Calling Members of the Commonwealth at Rootstech 2020

For the past few years I have organised a very casual dinner for one of the minority groups attending the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City. Some of my genimates have been asking about this event - the Commonwealth Dinner - never fear planning is underway.

Unfortunately as I have a date with a surgeon I won't be at Rootstech in Salt Lake City this year. I can't buck tradition so the Commonwealth Dinner will go ahead. Thanks to English genimate and Rootstech Ambassador, Heather Nowlan who has volunteered to coordinate this year's event. 

We need your help to get the word out so have set up a Facebook Group for you and other Commonwealth Genies at Rootstech SLC 2020. Please join the group and tell your friends about it. It will give you a place to meet others online and ask your questions prior to the big event.

Once Rootstech gets underway there is little time to organise  a function.  If you are new to Rootstech this dinner will give you an opportunity to meet and chat with new and old friends.   

We are extending this invitation to you, The People of the (Former) British Commonwealth now the Commonwealth of Nations to join us for a casual dinner. Please feel free to bring along your partners, travelling companions etc.

Commonwealth folk please accept the following as your invitation. 

You are invited to a casual "People from the Commonwealth" get together 

at the 

Blue Lemon, 55 West South Temple Salt Lake City, UT 84111

from

6:00pm - 8:00pm on Monday 24 February 2020. 

RSVP Please leave a comment on this post or in our Facebook Group

As the restaurant closes at 9:00pm please arrive in plenty of time to dine and chat. We will gather at the rear of the restaurant so we won't cause too much disturbance to other patrons. After closing time new found friends may wish to adjourn to a neighbourhood establishment to continue their conversations.

 NB - Images on the left are of some attendees at the 2019 event in Salt Lake City

Rootstech Week 2019 - Commonwealth Dinner

I was thrilled when 31 folk from 7 (British) Commonwealth countries (including a few ringins) gathered in Salt Lake City for the Annual Commonwealth Dinner on Monday evening.

We Commonwealth chaps are a minority group at Rootstech so this gathering gives us a chance to reconnect with genimates and introduce first-timers to new friends before the madness that is Rootstech begins. From the number of conversations I witnessed and the feedback received I know that this was a very successful event. Thank you to all who joined us.

Following are some photos I snapped of those present. On reviewing the photos I realise that I missed taking pics of everyone present including yours truly. Take a look at the photos below to see how many of the genies you recognise, there are some BIG names in the group.

The Dance Card is Filling Up.

In just three weeks Mr GeniAus and I are setting off to the US for a bit of R&R in Seattle followed by the frenzy that is Rootstech in Salt Lake City.

I am keen to explore Seattle, a city we haven't previously visited, but am super excited for Rootstech. In the 8 years I have been a Rootstech Official Blogger and Ambassador I have been privileged to meet an interesting and motivated mob of family historians and I have managed to interview a few celebrities and ordinary folk like me.

This year we only have seven nights in Salt Lake City and my Dance Card is filling up.

Ready for Rootstech

My Rootstech week kicks off with DearMYRTLE's Mondays with Myrt webinar broadcast from the Family History Library. This program goes live most weeks at a time when I am tucked up in my bed in Australia so I relish the opportunity to pop in on DearMYRTLE and have a chat.

I haven't planned a Commonwealth Dinner (link to 2018 invitation) yet - but if there are no Ambassador obligations or clashes may organise one for the Monday evening. I think that Sharn White and I may be the only Ambassadors attending from Australia this year - I wonder if any other Aussies are making the pilgrimage.

On Tuesday there are two Ambassador events. The Media Dinner in the Salt Palace sets the scene for the whole conference and gives us another opportunity to meet Presenters, Sponsors, Ambassadors and Familysearch staff prior to the Big Event.

I have an early start on Wednesday with a breakfast invitation for 7:00am with the folk from Ancestry and then the first session of the conference is at the respectable hour of 9:30. I'll probably go to all the sessions this day as the Media Hub where I hang out doesn't open until Thursday. There is an Expo Hall Preview from 6:00 - 8:00pm.

On my radar for Thursday will be people to interview. I hope to gather at least another dozen or so  video clips for my YouTube Channel. I may need an early night after all my activity and I will want to catch up with Mr GeniAus.

