RootsTech

#NotAtRootsTech

Are you ‘attending’ virtual RootsTech? Or, are you one of the lucky ones in Salt Lake! Either way, I’m sure you will agree that yesterday’s sessions were fantastic!

Even though choices of sessions caused me to miss some of the major announcements, other bloggers came thru and shared those announcements. One of those I missed was FamilySearch’s announcement about their Experimental Search. This is also one of the announcements I expected. Michael John Neill posted a tip about this feature last July and I shared my experiences in my Experimental Search post. Shortly after my post, the feature was no longer public. While one could apply to be a ‘beta tester’, I was never selected. However, I did have about an hour long video interview with the developers where they showed me what they were working on and asked my opinions about the tool and the features. What I saw at that time made me hope that this tool would again be public. And it now is!

Special thanks to Teresa Ghee Elliott for sharing the blog post, Game Changer, by Judy G. Russell and to Amy Johnson Crowe for her Big News from RootsTech day 1! video.

Another announcement that I missed was by Ancestry about their new DNA tools. Thankfully, Randy Seaver shared this announcement on Facebook.

Some of these new tools likely require a Pro Tools subscription. However, these new tools might just entice me to utilize those Pro Tools.

My Thursday schedule had several sessions selected for many of the time slots. As I have time, I’m trying to go back and watch other sessions. So far, I’ve watched the following sessions:

• Where Did You Find that? Effective Searches on FamilySearch.org by Debbie Gurtler
• Fixing Sticky Problems in FailySearch Family Tree by Kathryn Grant
• You Can DO the DNA #1 – Get Started (or Restarted) by DIahan Southard
• General Session 1: Henry Cho
• What’s New at Ncestry in 2024 by Crista Cowan
• Genealogy’s Secret Weapon: How mtDNA Can SOlve Family Mysteries by Katy Rowe-Schurwanz
• Brick Wall Ancestors Need a Search Party

While all of the sessions were great, my favorite has to be the Brick Wall Ancestors Need a Search Party by Janet Hovorka, Diahan Southard and Crista Cowan. (FamilySearch login likely required to view session.) Their ‘Search Party’ process includes the following:

• Spotlight
• Clues
• Sift
• Map
• Dig

Even with technical difficulties affecting today’s schedule, RootsTech provides lots of FREE learning opportunities from home.