RootsTech London Next Week

Will You Be There?

I have not posted for a while but wanted to update any of you who are still "sitting on the fence" about attending.

I also want to be sure that those who are coming or who are too far away to attend in person know more about what is going on and what they can see on the live stream. 

Here are the keynote speakers and the entertainment for the Friday evening.  

You can find the various passes on this page including free access to the exhibition hall  

You can find the free livestream schedule at this page

You can also purchase a Premium virtual pass and see what it includes


As well as the big companies there will be local family history societies in the exhibition hall. I am a member of a few.  
Hampshire Genealogical Society will be there launching their updated website.
They told me that the website is now much easier to navigate and has a search function that helps you find information, this includes both the Research Centre catalogue and online shop which offers the Hampshire Village Booklet range.
For HGS members, online databases include Home Guard Names in the Hampshire Record Office, Monumental Inscriptions – Small Churchyards andMuster Roll of the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment.To mark the launch they're adding the Wills Beneficiary Index.
All their information is compiled from work done by the volunteers over the last 45 years. There are many more indexes and datasets to come!

Looking forward to meeting friends and making new ones.

Don't forget to download the app

The maps of the ExCeL venue and of the exhibition hall are now loaded into the app. You'll see an icon that says 'Map' and that's where these PDFs are located.

Keynote Speakers RootsTech London

We know that Donny Osmond is going to be the keynote on Saturday but who else is coming to keynote on Thursday and Friday?

So who do we have here Dan Snow, Steve Rockwood, Nick Barratt and Donny Osmond.

You can read more about them all here

The Winner of my RootsTech London 3 day pass Draw is.....

I am pleased to announce that my winner of a 3-day pass for RootsTech London is Rosemary McKenzie.

She will be visiting from Australia and loves RootsTech in SLC, USA and now wants to see how it's done in London.

I know there is quite a contingent coming from Australia and Rosemary tells me she will announce that she has won on the Downunder Genies at RootsTech 
London FB page.

RootsTech London 3 day pass Draw

Could you be a winner

Enter now for the chance to win a RootsTech London 3 day registration.

The first time I went to RootsTech in Salt Lake City I was lucky enough to be a winner and had my registration refunded. So whether you have already registered or are planning on registering it is well worth entering.

I went to Diahan Southard's presentation in 2018 and she is coming from the United States to present in London (it is her in the photo).

To see what she is presenting and the current list of presentations check out this page.

Donny Osmond was a great speaker at RootsTech in 2015 (I was lucky enough to be in the audience) and I am sure he will go down well with those old enough to remember him in the UK. Does that include you?

To enter the draw for the 3-day pass please complete this form.

Please note that the information collected for this will be retained until the draw has taken place in August. The winner will be announced both on this blog and on the Mondays with Myrt webinar. 

Closing date for entries is 00:00 GMT/UTC Monday 5th August 2019 any entries after this will not be entered into the draw.

I may use your comments in later blog posts about RootsTech or when announcing the winner. Personal details such as email addresses will not be shared and will only be used for notifying the winner. 

Yes! Another Chance to win a free RootsTech pass

As a RootsTech 2018 Ambassador, I can give away ONE complimentary RootsTech 2018 4-day pass ($279 value). If you win and have already registered for the conference, your registration fee will be refunded.

The conference will take place in Salt Lake City from 28 February to 3 March. The pass gives access to

Over 300 classes

Keynote / General sessions

RootsTech classes

Innovation Showcase

Expo hall

Evening events



This 4-Day Pass DOES NOT include airfare, hotel or the coverage of any other expenses.

To be in with a chance of winning, and in keeping with the theme of the conference, please complete this form. It includes a space to add a short paragraph, (it need only be a sentence), saying in your own words, how genealogy can make you feel more connected, and that you belong.

Please be aware that I may quote you (with attribution) in future posts about RootsTech 2018.

Good Luck.

I myself won a registration 3 years ago and was so glad that I entered and made the trip.

All entries received by the closing date of 12 noon, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Monday 6th of November, will go into a draw and one lucky person will win the RootsTech pass.



The winner will be notified by email by Thursday 9th of November at the latest. One entry per person.

Disclaimer: As a Rootstech Ambassador I receive complimentary admission to the event, invitations to some extra events and dinners and a free registration to give to one of my readers. I bear the cost of my return airfares from Wales and pay for my accommodation and meals.

With the GDPR regulations coming in to force later this month I have deleted all information which was collected for this competition other than any personal emails I sent to the winner. This includes any email addresses submitted. 9 May 2018.

Family Stories Getting Our Family to Engage

I have been watching the livestreaming from Rootstech at http://www.rootstech.org/ and in this post I will discuss the main points I have gleaned from the first day Thursday 21st March 2013.

ThursdayPresented by findmypast.com
8:30 AMKeynote – Dennis Brimhall, Syd Lieberman, Josh Taylor
11:00 AMThe Future of Genealogy - Thomas MacEntee and pane
l1:45 PMTell it Again (Story@Home) - Kim Weitkamp
3:00 PMThe Genealogists Gadget Bag - Jill Ball and pane
l4:15 PMFinding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web - James Tanner

The message from the morning sessions can be summed up for me with the following phrases.

How do we get the younger generations involved more.

What are we leaving for our descendants of our lives.

Storytelling brings others into your world and helps engage those who may think family history/genealogy is boring.

We need to use technology to get our messages across.

Do we need technology designed for genealogy? 

Surely social media should be treated as modern day letters and we should be saving our tweets and facebook posts?

We need to think what our descendants want to know about us.
There are plenty of official records but are these enough.
Will our descendants have access to official records and what will these records say about us.
The future of genealogy is in our hands.
We need to make the right choices.
Do you want someone to be interested in what you have done, if so how are you going to get them to pick up that book, look at that photograph or document, listen to that story and visualise that moment in time and how that person may have felt, where they were and what living conditions were like.
With the information we have in our records and on the internet we need to paint a picture to Tell Our Story to engage Our Family.

If you have not managed to see the presentation by Lisa Louise Cooke  on using Google Earth I would recommend you try and catch up with her DVDs as I believe this is a great way to visualise your heritage and it can be updated.

Also have a look at the article in the April 2013 edition of the Who Do You Think You Are magazine discussing a world tree.

Above all we need to SHARE if we want to GROW.