Friday brings another hosted breakfast thanks to sponsors, MyHeritage. I will definitely not miss the keynote from Australian, Saroo Brierley Since seeing the movie (Lion) and reading the book (A long way home)  about his search for his birth family I have been impressed by the tenacity and drive of this young man. I hope that I get an opportunity to interview this fellow Australian in the media hub.

There are no dates in my calendar for Saturday so I will continue with interviews, chat with genimates and attend a few session on DNA. I am hoping to get together with old friends on Saturday evening. Several of my co-presenters at The Genealogy Show in Birmingham will be at Rootstech, I do hope we can manage to get together. 

Rootstech  always comes up with some surprises. I love hearing speakers who are new to me and the keynotes selected are usually motivating, interesting or entertaining.

I hope to fit in a bit of shopping during my time in Salt Lake City (I love US bargains)  but I'm not sure how I'll achieve it with such a busy Dance Card.

Geneamecca

On Saturday next, 15th September, I am giving my Salt Lake City - Geneamecca talk to the members of the Lake Macquarie Family History Group.

I will discuss my trips to Salt Lake City for the Rootstech Conferences and  talk about Salt Lake City and the wonderful opportunities there for genealogists. I'll also highlight a few non-genie benefits of a visit to Salt Lake City.

The people at Lake Macquarie Family History Group are very friendly and welcome visitors. You would be most welcome to drop by  Marmong Point Community Hall,31B George St, Marmong Point NSW 2284, at 11am on Saturday to hear what I have to say.

Back to sea level

Salt Lake City just takes me breath away. 

I didn't climb this set of stairs

Each year when I attend the Rootstech Conference I find myself short of breath. Salt Lake City has an average elevation of 4,327 feet(1,319 m) above sea level which is high for this old girl who lives by the sea. This year the elevation combined with the minus temperatures really hit me.

Although it is only a couple of hundred metres up the road from my hotel I only visited the Family History Library once, I only visited, Macys, my other US temple once as well. I was just too puffed to visit each of these a second time. 

Thankfully I had my asthma meds with me and was able to start a course of treatment that kept me awake and hopping.Thankfully my hotel was directly across the road from the Rootstech venue at the Salt Palace so I was able to get to the conference within a couple of minutes.  This year I didn't attend many classes as I didn't have the energy to walk the long distances or stand in long lines that these required. I spent most of my conference in the Media Hub with regular forays out into the Expo Hall.

As I was feeling poorly I only attended one keynote session in person. For these sessions the Ambassadors have to be in their reserved seats by 8am and, if one finds oneself behind a tall person (as I invariably do), it can be difficult to see the speaker on the stage. It has only taken me seven Rootstech Conferences to realise that I can set my alarm for 8:20am (thereby gaining an extra hour of valuable shuteye), watch the livestreamed keynotes while I dress and eat breakfast and actually see the whole presentation in comfort. Then when the session is over I wander over the Media Hub in time to interview the VIPs that are on the list for the day. Avoiding the crush of  people leaving the keynote sessions is a bonus.

The people that you meet

The people that I meet and the interview opportunities that I am given are the reasons that I keep coming back to Rootstech . One of  my goals is to be an Ambassador for Australia at Rootstech  and an Ambassador for Rootstech  for the people back home. It takes my breath away that I am given opportunities to share via Youtube my chats with  geneastars at Rootstech that my genimates would not otherwise meet.

Aussies at Rootstech

I can report that I am now back on sea level and breathing normally, I had no trouble walking a couple of kilometres through Sydney yesterday. 

Scenes from the Salt Palace - Rootstech Day -1

After a morning of rest I crossed the road to the Salt Palace to register for Rootstech. On my way to register I met many genimates and members of the Familysearch team from  previous Rootstech conferences. Loved seeing so many familiar faces in that sea of people.

The conference organisers had sent out a message that the first 4,000 to register for the event would get a special gift - from the size of the lines I think about 5,000 people took this opportunity. I was so grateful that as an Ambassador I got to register via an express line. I hear that it took some people over two hours to make their way through the queue.

While at the Salt Palace I took a few pics to give you a taste of the Rootstech venue.

The main entrance/exit

Play by the rules

A long queue

Nearing the end

Surprise for the first 4,000

What's on

 

This place is HUGE

Not quite ready

Abseilers at Rootstech

Registered at last- Main entrance

Geneachat

I blame the atmosphere in Salt Lake City for the scratchy throat I seem to suffer each time I visit  but perhaps it is because my vocal chords get a good workout while I am here.

