By Mary Torres, Special to the Star
The RootsTech Connect – an all new virtual event experience held February 25-27, has come and gone. It was quite an event with more than 1 million family history enthusiasts participating, many of them for the first time, making this the largest gathering in the event’s 10-year history.
Participants from over 235 countries and territories registered for the world’s largest family history celebration!
Family Search usually hosts RootsTech, a family history and technology conference and trade show, in-person in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, that began in 2011 at the end of February, but the annual gathering was all-virtual for the first time because of COVID-19.
Attendees were able to join, at no cost, the nearly 2,000 live and on-demand “video learning opportunities,” including 1,100 classes in up to 40 languages.
The offerings can be searched in many different ways including broad categories such as by Language; Keynotes; Connecting With Family; Finding ancestors; DNA; Places; Records and Research; Memories; Photos and Videos; Traditions and Heritage; Websites; Tools and Apps, and Latter-Day Saints. Visitors will be able to access this content all year long using a “guide me” catalog system, at https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/ which creates a playlist based on a person’s interests.
In addition to all the classes and sessions, keynote speakers from all over the world participated, told their stories, and talked about the importance of connecting to family.
The popular “Relatives at RootsTech” feature where like at past conferences, FamilySearch engineers made it possible for people on the Family Tree Mobile App to see who they are related to within a two-block radius of the Salt Palace.
This year engineers expanded from the two-block radius to the entire world. There was a virtual Expo Hall where participants, while they couldn’t physically stroll through the vast Expo Hall as before, were able to peruse through more than 90 virtual booths of companies and organizations and either chat live with an expert or watch a video to learn about a product. They could also download resources and purchase products.
The Discovery section featured three- to five-minute videos of travel, food, heritage, traditions, dance and culture from around the world.
According to Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch International, part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, “Now the magic of RootsTech goes beyond the three days of live and can be expanded to 365 days of on demand.” It will be interesting to see how RootsTech 2022 is presented whether virtual, in-person, or perhaps a hybrid incorporating both. RootsTech 2021 was, to me, somewhat overwhelming with so much content and with the different time zones, available at all hours!
I will be revisiting some of the sessions I was able to attend and viewing others of interest to me. If you haven’t already taken advantage of the opportunity to enjoy and learn from the classes and sessions please visit the website and see what it has to offer.
The Texas State Genealogical Society will be presenting Virtual TIGR 2021 (Texas Institute of Genealogical Research) on June 13-18, 2021. This five day event promotes learning in an instructional classroom atmosphere, taking each attendee’s skills to another level. This year, TIGR offers four courses that create a unique learning experience for those researching ancestors in the Southwest.
In addition, TIGR’s inclusion of a unique course on Texas research addresses a critical need for genealogists researching complex Texas and early Republic of Texas records. Speakers for the event are: Patti Lee Hobbs, CG, J Mark Lowe, CG, Kelvin L. Myers, Colleen Greene, and Ari Wilkens. Be part of this year’s exciting event.
Seating for each course is limited, so register early! For more information email tigr@txsgs or follow them on Facebook: TXIGR.
