Another
year has come and gone and so has another Rootstech. This was my 5th time attending
this conference.
Here
are my previous posts. Some of these
will give you a good idea of the things you can do, the fun you can have and my
preparation before going. It’s pretty
critical to have some kind of game plan if you intend to spend time at the
Family History Library. For me, that’s the biggest part of the Rootstech
experience, other than seeing friends, of course.
ROOTSTECH
PREPARATION (2018) – In this blog I share what I did to prepare when I
attended for the first time. It was not
my first genealogy conference and not my first time to the Family History
Library. However, preparation is a must,
at least for me.
And here is a post about attending "after" Covid.
ROOTSTECH
2023 ~ An overview of our week (2023)
Now
let’s talk about Rootstech 2025.
I
flew in on Sunday, March 2nd.
This gives me time to get a good sleep and be prepared to hit the FHL
first thing Monday morning.
I was getting my laptop up and running so I
could just “sleep” it for the next day. I
use Legacy Family Tree software and
all notes, references and sources are stored there, on my laptop. At home I use a desktop PC, but for travel I take my laptop. Worse thing that can happen, well one of the
worst. Your laptop decides to give you the
dreaded spinning blue circle and error messages. WHY? I
had just used this laptop for the entire previous week at home.
Two
long and stressful hours later all was well.
Thankfully, I’m a bit of a computer geek and not afraid to dig in and
fix things. Whew! This is a perfect example of "anything" can and will happen.
My
friend and fellow blogger Debby Warner Anderson (Debby’s Family Genealogy
Blog) arrived about 6 p.m. Dinner
and back to the room to prepare for the next day.
This
was Debby’s first trip to the FHL and Rootstech so I was excited for her to experience
the incredible chance to be there among all those millions of records. It did
not disappoint.
Later on Monday
afternoon our friend Pam Mohrman Paxton arrived after driving over from
Colorado. She and I have attended
together on all 5 times I’ve been to Rootstech.
Tuesday
and Wednesday were spent researching at the library. Some good finds were made
by all of us.
On
Monday, I got to do something on my bucket list. Be a guest on Mondays with Myrt. Pat Richley-Erickson has been doing this
podcast longer than I’ve been researching.
She had retired a couple of years ago so I figured I’d never get the
chance to appear on the show. But,
because she came out of retirement and is hosting the show again, I got this
chance. What
fun!
You can find me at the 34 min mark and actually
speak at the 39:35 minute mark. Thanks
again Pat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6PKg22rbE
 |
| Debbie, Asst. Director of the Family Search/History Library, me and Fran and of course Dear Myrt on the far right |
We
picked up our badges on Wednesday afternoon.
This year instead of walking over to the convention center, they offered
to check us in, right there at the FHL.
Very convenient.
There
was a nice gathering at Dear Myrt’s (Pat Richley-Erickson) hotel where some of
us got to laugh and chat in a more intimate environment.
The
actual conference began on Thursday and ran through Saturday. There were lots of great classes
offered. They ranged from beginner to
advanced.
The first place I like to visit is the Exhibit Hall. I enjoy visiting booths that are associated with companies or websites I am familiar with. I do love collecting the ribbons and adding them to my badge.
As is
usual for me, I attended just two classes, but enjoyed them both. My plan is to watch a few of the others that
will be offered online.
Here
are the classes I attended: Finding Genealogical Gold in New England Probate
Records, presented by David Allen Lambert.
I always enjoy David’s presentations and this was no exception.
I
also attended Reasonably Exhaustive Research – Ireland presented by Richard
G. Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA. This was my
first time listening to Mr. Sayre and I thought he was engaging and extremely
knowledgeable about Irish Research.
On
Friday afternoon bloggers met up near the media center and took the usual group
photo. Unfortunately, this year, there
weren’t as many of us gathered for the photo.
But, nonetheless, it was fun.
 |
| The gathering of bloggers at the Exhibit Hall - What do you call a gathering of bloggers anyway? |
As to
the rest of the trip. The preparation I
did for the library and it’s fantastic holdings of records, paid off. I found many good bits of information on mine
and my husband’s ancestors. Stay tuned
in a future post for more on that.
My
flight home was uneventful and I’m always happy to be greeted by my husband,
Ron and my sweet dog Libby.
Here
are some scenes from Rootstech.
|
|
 | | The view from our 8th floor room at the Plaza |
|
 | | Me and Debby in front of the library |
|
 | | One of my favorite views - 3rd floor where the books are |
|
 | | And our view after a little snow fell |
|
 | | Pam & me in front of the library |
|
|
 | | Proof that I did attend a class |
|
 | | At the Mayflower booth with Ali Golon, Mayflower Historian General |
|
 | | Found this in a book and it is said to be a drawing of Ron's 1C5x removed-Bathsheba Day Hall |
|
 |
| Me, Debby and Pam on our last night before we all head in different directions |
Here
are my honest takeaways pro and con, comparing pre Covid Rootstech to post
Covid.
- The
location is still very nice and accommodates us well.
- The
time and effort that goes into preparing such a large conference is commendable
and appreciated.
- The
design of the Exhibit Hall is beautiful and different every year.
- Many
of our frequent speakers don’t show up in person any more and I miss them.
- We used to get a nice bag with some
bling in it when we got our badges
and now we don’t.
- The
Exhibit Hall isn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be. There just aren’t the small companies in the
booths selling various fun genealogy items.
- The food offered in the exhibit hall has LONG lines and they
could use a few more vendors.
I will be back again…………………….see you in 2026
I’d
love to hear your thoughts about your time at Rootstech.
Happy Hunting,
Michigan Girl
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2010-2025 Diane Gould Hall
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