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RootsTech Day 1 Recap - Lobsters and AI

The first day of RootsTech 2025 is in the can. And what a day it was! 

I started the day off bright and early with a breakfast from Storied. We learned about the new features for NewspaperArchive, new collections coming soon, and the features of StoryBook Studio. Attendees can receive a free product activation code at their booth; virtual attendees receive a 50% discount code with promo code ROOTSBOOK.  

You may be wondering why lobsters and AI is in my sub-title. The opening session included a short talk by the President and CEO of FamilySearch, Steve Rockwood. He related a story about how one of his direct paternal ancestors thought of raising lobsters and other seafood in the Great Salt Lake. It didn't go well but imagine if it did. We would be sitting around eating Rockwood lobster rolls. He likened his ancestor's lobster business as being a type of genealogical prize, finding your lobster in the sea of records. A lobster came down from a drone, and then several streamer cannons went up with big fanfare, releasing several streamers across the room. It was quite the memorable surprise! 

Ancestry was the sponsor for today. Crista Cowan, the Barefoot Genealogist, talked about how she would write her obituary. She then introduced Ancestry's Networks tool to go beyond our direct family members and add our FAN Club including military comrades, associates, and more. We had a brief video message from singer and songwriter Rachel Platten. She was unable to attend in person but recorded her video with her song "Girls." We did have a life performance of a father-daughter duo, the Shaws. They had beautiful voices and good storytelling. 

I attended three lectures today, one on the Ancient DNA historical matches for 23andMe, my colleague David's Scottish genealogy talk, and one from my friend Claire Bradley on a crash course in Irish genealogy (always good to get a perspective from someone who lives in Ireland - I learned a few good tips). 

Today, I also conducted my first group media interview with Michelle Barber, Senior User Experience Designer at FamilySearch. We asked our questions related to the FamilySearch full-text search tool, which has over 1.2 billion images from 29 countries. There is more of a focus on underserved areas and communities around the world. It's going to get better and better with each iteration. I asked a few questions about metadata. I will try to edit my video interview and post in the next few days. 

I gave my first live broadcast (ever) at RootsTech. It was a live webinar I gave from one of the conference rooms in the Salt Palace. We had a minor glitch. Overall, it went well and had nearly 150 people tuned in for my talk "Escaping the Famine: Irish Settlement in Canada."

I've only just started to explode the Expo Hall. I also tried out one of the FamilySearch tree swings.  I tried the VR Experience area to use the Wander app to go to different ancestral locations, including Riga, Latvia, and Prince Edward Island. 

Tomorrow, I start bright and early with an 8 AM talk "Using Tax Records in Your Family History Research." If you're at RootsTech, it's in Room 155 EF.

What was your favorite part of Day 1 at RootsTech?

Comments

  1. CferraMarch 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM

    I would so use the VR gear. Though, I have had issues using my nephew's headset. Would be cool though!

    ReplyDelete

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