The Final Rootstech Interview - in which the tables are turned

With the Sistas in Zion at Rootstech

It seems like eons ago that I was in Salt Lake City for the Rootstech Conference. While I was there I had an opportunity to interview, in a proper television studio, people from the world of genealogy. I posted most of these videos on my Youtube Channel as I was travelling. Then I boarded a cruise ship where the connection was not good enough to allow  me to post the last interview. Now I am home after an eight week holiday I am posting that last interview.


This  is quite different from the rest  of my Rootstech interviews as in it I take on the role of interviewee and am questioned by the delightful and lively Sistas in Zion, Sista Beehive and Sista Laurel.

A Dear Mate- DearMyrtle

It was more of a gigglefest than an interview.

When there was a quiet time in the video studio on the Friday at Rootstech Rob Goates, Familysearch guy and video studio gatekeeper, asked if I had someone to interview. Across the media hub I spotted my mate, Pat Richley-Ericson, aka DearMyrtle, a potential interviewee. Gracious lady that she is Myrt immediately agreed to an impromptu interview.

After seeing this interview those readers who have not met one of my favourite geneabloggers, Myrt, in person will appreciate what a sweet and generous lady she is.

I got to meet Simon Orde at Rootstech

Last year I changed genealogy software packages. After using one program for a dozen years I moved over to the Family Historian package because there were so many things I liked about the program and people whom I respect were users of the product.   When I was perusing the list of vendors who were to be exhibiting at Rootstech I got very excited when I saw that Simon Orde, developer of the Family Historian package was crossing the Atlantic to have a booth in the Expo Hall at Rootstech. I think that any genealogy vendor who is serious about their product should make an effort to come to Rootstech and Simon did just that.

I really wanted to meet the man behind my software package so I emailed Simon and asked him for an interview. I am so pleased that he took some time away from his booth at Rootstech to have a chat. I'm sure that other users of Family Historian (including the people in my user group at Wyong, NSW) would love to have an opportunity to meet the man behind Family Historian  Being an Official Blogger at Rootstech gave me an opportunity to let you see via video my meeting with Simon.




You may also be interested in seeing the interview I recorded with Darrin Lythgoe in 2012. Darrin is the developer of TNG, The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, that I use to publish my family tree on the web.

A Queenslander at Rootstech

My mate Margaret Doherty from the Sunshine State, Queensland, and her husband Geoff travelled to Salt Lake City for the Rootstech Conference last month.

I had not made a time to interview Margaret but she happened to swing by the Media Hub to say G'day when there was a 5 minute spot in the video studio available for an interview. Now Margaret, President of the Genealogical Society of Queensland is a good sport, so she agreed to a short interview with me.

We had great fun in this informal chat. Please take a look to find out why Margaret travelled to Salt Lake City and to hear about the Society she leads.

Jyl Pattee

When I was offered a chance to interview Jyl Pattee from Mom it Forward at Rootstech I had to admit that I had slept in and missed Jyl's keynote on Friday morning. My arm didn't have to be twisted too far to take up the opportunity to interview Jyl.

Following is that interview.

Audrey at Rootstech

In a blog post on March 8 I asked my readers for suggestions of people to interview at Rootstech I only got one specific suggestion from Jenny who said "You should interview Audrey Collins - since you know her you will be able to relax and should be able to get a good interview!" 

Not wanting to disappoint I emailed my mate Audrey asking for an interview and, as I knew she would, Audrey agreed. We got together on the second day of Rootstech to have our on-air chat. Those Australians who went to Audrey's talks on her 2012 Australian tour will be interested to hear how Audrey became involved in genealogy and landed her "Dream job" at The National Archives in Kew.

I have been uploading my Rootstech videos and scheduling blog posts relating to them to appear every few days so some savvy people have already found the following video on Youtube, viewed it and mentioned it on social media.

Those who haven't yet seen it and those who don't know Audrey you may wish to watch the following clip and meet my mate Audrey.

Alona at Rootstech

One of the Australian contingent at Rootstech was young Australian geneablogger, Alona Tester, author of the Lonetester blog.

In this interview Alona told me how she came to blogging and about the three blogs she writes. I had a fun time interviewing Alona, one of the fresh young faces of geneablogging.

Youth at Rootstech

In his address to the Official Bloggers at their pre Rootstech dinner Familysearch CEO, Dennis Brimhall, emphasised the need to get young people interested and involved in family history. To that end the Rootstech organisers nominated Day 3 of Rootstech as a youth day.

Nearly 2,000 young people aged between 12 and 18 registered to come along to the conference on Saturday. My mate DearMyrtle was so proud to have some of her grandchildren visit, I saw a mob of youngsters in Scout uniforms wandering around and observed Paul Nauta nattering with a group of teens in the media hub. The average age of Rootstech attendees plummeted on Saturday.

