RootsTech and Me

A year ago I was in Las Vegas celebrating my husband's birthday wishing I was attending the first RootsTech convention. This year Chuck celebrated his birthday with his parents and I went to RootsTech.

From the opening session  to the last session I was learning about new software, research sites and techniques to try when I got home. It was great to meet folks I had only 'talked' to via Blogs and Twitter. Genealogists often have a hard time talking to 'regular' folks so it was great being with others who 'search for dead people'.

It was also cool sitting in sessions participating in the live Twitter feed. I have complained about learning to type on my iPhone but after three days of tweeting at RootsTech I've gotten pretty good. And, if you did not have a Twitter account there were monitors set up all around the conference so everyone could follow what we were tweeting.

I had hoped to meet Amy Coffin, a professional genealogist and blogger. I follow her blog - The We Tree Genealogy Blog and also follw her on Twitter. She was as nice as I expected and quite modest. I had not realized that she had published an electronic book on blogging last month! If you are considering starting a blog be sure to check out The Big Genealogy Blog Book.

It was also great to be so near the Family History Center. While I didn't break any brick walls down, it was great to have the actual county books to look at instead of asking someone else to do the lookup. Salt Lake City is easy to navigate and everyone at the Salt Palace and at the Family History Library are helpful and friendly. If you have not visited there try to at some time, you will not regret it.

In the next weeks I will be writing about things I learned or about questions folks asked me.

If you want to get a feel for what RootsTech is all about you can view the presentations online and download either all or individual copies of the Syllabi. It will be worth your time.

Take Care,

Pattie