RootsTech Connect 2021 - Starts Today!

RootsTech starts today at 7:00pm eastern time when the Expo Hall opens but the website is live now for you to start exploring. What will you be doing for the next 72 hours? RootsTech is more than just viewing classes. RootsTech is also an opportunity to talk to the experts in the field and find friends and relatives. The number of registered attendees is now over 501,000 people from  226 countries and territories. So, how do you converse with all these people at RootsTech? If you are registered for RootsTech and have a FamilySearch account you can use all of the various the chat functions. 

The Expo Hall has virtual booths for nearly one hundred vendors from large companies like Ancestry to smaller groups such as Birth Parent Finder. Each exhibitor in the Expo Hall will have a "Chat with an expert" button that you can click to chat with the people who are working in the virtual booth. Once you click on that button, you will get a pop-up of all the staff that are present. From there you can click on one of the experts and ask them questions. Those questions will go into their direct message box and you should hear back from them soon. There is also the opportunity to join a chat room for that exhibitor so you can see what everyone else is talking about and ask additional questions. These chat rooms will also be monitored by the exhibitor but it may take a little longer to get a response due to the potentially large amount of traffic there.

Are you missing the opportunity to talk to the presenters? Well, each speaker will have their own chat room where participants can ask questions and discuss their topics. Some of the presenters will also participate in a 1-hour RootsTech Connect Desktop Diner event where participants can join them in themed Zoom rooms and join in with live conversations. This event is scheduled for 4:00pm EST and is sponsored by the Connections Experiment. This is your opportunity to meet with the presenters in a more personal setting compared to text messaging. You will need to register in advance for this event. When you register you will receive an email with the calendar information and Zoom link.

If you want to chat with me for any of my topics you can use the links below. The chat rooms will be open throughout the conference and I will pop in frequently. Click on the titles below to visit the pages and click on the chat room link to join the chat for that topic. You will have to be logged into the RootsTech Conference site for these links to work.

Connecting Your Communities in the FamilySearch Family Tree—Live Discussion - Thursday, February 25: 7:00pm EST (Chat Room)

Inspiring Children and Youth to Love Family History - Live Discussion - Friday, February 26: 3:00pm EST (Chat Room)

Family History and Genealogy in K12 Classrooms - Live Discussion - Friday, February 26: 9:30pm EST (Chat Room)

Adding Maps to Your Family History Analysis (Chat Room)

The Family History Guide Virtual Booth - Expo Hall - I will be there Thursday & Friday: 9:00am-11:00am EST (Chat Room)

You can also start your own chat room or direct message friends and associates who are registered for the conference. These are not private chats so others could find them in the search feature and join you but you can name the chat and invite your friends to join. Another way to find people is through the Relatives at RootsTech site. You can select a relative or search for one and then send a message through your FamilySearch account discussions.

I hope to see you all there and be sure to pop in and visit me in one of my chat rooms.Enable GingerCannot connect to Ginger Check your internet connection
or reload the browserDisable in this text fieldEditEdit in GingerEdit in Ginger×

RootsTech Connect 2021 - 1 Day To Go

Tomorrow evening is the start of the RootsTech Connect conference. The Expo Hall opens at 7:00pm EST and the first keynote speaker comes onstage at 11:00pm EST. Will you be awake for that? So far, my last five blog posts have been talking about the various ways we can make the most of the conference. I realize that there is a lot planned but just remember that much of it can be viewed on demand over the next year so you will want to focus on those items which will not be available after the conference. Here is a list of some items that will only be live or will be deactivated after the conference.

1) Let's Do Good Together - I provided details about these sessions in my previous blog post. These are panel discussions which will be held on Zoom. The audience will be able to ask questions and the panel members may ask the audience questions. Some of these will have breakout rooms where you can talk to others about your ideas and get feedback or potentially find others with similar interests who can help you achieve your goals.

2) Expo Hall - Just like in past years, there are many genealogy related companies represented at RootsTech. You can visit their virtual booths, ask them questions, find conference related discounts, and attend various product demonstration in the Demo Theater. Representatives for the companies will be there to help answer your questions in real time.

