RootsTech Countdown - 1 Day to Go

RootsTech is probably one of the most fun things a genealogist can do in a week. It is amazing being in the presence of all these dedicated researchers and developers. Even though yesterday was the day before the start of RootsTech, I was still busy. My wife is accompanying me on this trip. This is her first RootsTech since the pandemic. 

Queue outside the FamilySearch Library

First thing in the morning, right after breakfast, we lined up outside the FamilySearch Library with a good number of other people. I saw several of my genealogy friends and chatted with them while we waited. It's always good to catch up and see what they have been up to for the last year. When the doors opened at 9:00am there was a mad rush (Black Friday style) for the elevators. Ok, maybe it wasn't Black Friday style but everyone calmly headed to their respective floors to begin their morning of research. We went to the US/Canada book collection on the third floor to see if we could find early 1800s records for several counties in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. Our research goal was to establish the next generation for my wife's Walker line. We didn't find what we were looking for so we left about lunch time and headed over to the Salt Palace to get our badges for the conference and take a look at the Expo Hall.

IIGS Booth

In the Expo Hall we met Angie Breidenbach, the President of the International Institute of Genealogical Studies, where my wife and I are studying for our degrees in genealogical studies. We helped her set up the booth and chatted for a while. We also took some time to see how everyone else was getting along with their booth construction. Everyone was busy getting things ready for today. There are over 120 vendors in the Expo Hall this year so it will be a fun experience. We were able to chat with Ellen Goodwin, CSO of Artifcts while she was waiting for supplies for her booth. Artifcts specializes in saving memories while decluttering and preserving the value behind your things. They give you a digital way to organize stuff and capture the meaning behind objects. We also visited with the LaFreniere family who own Related Faces. I wrote about their company last year and this year they are back and ready for another RootsTech. Related Faces uses AI to scan your photos and isolate faces. Then their program compares those faces with their entire database, returning pairings with photos from your own collection as well as others. These pairings can help you fill in the blanks of your photo mysteries as well as connect you with users who may have more details. Then I had to run over to Ballroom G and room 155E to do tech checks for my talks. 

Lego Family Tree set

The evening was very busy with attendance at two socials and dinners. The first dinner was at the Speakers Social. We sat down and heard from Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch. He talked about how far we had come in genealogy, from microfilm to digitization to DNA and now the exploding world of Generative AI. He commented that Generative AI is now at the place where DNA was 7-8 years ago for genealogists. After that dinner some of us headed across the hall for the Media Social and another dinner. There we heard from Steve Rockwood again. Steve talked about his family history and discovering his ancestor, Tim Rockwood. David Lambert, one of the attendees, had given Steve a book written in the 1880s which contained the genealogy of Tim Rockwood. Steve Rockwood also talked about Generative AI at this event and about the new Lego set that recently came out. This set is a Family Tree. After the socials we were given a tour of the Expo Hall to see how much work had been completed and get a general lay of the land. 

Day 1 starts in the morning, and I am up at 4:00am writing my blog and getting ready for my first talk at 8:00am. But before my talk I will have a breakfast event with Storied to hear more about their big news. More on that to come. Have a fun day at RootsTech whether you are here in person or watching the virtual conference from home.