Proud Grandmother DearMyrtlewith her granddaughter

I had met a young man, Eli, earlier in the week and was pleased to see that he had come along for the Saturday activities. I asked Eli and his Dad if I could conduct a video interview with Eli and I was thrilled to be able to have a quick chat with hin. You will be as impressed as I was with this confident and eloquent 13 year old genealogist. Please take a look at my interview with Eli.

A Steinway at Rootstech

Thank goodness that I didn't ignore my alarm yesterday morning.

I dragged myself out of bed, conducted my ablutions, had a quick brekkie with a group of genealogists from rural Alberta, Canada and moseyed through the snow to the entrance of the Salt Palace, site of Rootstech 2013. Arriving early I was able to get an aisle seat with a great view towards the back of the main hall. While I waited for the keynote presentation from David Pogue I fired up my tablet and checked my social media accounts.

Shipley Munson, Director of Marketing for Familysearch, introduced David, the first keynote speaker for the morning.  I was looking forward to hearing David because I have followed his blog and tweets for a couple of years. What I didn't know was that David was a talented, engaging and humorous presenter who has many strings to his bow.

David's talk was amusing, inspiring and instructive; during the course of his presentation complimentary tweets were flying around the twitterverse. As a finale to his presentation David sat at the grand piano and performed a couple of parodies on the Steinway; the audience was agog. It was such a masterful performance that the audience rose to give David a standing ovation.

I was on a high when I returned to the media hub to drop off my gear and prepare for a day of networking and classes. I was discussing my video times with a Rootstech organiser when he said "Jill, you've got 15 minutes with David Pogue".

PANIC STATIONS - I wasn't prepared for an interview, I hadn't done any homework on the subject but I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity so I introduced myself,  ushered David into the video studio and set sail. Thanks to David for being such a charming and gracious interviewee. You can view the interview below.

Aussies at Rootstech

I was thrilled to have company from home at Rootstech this year. Mr Geniaus and I finished our time at Rootstech tonight with a quiet dinner with Margaret and Geoff Doherty from Queensland .

Margaret is the President of the Genealogical Society of Queensland while Geoff has an interest in social history and interesting stories of quirky forbears.  Next stop for the Dohertys is Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada where Geoff will present a talk at the local Genealogy Society. I was fortunate in being able to conduct a video interview with Margaret while at Rootstech that I will post to this blog in the coming days.

Of the dozen or so interviews I conducted at Rootstech I will tonight share below one recorded with Alan Phillips and Alona Tester from Unlock the Past  in which they talk about their companies, why they travelled to Rootstech and about the exciting program of geneacruising they have planned for the next three years.

Sessions at Rootstech

My experience at Rootstech this year is so different from that of previous years. I feel that I am just hitting my straps as an Official Blogger and, as a consequence, I am spending more time meeting, talking to and interviewing people. I think I will surpass the goal I have set of meeting 67 (1/100th) of the attendees here this year.

I think I have conducted more video interviews than any other Official Blogger except perhaps for DearMyrtle (Pat Richley-Ericson). I feel that I have learnt as much from interviewing a diverse range of Aussies, Brits and Americans as I would have in attending formal sessions.

Interviewing Familysearch CEO, Dennis Brimhall was a high spot today. How many ordinary genealogists have the opportunity the interview such an important member of the genealogy community?
 

My interview with Familysearch CEO Dennis Brimhall

So I must admit my attendance at formal Rootstech classes has been minimal but my learning curve has been phenomenal.

My recorded interviews will appear on this blog in the coming weeks.

Hour by Hour

No time for a great narrative report on today's activity so I'll post a summary of a very exciting day in which I met a bunch of interesting people.

6:00 am  Leap out of bed to bathe and get ready for Rootstech. That white stuff falling out of the sky is snow - how exciting.

7:00 am  After breakfast with blogger Amy Coffin I gathered my gear and headed over to the Exhibition Hall for the Bloggers tour of the booths and facilities.

Bloggers on tour

8:00 am  I was lucky enough to score a middle second row seat in the Hall to see the Opening Keynotes. It was nice to see the official bloggers being recognised in the promo slides.

9:00 am  Dennis Brimhall, Familysearch CEO was sharing the organisation's vision for the future.

Dennis Brimhall

10:00 am  I was being inspired by D. Joshua Taylor's presentation.Still in the Keynote session I realised that I would be late for my first video interview with Alec Tritton and Else Churchill - we got started about 15 minutes late.

Else, Alec and myself

11:00 am Put my head down to go over my presentation for the afternoon.

12:00 pm  The wonderful Mr Geniaus brought me some lunch.

1:00 pm  My fellow panelists appeared during the past hour and we discussed the gadgets we would show in our session. While she was there I grabbed Heather Rojo for a video interview.