3) Innovators Portal - The Innovators Portal can be found under the Menu icon in the upper right corner. This area is where you will find the latest innovations in family history and genealogy and will be able to talk to those who are developing these new tools. There are more than a dozen projects being demonstrated here including FamilySearch's computer aided indexing, photo restoration applications, 3D family trees, immersive media, and more. Each innovator has a video and a link to their products demonstration site for you to explore. Take some time to investigate these innovations and ask the developers questions.

4) DNA Basics Learning Center - This area is where you can ask basic questions about DNA, participate in live DNA classes, and participate in interactive learning activities. All of these classes will be available on demand following their live presentation but the interactive instruction will not be available afterward.

5) Chats - Each session will have an active chat room. You can join each room using the link on the session's page. This will allow you to chat with the presenter and with other attendees who have joined the chat room. Many presenters will have "office hours" where they will be available live to answer questions. They will also be checking in periodically to monitor the chat and respond to comments or questions. These chats will be deactivated at the end of the conference so if you want to keep something that was said, you will have to copy and paste it into your notes.

There are some "live" events that may be available on demand later in case you missed them during their scheduled time. 

1) Live Sessions/Keynotes - There are live sessions scheduled throughout the day. You can find these live sessions by looking for the Calendar under the Menu icon. The lists for Main Stage and Sessions can be displayed for each day. Some of these sessions will be recorded and available later but a few may not be. 

2) Church Leadership Sessions - Various leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be hosting live discussions or talks throughout the conference. For example, Elder and Sister Holland will provide the keynote for Family Discovery Day and Elders Bednar, Stevenson, and Renlund will provide Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction.  Many other Church leaders will have pre-recorded messages available to watch.

I hope this list helps you create your conference schedule and make the most of your time. The conference is nearly 72 hours in length so make sure you include a few breaks for food, sleep and other necessary activities in your schedule. I will try to provide updates to my blog each day discussing what I did during the conference and hopefully providing additional tips for you to make the most of this event.

RootsTech Connect 2021 - 3 Days To Go

The countdown continues to the opening of the RootsTech Connect Expo Hall this Wednesday. One of the great things about RootsTech when it was in person was meeting everyone and having time to chat. I have met many people and made many friendships in the years that I attended RootsTech and I expect that many of you have also met some great people if you have attended the conference in the past. But now that we are all virtual, how will we keep up with our friends and colleagues? RootsTech has that figured out.

One way we will be able to communicate is through the RootsTech Connect chat. You will be able to join a chat room for each class session, discussion, and vendor that you are interested in. On the specific session's page you will find a Join Chat Room or Chat With An Expert button either under or above the session description. Click on that and you will be added to their chat room. To see which chat rooms you are subscribed to, click on the Connect button in the lower right corner. From there you can manage your chats, see if there are new discussions, and ask questions. This pop-up also has a Direct Message capability so you can send messages to your friends to see what they are up to. Also, there is a red + button at the bottom of the pop-up which allows you to create your own chat groups. This can be handy if your friends or genealogical society want to keep in touch during the conference. Each chat room is limited to 1,000 participants but don't worry because we have been told that once that number is reached a new chat room will be created for that topic. The chats will be open throughout the RootsTech Connect conference but will be closed at the end of the conference. So, if you want to keep parts of the chats for your future use you will have to copy them and save them in your own notes.

You can also find new cousins by checking the Relatives At RootsTech site on FamilySearch. You and your cousins will have to have a tree on FamilySearch for this to work since it searches the registered attendees against the data in their part of the FamilyTree to see your common ancestors. You can search by name or region and even invite your friends to participate if they are attending RootsTech Connect. As you can see in the image below, I don't have many relatives attending RootsTech this year but the 46 that I currently have is much more than any previous year. The surprising part is that I have no relatives from Germany but have 5 from Brazil. You can see how you are related to each person by clicking on their name or the dot on the map. You can also send them messages through FamilySearch messages when you want to chat.

These communication tools will help us reach out to fellow attendees, presenters, relatives, and friends. Each of us can participate in these chats and make this conference a more interactive experience, build our networks, and make new friendships, so try them out when you get a chance.

Remember, RootsTech Connect is free this year. You can easily register for it by going to the RootsTech website and filling out the registration form. I hope to see you there and feel free to message me and say "Hi".