Ready for that RootsTech Ride Along?
With tens of thousands on site and millions online, sign up now and let's ride this bus together! Some things are just better done with a crew. A massive genealogy conference is one of them.
Family History is a Team Sport.
The FamilySearch RootsTech conference is coming up in less than a month now. This extraordinary annual conference is held at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah, from March 6 to 8,1 and extends online to include upwards of 5 million people worldwide.
This is a big deal. For background, here’s my earlier post:
I was looking for a way we might all collaborate in a hybrid onsite/remote way. Then it dawned on me: Let’s use Substack Live. We can do this! To make it work, though, we need to be connected through a subscription. So, if you aren’t already a member of
, kindly …
How We Might Collaborate at RootsTech
As I shared earlier, I could see the benefit of connecting the folks on-site with the remote “bunny-slipper brigade”2 following along from home. I proposed daily Substack Live sessions, if we could manage it, so that the folks at the show floor could readily connect with the remote crew.
With updates and a chance to chat, we can help each other with news updates, quick research, and pointers. Quick and easy. Like my Sunday Projectkin Live program, I’ll polish and share the recordings.
and I will capture and circulate those recordings across our multiple substacks. (Tip: It’s a little tricky.)Step 1: Register for RootsTech
So, to get this started, there are just two steps. First, if you haven’t already, please register for RootsTech:
Step 2: Tell me about yourself
I’ll ask everyone for their RootsTech registration name. This will allow you to use the show-wide chat to reach each other and I’ll make it available for Relatives at RootsTech. I’ll also ask how you’ll participate and a few questions about your interests.
That’s it for those participating remotely.
For those on-site, I’ll have a few more questions about your schedule to develop a Substack Live speaker schedule. Everyone will get a confirmation email with their answers.
It sounds fancy, but it isn’t really. It’s a Google Form, a schedule, and fun recordings that will be shared on Substack and social media.3
How this works with Substack
The idea is to leverage the subscription, Live, and video features of Substack to help us connect with each other as a community. While you don’t have to be a subscriber to
, or to complete the form, you will have to be to participate in the Substack Live sessions.You can’t watch a Substack Live session without being a subscriber one of these publications.
As a guest, your account name will be shared with viewers so they can meet you and subscribe to your publication with a click. This is a great way to meet new subscribers, and you can also cross-post the event recording to them.
I’ll be collaborating closely with
to ensure that both the live broadcast and the recordings are accessible to everyone for free. Have an idea to improve on this or simply a question? Great! Please drop me a note or leave a comment.All the fun of RootsTech with cousins & friends!
If you’re familiar with our sister stack, you may have noticed that the next Pacific Gathering for the Community was scheduled for the Tuesday before RootsTech, March 4th or 5th. I’m afraid we can’t do that with these live chat sessions happening.
Instead, my partner in this and I have agreed to push that out a week, so on one epic day, March 11th/12th, we’ll host two 90-minute sessions, one for the Atlantic region and a second for the Pacific region. We’ll talk about RootsTech and so much more!
About RootsTech from the Community
To help get you in the mood for RootsTech, here are some fantastic posts released recently by other Substackers tracking the conference. There are already far more of these posts than I can capture, but tap on explore and search for “RootsTech” — and be amazed:
From
Robin has produced an extraordinary list of playlists that started in her GenStack newsletter then expanded into a series of notes, and now it’s rolled into a single post. You won’t want to miss either the newsletter or her playlists.
From
From
From in her interview with
From
I can’t possibly keep up with them all, so here’s a nifty pre-configured Google search button for you to find the latest:
March 7-9 for those in Asia/Pac, of course.
We do need a name for the online crew. I’m open to suggestions.
Have a concern? Let me know. I might have missed something.
Thanks, @Barbara, for all your work in pulling this great idea together and making it happen! I'm so excited to be a part of it, getting to meet so many community friends IRL and sharing our experiences with the group!
I'll be attending a bunch of great presentations and talks that have some connection or benefit to the lost & found stories I tell, and can't wait to share what I learn.
Huge thanks to you for organising this Barbara. It will be a wonderful addition to our RootsTech experience