The long awaited RootsTech conference is just a few days away now, and I can feel the excitement building. I’ve loved seeing the excited posts of genie friends, who are heading off to attend the largest genealogical conference in the world, held at Salt Lake City.

I attended in person in 2016 and have never forgotten the amazing experience that it was. I could use this entire post telling you all about the fun that I had. However, it’s now time to look forward to RootsTech 2025. Since the pandemic, the conference has been available to attend, virtually, which is very nice for those of us on the other side of the world.

I’ve made sure there is nothing on my calendar at all, this week, so that I can devote the entire week to RootsTech. I will be changing my life over to US time so that I get the real RootsTech experience.

Schedule

I’ve made up my schedule online, with the classes that I am choosing to attend. I have chosen a wide variety of classes, some will be refreshers, and others will be new information. I have recently found that siblings of my 4x great grandparents, emigrated to USA and Canada, so I will be attending sessions on USA and Canadian research. These are the first relatives that I have come across who have resettled in these countries, so I have no experience in this area at all. I’m very much looking forward to learning new things.

Expo Hall

The Expo Hall is a huge highlight and is also available virtually. Participating vendors offer special deals and discounts and even giveaways. There are also vendors promoting the latest in technology that has been designed for family historians. There is so much to see at the Expo Hall, and it usually takes more than one visit to see it all. Even virtually, I usually pop in and out occasionally during the conference, to check out the latest of all that’s available. I couldn’t bear it if I missed something.

Relatives at RootsTech

Part of the fun of RootsTech is Relatives at RootsTech. This is where attendees are able to connect with other attendees who have family in common. The information is taken from family trees on Family Search. It’s been fun watching people posting about their many Relatives at RootsTech, often many thousand relatives. In past years, I’ve only ever had a handful of Relatives at RootsTech, always under 100, but this year, up until writing this, I have 570.

Family Search also matches the family trees of attendees to famous people. This is not something that I take seriously at all, and I have my doubts as to how accurate it is. It’s probably all made up for fun, and I’m taking it all with a grain of salt, but it’s fun to think about. Yesterday, I had a message from Family Search telling me I was related to Elvis Presley. That made me smile.

My top matches to famous people, are Marie Antoinette, followed by Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria. It is possible that there is a Queen Victoria connection on my family tree, as one of my distant cousins married a man who was connected to the Royal Family.

But yes, it’s likely to be fanciful, I’m sure.

There is much more about RootsTech than I’ve mentioned here, so stay tuned as I will be blogging about my experience of this wonderful world wide conference.

RootsTech Ridealong

Projectkin and Mission Genealogy are providing a space for those attending RootsTech virtually, to join in the fun. RootsTech Ride Along is a series of Live Videos, occurring each day during RootsTech week, with guests who will discuss their experiences of RootsTech, both attending in Salt Lake City, and at home, virtually. I am very happy that I will be a Ride Along guest on Thursday.

RootsTech Ride Along: Live with Robin Stewart — 3-Mar MT | Pre-show Roundup

The Excitement is Contagious

Lori Olsen White of the Lost and Found Story Box and Kyla Bayang of Rootsquad Roundup, have both posted about their excitement at heading off to RootsTech. These posts really stirred up feelings in me of ‘missing out’ and made me wish I’d made the decision to attend in person again this year. Click on the image below to their posts.

Know thy self, the RootsTech version

GiddyUp Go, the "Ride Along" starts soon

I’ll be checking out of world events for a few days, until RootsTech is over. The way things are at the moment, it’s a pleasure and a big relief to take time out of all the drama that is happening on our TVs daily.