Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

First keynote speakers announced for RootsTech 2025

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The first four keynote speakers have been announced for RootsTech 2025, the giant genealogy conference sponsored by FamilySearch. It will be held March 6-8, 2025, both in-person in St. Lake City and virtually. Those four speakers are:

  • Author Ndaba Mandela (grandson of Nelson Mandela)
  • Prominent artist Dana Tanamachi
  • Olympic Gold Medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall and her husband, Paralympic Gold Medalist Hunter Woodhall

To learn more about these speakers, check out this page of the RootsTech website.

My experience attending four (I think) RootsTech conferences in person is that the keynotes are outstanding. Even if I didn’t think I had an interest in the speaker (I’m looking at you, Donny Osmond), I always ended up enjoying the talk and gaining something from it. I’m sure these keynoters, and all the rest they’ll announce in the coming months, will be great.

Registration is now open for the conference. The fee to attend in person is $129 for a three-day pass or $79 for a one-day pass. The virtual conference is free of charge (but requires registration). Here’s a preview of the class lineup with a schedule promised soon.

Both options for attending the conference are terrific. I’ve attended both in-person and virtual RootsTech conferences and speaking for myself, I get a lot more out of attending in person. When I’m there I can forget about family responsibilities and focus on my genealogy. I can meet fellow genealogists and see the latest products and services in the Expo Hall. I also would come in a little early so I could spend some time at the Family History Library.

The virtual conference has the advantage of being less expensive and less effort. However, when I register for the virtual conference, I always have the best of intentions but I have a hard time prioritizing it. The result is I’m seldom able to devote the time I want to the conference since I’m juggling home and work responsibilities at the same time. I’m definitely less focused on my genealogy if I’m attending virtually.

If you’d like to whet your appetite for the 2025 conference or get a feel for what you might learn, visit the on-demand library of past RootsTech keynotes and classes.

I won’t be attending the 2025 conference but if you’re tempted, I encourage you to give some serious consideration. It’s a great way to deepen your research!

 

It’s RootsTech time!

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RootsTech snuck up on me this year because, for the first time in a decade, I’m not planning to attend, either in-person or virtually. As I’ve explained here, I’m not focusing on my genealogy research this year (though I still enjoy maintaining Organize Your Family History!) and instead using the time to focus on building my YNAB budget coaching practice

But I wanted to share a couple of resources in case RootsTech snuck up on you as well. It will be held both in-person in Salt Lake City and virtually 29 February to 2 March, 2024. Online registration is free; in-person registration for all three days of the event is $109 if you register before 29 February and $129 if you register on site. To register, just go to the Rootstech website and choose which experience you want.

To me, $109 registration for the in-person conference is the bargain of the century. I loved attending in person. Being among thousands of genealogy enthusiasts and taking the classes in person is an unforgettable experience and I’m so glad I was able to attend five conferences. Participating in the conference online is also a great experience, though it’s much easier to get distracted by real life.

The conference has so many classes (more than 200!) it can feel overwhelming to choose what to attend. RootsTech has a created a terrific blog post detailing how to plan your RootsTech 2024 schedule, whether you’re attending in person or online.

Are you planning to attend? If so, what are you most excited about?

I hope this year’s RootsTech is a great experience for all of you who attend!

Early Bird registration for RootsTech 2024 is open!

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Next year’s RootsTech will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 29 to March 2, 2024. As in the past few years, the conference is also being offered virtually.

That’s five months away, but registration has just opened for both versions of the conference.

As in the past, the virtual conference is free, but you do have to register. Why not register now? Then it will be on your calendar and you can plan around it.

If you’re up for traveling to Salt Lake City, registration is also open for the in-person conference. And right now it’s at an early-bird rate: $99 for a three-day pass and $69 for a one day pass. (I’m not sure what the rate will be going up to.) I’m always amazed and impressed at how inexpensive genealogy conferences tend to be. My professional organization charges $750 to register for its three-day conference!

Why pay $99 plus travel when you can watch from the comfort of your home? I can think of a half dozen reasons off the top of my head:

  • 250+ sessions are offered only in Salt Lake City (though there are 200+ new online sessions).
  • The Expo Hall allows you to learn about genealogy products and services and meet those offering them.
  • You get to really focus on genealogy, rather than trying to wedge it into your day (watching at home is very distracting).
  • You have the opportunity to make friends with other genealogists.
  • You can go to the Family History Library and do your own research!

If you have the budget for it, I encourage you to give attending in person some serious consideration. I attended in 2014, 2016, 2017 (I was a speaker!), 2018, and 2020. (I was a speaker again in 2020…about two weeks later the world shut down). I obviously love this conference, since I keep going back. I’m not planning to go next year, because my priorities have shifted. But I’m sure it will be a terrific conference.

Creating a virtual RootsTech playlist

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It’s that time of year again! The RootsTech conference will be held March 2 to 4, 2023. This year, they’re offering the conference both in-person and virtually. I made the decision not to attend in person, but I did register for the virtual conference and spent a little bit of time this morning putting some sessions onto my playlist. (It’s not too late to register for either option!)

I’m easily overwhelmed by choices and I found the choices of sessions to watch over the last two virtual conferences a little overwhelming. In case you’re the same way, I thought I’d share how I went about creating a playlist for me to watch next week or beyond. (I’m assuming, though I don’t know for sure, that the main stage sessions will be recorded for future watching.)

  1. First, I registered for the conference. (I did that back in January.)
  2. Then I logged into the Rootstech website by clicking on Sign In in the top menu bar.
  3. I clicked RootsTech 2023 in the top menu bar, then Calendar (in the Virtual section). I went through both the Main Stage and Sessions listings, clicking the Add to Playlist button for those sessions I didn’t want to miss.
  4. Then I clicked On Demand in the top menu bar, then Browse the Library. I was pleased to see 2023 sessions listed, though I won’t be able to watch them until the conference starts. I added to my playlist the sessions that caught my fancy.
  5. I didn’t want to have to browse all the offerings, so I clicked on Search the Full Library. Then I put the Filters to work for me. I selected English and 2023 (that narrowed it to 228 classes) and then I used the Search function. I searched for Organizing and got a very manageable 13 results. I selected some of those to add to my playlist.

In less than ten minutes, I added 22 sessions to my playlist. And I noticed that my playlists from 2021 and 2022 are still available!

There are so many learning opportunities at RootsTech. I’m sad not to be attending in person but I am very grateful that RootsTech makes it so easy (and inexpensive–it’s free!) to participate from home.

 

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