Yesterday started with a breakfast date in the hotel with Jan Brandt, a genie from California, whom I  first met at Rootstech in 2012. Jan, a committed genie,  has very strong British roots as well as links to Australia so we had plenty to talk about. The time we spent together just flew - can't believe I missed an opportunity for a selfie. The pancakes I devoured were a nice change from the muesli bars and breakfast drink I usually have in my room.

Fluffy blueberry pancakes - I may treat myself to these again before I depart

As my mouse had died prior to leaving for Salt Lake I wandered up to the Microsoft shop and bought a new blue mouse. I didn't realise that it was a Bluetooth one until I unpacked it. The good news is that by having a bluetooth connection it frees up another USB port on my laptop. I bought a few things at Macy's but was disappointed to find that there wasn't much stock in my favourite fat ladies department.

Afternoon was nap time as my poor old body clock had fought sleep on the previous evening.

Highlight of my day was a dinner at Red Iguana 2, a Mexican restaurant with  some of my genimates. Our wonderful friends Roger and Lisa from Michigan collected Sharn White and I and ferried us to the restaurant. I particularly enjoyed meeting online genimates Ursula Krause and Dave Robison, in person for the first time. I won't bore you with details of our evening - the photos I am sharing below will tell the story. (Apologies for fuzzy photos - I exported them at too low a resolution - I have my L plates on in my new image management program).

Strawberry Daquiri

Red Iguana combination - I don't know what was in it but it tasted good

Dave and Karen Robison

Roger Moffatt and Ursula Krause

DearMYRTLE and Gordon

Roger and Lisa

Sharn, GeniAus and DearMYRTLE

The Snowy Day

In Ezra Jack Keats picture book "The Snowy Day"  that I read many times to my children, the main character, Peter, goes outside to enjoy the delights of new fallen snow.

Today I find myself preparing for the Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City where the snow has been falling steadily all day. When I announced on Facebook that I was going to stay in my hotel room all day one of my genimates commented "The hotel? When you could go to the Family History Library?"

Well I'm not Peter so I have stayed indoors and passed on the opportunities to play in the snow. Hopefully the weather will improve and I can visit the library tomorrow or next week. Thankfully I don't have many items on my lookup list this year.

From the hotel window

So what have I been playing at?

I have set up my calendar for the next week. I have dinners arranged for Saturday- Tuesday with various groups of genimates. I am interviewing some of the keynote speakers at Rootstech so I have done a bit of homework on them so that I don't appear like a complete ignoramus. So far I am interviewing the CEO of Familysearch, the CEO of Ancestry.com, Keynotes Scott Hamilton and Henry Louis Gates, some bods from Findmyast and Living DNA and CeCe Moore.   I'm also hoping to catch author Nathan Dylan Godwin and  DNA Painter hero Jonny Perl. 

I have written a couple of welcome posts for new members of the GeneabloggersTRIBE, filled out a survey (you can do it too) for the Rootstech people and responded to many social media messages.

I searched Amazon for the Whitelines notebook that my clever Genimate Shelley wrote about in her recent post and ordered one to try out at the conference.

Now I am going to indulge in some me research time and take a look at my hints on Ancestry.com. I don't accept these on face value. If they are from user submitted trees I don't pay much attention to them but if they relate to documents I look at them carefully, evaluate them and if they are a match that adds value to my tree I add the details to my own Family Historian database as well as my Ancestry tree. 

Perhaps I'll have some startling discoveries to share in the coming days.

I am pleased to have had a Snowy Day that has allowed me to indulge my geneaself. 

That's ice outside my wondow

Trove Tuesday - Recycling Salt Lake CIty

When I originally penned this post five years ago I was in Salt Lake City preparing for the Rootstech Conference. Today I am once again preparing for Rootstech  but my task is packing my bag for my annual pilgrmage to Rootstech  -  The Greatest Geneashow on earth.

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Trove Tuesday - Salt Lake City

Today finds me in Salt Lake City, Utah researching in theFamily History Library prior to the Rootstech Conference.

It was fitting then that my Trove Tuesday Post should centre on this city and genealogy. I put the search string "Salt Lake City" genealogy into a Trove newspaper search and was rewarded with   16 hits.

