RootsTech

As an Ambassador we were given the opportunity to have a tour of the new Discovery Center in the Family History Library. It is located on the main floor as you walk in the door. You can’t miss it.

 

 

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Discovery Center so just picked up my iPad from the desk and jumped in. You had to sign in using your FamilySearch account or an email address. I couldn’t remember my password so just signed in with an email address. You also took a selfie with the iPad so your image was on the front page. There were people to help you at each station.

 

 

When we arrived at the first display we attached our iPads and started exploring. You add in your name, year of birth and some timeline information is on the screen. You can learn the meaning of your first and last name and how many people have those names in the United States. There are 521,774 Ruth’s but only 231,608 Blair’s in the United States. I found out the top television shows were the Flintstones and the Andy Griffith Show. The top movie was the Apartment with Jack Lemmon, Fred McMurray and Shirley MacLaine. A first class US stamp cost 4 cents and a US gallon of gas was 31 cents.

 

 

 

 

 

The next station was Picture My Heritage. Here you could have your picture taken in the dress of your ancestor’s country of origin. This was a little difficult because you used hand movements to get the options on the screen to work.

 

 

The Record Our Story rooms were very interesting. Here you can record your life story as a single person, couple or family. There are larger rooms for families. You sit down and touch the screen to start the process. You can start talking or answer questions. I chose to answer questions and they were thought provoking. All this was being recorded on my iPad as it was docked at each station I visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a section where you could select a relative and find out more about the times they lived in. I didn’t have my tree there so I picked an ancestor and added some information. Across the bottom are images of the Temple and the world. The Temple will provide an LDS timeline and the world is a general timeline. Part of Jane’s timeline was the first use of insulin on a patient by Frederick Banting and Charles Best. Disposable diapers were invented when Jane was 75 years old.

 

The next section was picking a place or origin for your ancestor and having your picture taken with it in the background. So I chose an Irish background and they had a lovely thatched cottage for my picture.

 

 

The last section was finding out who your famous relatives were and since I didn’t have a tree on FamilySearch this wasn’t available to me. I did watch my friends doing it and they were having a great time. Some even found they were distant cousins to each other.

This is the image you would get if you had a tree on FamilySearch.

 

 

When you are finished you hand back the iPad. I thought since I had used an email to sign in with that I would get the pictures and recordings I had done but that was not the case. Only those who signed in with their FamilySearch account got the images and recordings. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get them but was glad I had taken a few pictures along the way.

This was great fun and it wasn’t just the children in the area who were really enjoying themselves, the adults were having just as much fun.

 

© 2017 Blair Archival Research – All Rights Reserved

These cards were part of the gifts we received at the FamilySearch media dinner on Tuesday night at RootsTech. They are a great idea.’

 

 

 

They have questions written on both sides of the card and by answering these questions you begin writing your personal story.

The question may be something simple like “What is your occupation?” You can answer simply or you can expand on it and it leads you to think about other jobs you have had. There are quite a few of us who have had several occupations during our working career.

 

 

Then there is the question “Do you remember how your elementary school smelled? Or where your desk was in 3^rd grade? Share some school memories.” This will end up going beyond elementary school. It could even lead to you digging out some old school pictures and report cards that will bring back more memories.

 

These questions are just the start. “What do you look forward to every summer? People, places, things, events, food, hobbies, traditions?” This will be different for all of us. It could involve your family and extended family and lead to talking to cousins, aunts and uncles to find out more. Each of us will have a slightly different memory of the same event.

These small cards with questions on them can lead you down memory lane and to new adventures.

© 2017 Blair Archival Research – All Rights Reserved

The Expo Hall was huge! I am still not sure I covered the entire breadth of it during the conference. As an Ambassador we got to go into the Expo Hall for a tour before the Keynote Sessions on Thursday. The Expo Hall was still under construction and they only had a few hours left but when 10 o’clock rolled around they were ready to open!

 

 

It was nice to see the Expo Hall before the people arrived. It allowed for an uninterrupted view of the space. We didn’t get to spend long but were able to take some pictures. There were some lovely displays.

 

 

The Sponsors were all front and centre. You had Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage and of course FamilySearch. FamilySearch had booths throughout the Expo Hall. The front booths were the ones that had seating and talks about using the websites. They were always busy. Ancestry had a big sale on DNA kits and you saw a lot of folks wandering around with large bags filled with kits. I would think there are a lot of requests going out right now to family members to take a test. Mine have done theirs and I have received notification that they have been received by Ancestry. Now we wait. Cue the Final Jeopardy theme.

 

 

 

FamilySearch had different booths around the Expo Hall. A unique one was the “We Hear You” booth. There was a car and you got into it and recorded a story or whatever you wanted. The theme was “the best conversations happen in the car.” It was a unique way to get people to share information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Call My Relative was another FamilySearch booth. Here you could record a quick conversation with a loved one. I never found out if it was for anywhere in the world but you went into a green call box to make the call.

 

 

Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems booth was all set up and ready for the demos. You didn’t have to be an attendee as Lisa streamed most of them live via Periscope. You can watch some of them on her website.

 

 

The Demo Theatre is a great place to sit down and rest your feet while learning something new. Even better if you could get one of the comfy seats. There were a wide variety of speakers promoting their products during the conference.

 

 

They brought a little bit of the Antiques Roadshow to RootsTech. You could bring a family heirloom or photo and have an expert look at it.

 

 

This was a wonderful display set up by Kindex the winner of the People’s Choice in the Innovators Showdown. Rescue your records!

 

 

There were small and large booths around the expo hall.

 

This was the display for Pictures & Stories Inc. They will help you create a book of your life. It made me think of the big red book they used on the television show This is Your Life. This was a stop for many photographs and selfies.

 

 

The world’s largest genealogy chart was on display and attracted a lot of attention. It was in an area where you could have your genealogy chart printed off.

 

The Expo Hall was usually busy. You had to pick your times to speak to vendors. Family Discovery Day, Saturday, was the busiest.

 

 

I am not sure I made it all the way around the Expo Hall but I did meet a lot of vendors and learned something new so that is a good thing. The Expo Hall is something you need to go around several times a day to make sure you have covered it. I would take different turns out of the media hub to make sure I covered as much as I could. The Innovator Alley was interesting as all the entrants had booths where they were explaining their ideas. While in this area I also found WordPress which is a format a lot of bloggers use, me included, and it was nice to get the chance to talk to someone about the software.

 

 

The Expo Hall is something I plan out every time I have gone to RootsTech or any conference for that matter. I go through the RootsTech app and read the vendor descriptions. I star the familiar ones I want to visit first. Then I go back and learn more about the other vendors and choose the ones I want to visit. It was fun and everyone was having a good time.

 

© 2017 Blair Archival Research – All Rights Reserved