Friday was another early start and the Keynote Speaker was Scott Hamilton the Olympic Medalist Figure Skater. His story was so inspiring and heartfelt. He was adopted and hadn’t looked into his own eyes until he saw his new born son for the first time. This was someone from his blood and connected to him. He has the place in tears.
I got the opportunity to interview him at the Media Hub and asked him when you are competing do you get friendly with the other competitors and I particularly asked about Brian Orser and Kurt Browning who were Canadian Olympic figure skaters at the same time he was. He said he is still in touch with them and that Brian was going to visit him and help him with some coaching. It is nice to think that they stay in touch.
You can watch his Keynote and the live streamed sessions here.
This Keynote was sponsored by Findmypast who gave us an update on their website and introduced us to their new CEO Tamsin Todd. Findmypast is the largest database of English and Irish records.
Today I got to attend one session called Organizing Genealogy Research Using Archival Ideas and it was a very interesting session. She gave us a link to a free ebook download that was only good for Friday. I had my iPad with me and thought I had downloaded it but it didn’t take so when I got home on Sunday I couldn’t access the ebook anymore. It would have been nice if she had provided a link for the attendees to use when they got home. Or a coupon code that attendees could use to download it for free anytime.
The lab today was Story Telling for Posterity with Podcasting. I was a little disappointed because I thought we might get more hands on experience and more details about the equipment required to do podcasting. Still I did learn some new things and that is always a good thing.
The other session I attended was Video Stories: Free, Easy and Awesome New Video Tools You’ll Love. This isn’t something I have done before and it sounded like a great idea. The lecture was fun and informative. Something to add to my to-do-list!
Friday night the Expo Hall was open until 7 pm and after that I went to dinner with some friends and then on to the MyHeritage After Party which had a 1920s theme this year. We got there a little late but the band was terrific and there were people there teaching you some dance moves to the music. The MyHeritage After Party is always good fun.
We are now nearing the end of RootsTech. One more day to go.
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