Organize Your Family History

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RootsTech starts in 6 days: Start planning now!

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The RootsTech 2022 website is now live! That means you have just under a week to plan your RootsTech experience by creating a playlist of the classes you want to watch. You can also take note of the main stage speeches and mark them in your calendar if you want to watch them live.

While my 2021 playlist is gone, I was excited to discover that the 2021 talks are still available for viewing. You can find them by clicking on Sessions and scrolling down in the Filters area on the left side to “Year.” Select 2021 and you’ll see that there are 1767 talks available to view now.

You can also filter by topic, research location, speakers or other filters and then within those results filter by year. You can add both 2021 and 2022 classes to your playlist (or watch the 2021 classes now). I don’t know  whether the 2021 classes will be still be available when RootsTech 2022 starts next week. As I mentioned in my post last week, I tend to think they’ll be removed.

For sessions that will be presented live, the time is listed for the session on the search result. My understanding is that the pre-recorded 2022 sessions will be made available when RootsTech starts, which is Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 9 am Central Standard Time (GMT -6). That’s 11:00 AM in Rio, 6:00 PM in London; 12:00 PM in Tokyo and 2:00 am [Thursday] in Sydney.

Look for download links for class syllabi at the bottom of each class listing. Based on my poking around, it looks to me like  syllabi for 2022 classes won’t appear until the conference starts. But you can download syllabi for 2021 classes you’re interested in now.

The array of classes available is truly impressive. And I know it can feel overwhelming. Personally, I’ll get past that overwhelmed feeling by planning ahead and creating a playlist. While I know I can watch these classes for about a year, I’m going to try hard to take in RootsTech 2022 content while the conference is going on, so I can be part of the global experience and so I actually watch the classes. I found that I did not watch the 2021 content I intended to watch (though I did watch some last week!) and that disappoints me.

Once the conference starts, I’ll be eager to find my Relatives at Rootstech, visit the Virtual Expo Hall and check out the chatrooms for the classes I’m interested in.

If you have questions about RootsTech, the FAQ has lots of great information. You might find the post I wrote about the 2021 virtual conference helpful. I plan to write something similar once this year’s conference begins and I can check out the features.

If you haven’t registered yet, just go to www.rootstech.org and click on Register. It’s free and easy! Let me know in the conference whether you’re planning to attend. Who knows, we might find out we’re related!

 

 

Genealogy Jamboree is virtual this year!

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The Southern California Genealogical Society Genealogy Jamboree starts this week! (I don’t know why I haven’t blogged about this year’s Jamboree, but I appreciate a comment from reader Rebecca Stanley mentioning it.) This is always such a robust conference and this year it’s even more so: There are two days for DNA topics and two days for the Genealogy Jamboree, which focuses on traditional genealogy. And it’s virtual this year, so you don’t have to travel to southern California to attend.

The Genetic Genealogy conference will be held June 4 & 5. The Genealogy Jamboree will be held June 11 & 12. Each conference consists of six live lectures that you can attend live or access the recording later. In addition, there will be 20 Genetic Genealogy and 50 Genealogy Jamboree recorded sessions. That’s a lot of learning opportunities Here’s the schedule for both conferences.

There are two levels of registration. If you purchase the Standard Registration for Genetic Genealogy ($190), you have access to 10 recordings. The Standard Registration for the Genealogy Jamboree ($175 for non-members) gives you access to 30 recordings. You can watch recordings until October 2021.

Alternatively, you can purchase the Plus Registration for each conference and have access to the live presentations plus all the recorded sessions for that conference. The Plus Registration for the Genetic Genealogy conference is $260 for non-members and gives you access to 20 recorded sessions. The Plus Registration for the Genealogy Jamboree is $275 for non-members and gives you access to 50 recorded sessions. You’ll get a $20 discount for registering for both conferences and SCGS members receive a $20 to $30 discount, depending on the package.

Again, you can access the entire schedule here.

And here’s an exciting addition: On Monday, June 7 and Wednesday, June 9 several live presentations are being offered free of charge in a program called JamboFree. (These sessions are not recorded.) You simply have to complete a free registration (or log in with your SCGS login) to get access.

There’s lots of information available on the website. This page is a good place to start if you’d like to learn more.