2:00 pm  A gentleman from Rootstech cornered me for a video interview.

3:00 pm  5, 4,3,2,1 Our panelists launched into our discussion The Genealogist's Gadget Bag

Jill Ball, Marie Dougan, Heather Rojo, A C Ivory

4:00 pm  A great sense of relief washed over me after our session. I sat in the Media Hub with a cool lemonade and chilled.

5:00 pm It was back to the video studio for more interviews; this time with Australians Alan Philips and Alona Tester from Unlock the Past.

6:00 pm Time to relax on my bed in the hotel and catch up with social media on my Tablet.

7:00 pm  A yummy fresh dinner with Mr Geniaus at the Blue Lemon Restaurant opposite Temple Square.

8:00 pm  A very special experience as Mr Geniaus and I joined a Behind the Scenes tour of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

9:00 pm  We joined other conference attendees for a special mini-concert by the Choir in the Tabernacle.

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert this evening

10:00 pm  Back to the hotel for an adult beverage before bed. We met up with a new and interesting couple from Dallas, Texas.

1:00 am  I am still sitting at the keyboard putting together this blog post

Official Blogger Dinner

It's late and I need my beauty sleep but before I hit the sack I am posting a random selection of photos from the Rootstech Official Bloggers Dinner tonight.

Thanks to the people at Familysearch for hosting this function and for giving us a sneak preview of new initiatives at Familysearch.

Honey butter for our bread rolls

The Buffet Line - I spy Renee Zamora (left)

My tablemates Official Bloggers Amy Coffin and DearMyrtle

Shipley Munson from Familysearch (He's also Tenor number 13 in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir)

Nancy Shively and I walked our dessert off going back to the hotel

Ben Bennett who shared  exciting news about Familysearch

Lisa-Louise Cook, Thomas MacEntee and their tablemate were interested in the news from Familysearch

Perhaps the new Familysearch landing page will look like this

The new Familysearch Logo

Rosemary Morgan and Randy Seaver  modelling the blogger beads sponsored by DearMyrtle

Remember Dan

Dan Poffenberger

Those who attended the Australian Genealogy Congress in Adelaide last March will remember Daniel Poffenberger from his presentations at the Conference.

While I was working in the library just now I saw this tall guy with a broad smile. When he came near I said "Are you Dan?" (his name badge was twisted around and I couldn't see the name on it).  Dan sat down and we had a great chat. Partway through a lightbulb went on in my head.

You see I had one video interview slot at Rootstech left to fill. I asked Dan if he would consent to an interview and he agreed. YAY! So after I interview him tomorrow you will be able to hear all about Dan's work as a genealogist in The Family History Library. I'll upload the video to YouTube and post a link here on the Geniaus blog.

Kiwis at Rootstech

Voices from a table near me in the Family History Library on Monday sounded strangely familiar amongst the mostly American accents in the room.

I wandered over and said g'day to this group of ladies who told me they are part of Jan Gow's tour group. Jan's regular genealogy tour this year is coinciding with the Rootstech Conference.

Members of Jan Gow's tour group at work in the Family History Library

On Tuesday I spotted Australian expat, Michelle Patient, a New Zealand resident who is President of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and geneablogging pal, Roger Moffat a proud Kiwi who lives in the US.

Michelle Patient and Roger Moffat

Together with the Australian contingent at Rootstech the New Zealanders make a formidable representation from downunder.

The Commonwealth of Nations meet in Salt Lake City

Well,  that could be stretching the truth a bit.

Tonight my small meet the Aussies dinner turned into a meetup for representatives of the British Empire or British Commonwealth as we know the Commonwealth of Nations.

Australians Jenny Joyce, Liz and Peter Pidgeon, Alan Phillips, Helen Smith, Alona Tester, Mr Geniaus and I were joined by New Zealander Roger Moffat and his wife Lisa, Scottish lass Marie Dougan and Audrey Collins who has one foot in the English camp and the other in the Scottish camp.

Thanks especially to those intrepid travellers who only arrived today in Salt Lake City for making the effort to dine with us.

The photos aren't as good as they could be because people kept on talking instead of posing for my pictures.

It was hard to get the group to keep still for a photo

Helen, Peter and Jenny

Marie and Mr Geniaus

Alona and Liz

I enjoyed bringing a group of my genimates together before we join the 6,000 other people who will be at the Conference from Thursday. We now at least all know about ten people among the crowd.

The More the Merrier

When I looked at the number of panelists on some the other Panel Sessions at Rootstech I started to worry. Some had twice as many participants as "The Genealogists Gadget Bag". I wondered if I should invite someone else but really couldn't make a decision. This has bothered me for a few weeks now.

