RootsTech Day 1 Roundup

So much to do, so little time to do it even when you attend virtually

Today was the first day of the RootsTech Conference. I am attending virtually.

I set up my schedule in advance, so I’d be ready. I like to see some things live. It’s impossible to see everything I want in 3 days.

My day 1 schedule included 13 sessions.

As you can see, several were at the same time. Since I’m not a time traveler, I prioritized watching what was happening when I was available. The rest I’ll catch up on at bedtime or after the conference.

Today I watched:

AI and Family History: Help or Hype? with Andrew Redfern
I always enjoy Andrew’s presentations. He explains AI in ways that work for me. This presentation gave some practical uses for AI in genealogy as well as showing ways it is not so helpful. This was a best practices kind of thing.

Delving Deeper into Your Family History: What’s New at FindMyPast with Jen Baldwin
This session covered some of the new offerings at FindMyPast. I was especially interested in the announcement of their new podcast where they are going to tie the stories of regular folks with the events of their day. I’m looking forward to it.

Great Uncle Bill in India: An Overview of British India Records with Karen de Bruyne
I’ve come across a few relatives who went to India. One of my distant cousins married a future governor of the Punjab. This was a helpful overview of the records available online and off. I hadn’t even heard of some of the websites presented, so I’ve got a lot of exploring to do.

Poor, Proper, or Pragmatic: Victorian Burial and Identity with Dr. Michala Hulme
This was a really informative look at cemeteries and public graves. It gave a lot of information on how migration patterns and populations growth impacted cemeteries and burial practices in England.

Social and Civic Clubs: Discovering Your Ancestors Community Involvement with Melissa Barker
This is an area of genealogy I haven’t explored much. I have seen the various clubs listed in obituaries but haven’t explored them behind finding out their purpose. This was a introduction into the types of groups there were and how to find the records.

What’s New at Ancestry with Crista Cowan
This session covered some of the new offerings at Ancestry.com. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed this year. Some of the things mentioned like the Ideas button I’ve had for some time. We did learn that the Ancestry Tree person profiles will be getting a new look.

I also took a glance at the Expo Hall. I didn’t spend too much time there, but will probably go back.

My Relatives at RootsTech list keeps growing. 605 and counting. I saw someone else had 48,000. Yikes!

I have written 3 of my cousins from Relatives at RootsTech. Fingers crossed I’ll get responses.

One last thing. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page for any session you watch to see the handouts. They are downloadable so you can save them to your device.

And that’s my day one roundup. Can’t wait to check out Friday’s sessions!