I attended the Jamboree in person back in 2015 and was really impressed by the professionalism of the whole event. I’m confident the virtual event will be equally well done!

 

How to watch RootsTech Connect

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As you may know, the 2021 all-virtual RootsTech conference (dubbed RootsTech Connect this year), is going on right now. I have not been able to watch much of it yet, despite it being on my calendar for months. But I have explored the website a little bit and I’m blown away with the learning opportunities.

The great news is that most of the sessions will be available to watch until next year’s RootsTech in March 2022 (which is scheduled to be held in person). You can watch as many sessions as you want now. They’re available on demand. Live keynotes are available on a schedule. My understanding is that the keynotes will be available to watch after the conference.

But there are features that are probably going to be available only during the conference (that is, through Saturday). They include:

  • Chat, where you can interact with like-minded genealogists
  • Relatives at RootsTech, where you can see how many people who are registered for the conference are related to you through the Family Search tree. So far, I have 37,376 relatives attending the conference! (A quick tip: I found that when I clicked on “See Your Relatives” using Safari, I got an error message. But it works just fine in Chrome and Firefox.)
  • Searching for your friends who are attending see how you might be related (my dear friend and podcast co-host, Shannon Wilkinson, and are 9th cousins once removed!)

(I don’t know for a fact that these will be going away after the conference, but I don’t want to take any chances.)

There are lots of ways to approach participating in RootsTech, but here’s what I suggest (and this is what I plan to do this weekend when I’ll have more time):

  1. Go to the Rootstech website.
  2. Login to your Family Search account (or create one if you don’t already have one).
  3. Click on Menu, then Relatives at RootsTech to find your relatives and see how you’re related. If you want, send relatives a message either by clicking on Send a Message under their name or through the little Connect box at the bottom of the home screen.
  4. Click on Guide Me for some suggestions on what you might want to watch or if you’re feeling confused, watch the Website Tutorial by clicking the button near the top of the screen.
  5. Alternatively, if you know what you want to watch, click on Sessions and search or browse for sessions.
  6. Add sessions to your Playlist, so you watch them at your leisure.
  7. Join a chat room by clicking on Connect, then Chat Rooms. Click on the little magnifying glass to search for a particular group or interest.
  8. Explore the Virtual Expo Hall. You can browse or search for particular vendors.

The whole thing is free of charge and it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss. I have always been blown away by how well organized RootsTech is. This RootsTech Connect conference takes it to another level.

I want to be clear, because my emails indicate there is some confusion, that I am not affiliated with RootsTech. I’ve been a speaker twice and I’m an enthusiastic  attendee, but otherwise I have nothing to do this amazing conference. I just want to make sure my readers are making the most of it!

 

 

 

 

RootsTech 2021 will be virtual (and free!)

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Have you heard the news? RootsTech has announced that next year’s conference–rebranded RootsTech Connect for 2021–will be entirely virtual. To be held February 25 to 27, 2021, has a wonderful global vibe. Perhaps the best part in terms of inclusivity? It will be free of charge! You can read details of the announcement here on the RootsTech website. And you can register on the spot with a little bot in the right corner of the screen. It took me less than a minute to register.

So what does this virtual conference look like? The organizers say it will be unlike any virtual genealogy conference.

RootsTech Connect is different than any other virtual event—no boring speakers or falling asleep at your computer screen. Rather, enjoy dozens of inspirational learning sessions, uplifting messages from celebrity keynote speakers, and hands-on activities to help you celebrate your heritage all year long.

I’m intrigued, especially by the hands-on activities! I know the capabilities of the smart people who organize this conference and I am confident they can pull it off. I’m delighted that content will be available for viewing for a year after the conference. (I don’t know if that’s selected content, as usual, or if it will be all the content.)

This multi-cultural video, on the RootsTech landing page, made me feel great.

Since everything is so uncertain right now in this world of COVID, I am so happy to know what’s happening with RootsTech. It’s on my calendar and I can’t wait to attend! How about you?  Have you/will you sign up?

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When you first join the list, I’ll send you a few emails to help you organize your family history. After that you’ll hear from me at the end of every month when I send an email with links to that month’s posts. And every now and then, I’ll let you know when I have something special to promote.