Too busy to blog!

I just haven't had time to sit down and blog while at Rootstech. It happens every year.

It has dawned on me that the easiest way to communicate with the greatest number of people at the event and share what they have to say with you while I am there is to get out and about and record some interviews on my phone. So that is what I have been doing.

I have cut off a few heads, had some dodgy sound bites and lost my train of thought in some of the clips. By and large I think that sharing rather than regurgitating in a blog post, the words of my interviewees, gives you a more authentic experience....and it saves me having to type!!!

Some of my interviews have been shared on various social media channels but I am likely to have forgotten to share some. If you head over to my GeniAus at Rootstech playlist on Youtube you can see all the conversations I had with an amazing array of geneafolk.

Thankyou to the team at Familysearch and Rootstech who keep inviting me to return as an Ambassador to Rootstech, the greatest geneashow on earth.

Humans of New York

I enjoyed the livestream of this morning's keynote with Brandon Stanton from Humans of New York from the comfort of my hotel room. Once that was over I grabbed my gear and made for the Media Hub in the Expo Hall at Rootstech because had I an interview with Brandon. Here is what he said.

A DNA kind of day

It's been a DNA kind of day for GeniAus at Rootstech.

I slept in to nurse my cold so missed the first session I had hoped to attend this morning but I hear that the queue was really long and that I may not have got a seat anyway.

For the second session of the day I listened to Paul Woodbury's talk How close are we really? Evaluating shared DNA. This session was billed as a Beginner session but I am sure that Paul lost many DNA newbies as he packed so much information into his talk. I was pleased that I went as I have a reasonable understanding of the things Paul was discussing. I really liked some of his analogies and the way he explained various aspects of DNA but think the talk should have had an Intermediate label.

The next talk I attended, The Emotional side of DNA testing, was from the vivacious and effervescent Bernice Bennett. While I was waiting for the talk to commence I recorded a quick DNA story from the gentleman sitting beside me.

In her presentation Bernice discussed the various emotions we who undergo DNA tests for various reasons experience before and after we get our results and then as we start to communicate with our matches. Bernice offered advice on the best way to approach our matches.

Bernice Bennett at the podium

After a comprehensive talk Bernice invited members of the audience to join her and tell their DNA stories. Now I am a hard nut to crack but I found myself tearing up as these folk came forward and shared the stories and the emotions they experienced as the results of their DNA tests were revealed. This was a spinetingling, tearjerker of a session.

Next on my program was Introduction to Chromosome Mapping with Tim Janzen. It was obvious that Dr Janzen knew his topic intimately and he was generous in providing a URL to his large powerpoint slide. Unfortunately I did not gain much from this presentation.

DNA figured largely in the 4:00pm General Session. I was intrigued when I heard Hannah Morden, Marketing Director, from Living DNA speak as she had a distinctive Aussie accent.

The Living DNA team 

Jill with Hannah Morden

Later in the evening I was able to interview Hannah and discovered that she, like me, was a native of Sydney and a fellow proud Australian.

Relatives at Rootstech?

One of the fun activities at the Media Dinner last night (and when in the Salt Palace for Rootstech) that ties in with the theme of the Rootstech) conference is "Relatives at Rootstech."  Like a good little Ambassador I made sure I had downloaded a few generations of ancestors to my Familysearch Family Tree and that I had the latest version of the Familysearch mobile app on my new phone.

The idea of this is that when you are within the walls of the Salt Palace you open the app, give it permission to connect with your Relatives at Rootstech and it does a little bit of searching to find cousins for you. All around the room at the dinner people were getting excited. Some of my mates were related to Steve Rockwell and David Rencher from Familysearch, most people had some cousins, some people had many but poor old GeniAus had none.

In spite of not finding any connections via the app when I am at Rootstech I connect with may kindred spirits at Rootstech) and feel that I belong in the Rootstech) family.