I discussed this issue with Thomas MacEntee, Mr Geniaus and Lisa Alzo last night and they helped me make a decision to invite someone else. Heather Rojo's name was among the potential people that we discussed last night.

Fortuitously I met Heather Rojo and her husband Vincent in the Family History Library this morning and just knew that she would fit right in. Although I knew Heather online I did not realise what a bright and bubbly personality she had. I did not immediately ask Heather to join the panel but skirted around the issue by asking her if she enjoyed talking to people, got nervous speaking to crowds etc before I hit her with the question "Would you join my panel on Thursday at 3:00 pm? " I was delighted when Heather said "Yes".

Heather and Vincent Rojo

Thank you so much, Heather, for taking up this challenge at short notice; I really appreciate your involvement. With your positive attitude, experience in teaching and warm personality you are a super addition to the panel.

The wonders of sleep

Ten and a half hours sleep in a comfortable bed at The Radisson have done winders for this tired old girl.

 I am now revitalised and ready for a hectic week at Rootstech.

Melanie and Gloria from Wyoming

My genealogy day started in the elevator when  I met two delightful ladies from Wyoming, Melanie and Gloria who invited me to share breakfast with them.  It was evident from the snippets of other conversations I overheard that the breakfast room was populated with genies.

Why me?

Just before Christmas I received an email from the Rootstech organizers that said "Congratulations! Your RootsTech presentation “The Genealogist’s Gadget Bag “ has been identified as a session that we would like to stream live online on the RootsTech web site for those who are not able to physically attend the conference."

Of course I agreed, I was honoured and delighted. What a this was coup for Australia to have an ordinary citizen in this lineup! I informed my co-presenters,Marie and AC,  completed the Familysearch "Release to Record"  form, and asked my co-presenters to do the same. As the Rootstech people asked us to keep this secret we did. 

As the weeks went by and there was no more mention of livestreaming from the organizers I thought that our session had probably not made the cut. After all there is a huge group of very competent and inspiring speakers on the Rootstech program. Why would they select for livestreaming a little granny from downunder with a strange turn of phrase and an even stranger accent?

Then a couple of weeks ago Randy Seaver wrote in a blog post "While the live-streamed sessions have not been positively identified, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they will all be shown from Hall 1 (because that is where the Keynotes will be, and the live-streamed sessions were shown from Hall 1 the past two years)."  This put the cat amongst the pigeons as I knew that my session was to be in Hall 1 and if Randy was right in his predictions I was about to be thrown on the world's geneastage.  I have been nervously awaiting an announcement from Rootstech to see if I had really made the cut. 

Sometime after 11:00 pm (Australian time) last night the sessions to be livestreamed were announced on the Familysearch blog. I had a quick look at Facebook before I went to bed and there was a message from Spanish blogger, Sonia Meza, telling me that my session was to be livestreamed. When I woke this morning I found the Familysearch post and confirmed that my session will be livestreamed at 3:00pm (US Mountain Standard Time). As I read this post I felt my palms getting sweaty and a swarm of butterflies breeding in my stomach. The list of people to be livestreamed is rather impressive; those who are not able to make the real Rootstech Conference will be able to have a wonderful learning experience wherever they are.

I have trouble with timezones but I think that this will mean I will be on air on Friday 22 March at 8:00 am Sydney time. I used the Time and Date converter at http://www.timeanddate.com  to confirm this. You may wish to check it for your location. 

How will you access the livestream? The Familysearch blog post says "NOTE: A WEBCAST WINDOW WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE LISTED TO WATCH THE LIVE STREAM STARTING THURSDAY, THE OPENING DAY OF THE ROOTSTECH CONFERENCE." When I have more details I will share them on this blog.

So there you have it. I will be presenting to the world from Salt Lake City in one week's time. Now I had better turn my attention to packing my bag and organising my travel documents.

As I sit here feeling proud, honoured, nervous and stunned I am left wondering. 

WHY ME?

Simon Orde at Rootstech

I was excited to see on the Rootstech App that Calico Pie the company behind my genealogy software package, Family Historian, will be at Rootstech.

As a relatively new convert to Family Historian an opportunity to talk to representatives from Calico Pie is most attractive. I was wondering if it would be a North American representative on the stand or if someone from the UK would be making the trip to Salt Lake City. For an Australian to have an opportunity to speak in person with a software developer is fantastic.

This snippet from the Family Historian Bulletin that just hit my inbox has me jumping for joy.

Family Historian at RootsTech

The 3rd annual RootsTech conference is happening in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A., in March (21st to 23rd). We will be exhibiting there (booth 527). Simon Orde, chief program designer, will be on hand to answer questions and will give a presentation at 3pm on Friday 22nd March, in the Demo Theater .

I will definitely be in the queue at Booth 527 with my list of silly questions for Simon.