The article I have chosen to share comes from a 1947 edition of the Cairns Post: 1947 'MORMONS SEARCH WORLD FOR DATA.', Cairns Post(Qld. : 1909 - 1954), 20 December, p. 9, viewed 4 March, 2013, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article42556087. (you can read the whole article here)

The article states that the microfilmed records "may be examined by anyone interested" and that is what I am doing today sixty-six years after this article appeared in the newspaper in Cairns, Australia.

Just a haircut away

Rootstech has crept up on me this year. 

I find that it is now only 35 days (or one haircut away) until I board the Flying Kangaroo for my journey to the Geneamecca of Salt Lake City. Am I ready?

As a regular Rootstechie I have become a bit complacent about preparing for my journey. 

In January 2011 I wrote "I've dived into the bowels of my dressing shed (aka wardrobe) and retrieved the overseas winter clothes that are too warm to wear in Australia. I've a thick padded jacket,a pair of comfy warm walking boots, hats, gloves, scarves and some thermal underwear. Hopefully I will be able to keep warm in Salt Lake City. 

Thanks to advice from some of my fellow Rootstech Bloggers I know what I need to pack for my research days at The Family History Library and the Rootstech Conference. My passport is in date and I have my ESTA US Visa Waiver organised. My travel documents are in hard and soft copy."

Fast forward to 2018 - I'm leaving the thermal underwear behind as I am not planning to spend much time outdoors, the padded coat is a must but the warm indoor clothes aren't needed as most places including the Family History Library and the Salt Palace ar well heated. I have the travel documents, travel insurance, passport and the ESTA so I'm set.

Later in 2011 I blogged "As a newbie (and a foreigner) at Rootstech last year I was not aware of the need to have a swag of geneabloggers' accessories. I was rather proud of the snazzy new business cards I had along with me but these paled into insignificance when I saw the array of accessories that other geneabloggers had brought along."

I now know to take Australian mini koala badges, stickers and other souvenir type stuff. I need to order contact cards with my new mobile number and to order some more conference ribbons to hand out to my genimates. I may even get some ribbons for members of the Commonwealth to wear. 

As has been my practice I am arriving in Salt Lake six days prior to Rootstech proper so that I can get over the jet lag, indulge in some retail therapy and socialise with my genimates before the main event.

When the first Rootstech app was introduced it was next to useless but as the years have gone by the app has been replaced and improved. I have it downloaded and am using it to map out my days and connect with genimates.

Unfortunately I didn't make a list of the technology I took to Rootstech last year but I will once again set up my office (where I can blog and write away from the action) in my room at the Marriott. I had better start thinking of what I need to take.

Rather than taking one huge suitcase I am going to take two smaller suitcases this year (I am allowed three bags on Qantas) as I think that they will be easier for an old girl to handle.

I think I'm set. 

Hoarse and Happy

Sunday 12 February 2017, Salt Lake City.

Rootstech is a health hazard. By the end of the week of Rootstech activities in Salt Lake City I find my voice becomes huskier as I do so much talking. The dry atmosphere in Salt Lake City causes my nose to bleed, the cold wind makes my eyes water and the elevation (for this person who lives at sea level) causes me to huff and puff up small inclines.....but I can live with those small inconveniences.

Rootstech provides me with an opportunity to get out of my geneacave and meet old and new friends in the flesh, One of my favourite activities during the conference is one of the Ambassador perks. We Ambassadors are given an opportunity to interview fellow Rootstechies in a professionally staffed fishbowl of a video studio in the Media Hub in the Expo Hall at the event.  Although we are initially only given two slots we can sometimes wangle more. I was thrilled to be able to interview seven people (including a couple of big fish) in the studio.

Some of the staff at work in the Fishbowl

I have already posted five of my interviews to my Youtube Channel and will follow up with my interviews with Bernhard Doppelganger and Dirk Weissleder when the videos are processed.

Here are direct links to those already posted:

Amy Archibald, Rootstech Ambassador

Myko Clelland, FindMyPast

Diane Loosle, Director Family History Library, Salt Lake City

Steve Rockwood, CEO, Familysearch International

Ron Tanner, Product Manager, Familysearch

Interviewing Ron Tanner in the Fishbowl