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.

What an Opportunity

When I was offered a chance at Rootstech to interview Dennis Brimhall, Familysearch CEO, I had mixed emotions. I was thrilled to be offered this opportunity but nervous about interviewing such an important man in the world of genealogy. I had an hour or so to get ready for the interview so I pestered my fellow Official Bloggers asking them what they thought I should ask Dennis.

For most of the interviews I conducted at Rootstech I just chatted with my interviewees but this one was serious stuff so I prepared questions and saved them in Evernote on my tablet. During the interview I clutched the tablet, referred to my questions and prayed that I sounded coherent.

One of the things I asked Mr Brimhall was how we, the users of Familysearch resources, can assist the organisation. Please take a look at the video to see what he has to say.

Thank you to Paul Nauta and Rob Goates, the Rootstech PR people, for offering me the chance to interview Mr Brimhall and to Mr Brimhall for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with me.

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.

I backed some winners

A few years ago I decided to host my own family website, http://www.geniaus.net. After casting around for a while I settled on TNG (The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding) developed by Darrin Lythgoe from Utah. I have been delighted with the program and the support provided by Darrin and a dedicated band of users. Darrin told me last week at Rootstech that there are now 14,000 users of his program.

I was pleased to read this tonight on The TNG Facebook Page "Looks like it's official: TNG has won the 2013 Genealogy Readers' Choice Award for "Best Tool for Putting Your Family Tree Online"! Thanks everyone!"

Family Historian, the software program I use for maintaining my database on my computer, came in a close second to Roots Magic. I was pleased to meet and interview Simon Orde, the developer of Family Historian, at Rootstech. As soon as I get a hotel with a good internet connection I will post that interview on this blog.

Congratulations to both Darrin and Simon on your well-deserved accolades.

A full list of winners can be seen on the About.com site.