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
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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 - 2 Days To Go

Can you believe that RootsTech Connect will be starting in just two days?! The Expo Hall will open at 7:00pm eastern time Wednesday and the first Keynote speaker will be Nick Vujicic at 11:00pm. He is an international motivational speaker and New York Times best selling author. Now that we are coming down to the final days before the conference starts, do you know what you will be doing? Does it seem overwhelming? Do you know the RootsTech survival strategies? If this all just seems to be too much to take in, may I suggest that you take some time to check out the Road to RootsTech video series or read some additional blogs on RootsTech to help you figure out what to do?

VIDEOS

The Roads to RootsTech is a series of short videos from the crew at RootsTech and FamilySearch explaining what will be happening.

Road to RootsTech - Episode 1: What's New This Year (2:23) - This is the first video in the Road to RootsTech series. The video introduces you to what RootsTech will be about and information that will be covered in future Roads to RootsTech videos.

Road to RootsTech - Episode 2: Family Stories - Asia, Africa & Europe (4:15) - This video contains family history stories from FamilySearch team members in Hong Kong, Ghana and Ukraine. The stories are in their native language so you may need to use YouTube's translate function.

Road to RootsTech - Episode 3: Family Stories - North & Central America (4:40) - This episode focuses on the family history stories of two FamilySearch team members in the US and Mexico. The stories are in their native languages of English and Spanish.

Road to RootsTech - Episode 4: Connect, Social & Discovery (1:47) - This video talks about the ways you can interact with others during RootsTech. They discuss topics such as the chat function and the official RootsTech Facebook page.

Road to RootsTech - Episode 5: Classes, Keynotes & Expo Hall (1:44) - This video talks about how to find class sessions, keynote speakers and explore the Expo Hall. 

Road to RootsTech - Episode 6: Get to Know the Emcees (4:04) - This video introduces you to the RootsTech emcees that you will see around the RootsTech Connect venue during the conference. 

Road to RootsTech - Episode 7: A Virtual Survival Guide (4:53) - This video provides the tips you need to survive three days of RootsTech Connect. The video includes tips such as getting rest before the marathon viewing, get up and move around, be comfortable, familiarize yourself with the website, stay hydrated and have snacks available, and many more valuable ideas to make the conference enjoyable and inspirational.

Welcome to RootsTech Connect 2021! (3:06) - This video is a welcome to RootsTech Connect. They discuss the various parts of the website and give a quick tour of where to find various topics.

RootsTech 2021 Sneak Peak (52:00) - This video is an absolute necessity for anyone planning on attending RootsTech Connect. They talk about conference details and demonstrate various parts of the RootsTech Connect website. They answer viewer questions that may help you get ready for the conference.

Behind the Scenes with the RootsTech 2021 Conference (51:20) - This video covers some of the work that went into preparing the RootsTech Connect platform and how it was designed to improve the user experience. They walk through the website and explain where you will be able to find your events.

Where else can you find information about the RootsTech Connect conference? 

ROOTSTECH & FAMILYSEARCH

One great place to find information about RootsTech Connect is the RootsTech Facebook page. Follow the page to keep up on the latest conference news, ask questions, and see what is going on.

The FamilySearch blog also has several stories about RootsTech that might be helpful.

BLOGGERS

There are many bloggers, besides myself, who are writing stories about RootsTech. You can follow them to get a first hand view of their experience and see what advice they have for you as you attend this incredible conference. 

The Genea-Musings blog provides articles as well as a compilation of other blog articles about RootsTech. This is a great place to start to see who is writing about the event.

The Orthodox Genealogist, Dear Myrtle, Treasure Chest of Memories, KindredPast, Inspire Family History, The Genealogy Girl, Family History Hound, The Single Leaf, and Empty Branches on the Family Tree blogs, to name just a few, have already provided RootsTech related articles. I am sure that many more bloggers will start posting soon as we approach the start of the conference.

There will be many more sources of information about RootsTech Connect in the coming days so keep an eye out for it. We are here to help make this the most inspiring and educational experience possible.