Roots Tech

What Is RootsTech?

Last week I attended Roots Tech, the high tech genealogy conference in Salt Lake City. Lucky for me, I got to go with my mom. It is great to have a fellow genealogist in the family. My mom's eyes don't immediately glaze over when I mention the word - genealogy. This conference is just in its infancy - this being its second year. Some background on Roots Tech. Roots Tech grew out of the little Computerized Genealogy Conference at BYU that was held each March. BYU has a summer genealogy conference that includes all aspects of genealogy with the March conference focusing on the technology aspects.
Well, Roots Tech is like the BYU Conference on steriods. It is at the Salt Lake Convention Center or for those who are from Utah or know about Utah - it is at what was formerly now as the Salt Palace. I am of course in the later group - not from Utah but have lived here for almost 20 years, so now I know about Utah.

Roots Tech is designed to bring the developer and the genealogist or user together. So there are classes for both kinds of people. The classes are useful but could include a bit more on how to use the technology for people like me that need more guidance. But they did have hands on workshops that you could preregister for. I loved the workshop that I went to on Google Earth. There will be more on that in another post. Very exciting.

We were also treated to a free dinner with a comedy show afterwards. The comedian was funny. He lives in NYC but comes from the small town of Ashton, ID. Go Idaho!

There is also a very large vendor area, where one can find all sorts of genealogy related companies promoting their wares. The vendor experience is not at all annoying. No one is pushy, all are helpful and pleasant! Yeah!

Of course Family Search was there and I signed up to help index the 1940's census due out in April. So if you need something to do - here it is. The images will be available but no index. This is why they need us. You can also sign up to index your favorite state.

Jilline