Saturday, February 6, 2016

RootsTech From My Rocking Chair Part 2



Day 2 of watching RootsTech via the Livestream broadcast. With my blogger beads and blanket, I settled in for a day of learning and fun. 

Opening Session: 
   

Shipley Munson and A.J. Jacobs

   Shipley Munson, the founder of RootsTech, started off the morning by welcoming attendees from all over the world. He introduced A.J. Jacobs, bestselling author and founder of the World Wide Family Reunion in 2015. He announced that the World Record was broken for the largest family reunion and that it would be featured in the season finale of Finding Your Roots.  The reunion will be back in 2017!

Naomi and Josh Davis


Josh and Naomi Davis from the Love Taza Blog-
  Talking about stories, they encouraged the recording of inspiring events of our day to share with our posterity and the world. Their blog shares the everyday happenings in their family, and we were encouraged to find a way to tell ours.  We all have a story to tell they said. Sharing our stories in the best way to leave a legacy. "It's not a story if it's not told.".

David Isay

David Isay-CEO of StoryCorps
    StoryCorps is a platform for recording life stories. A booth is set up, and questions are asked and answered.They are recorded to preserve the power, grace and poetry of life.  Several initiatives have been created to record the voices. Some of these are 911 witnesses and those that are suffering from terminal illnesses. The StoryCorps recordings shared in this presentation are powerful examples of the importance of telling and listening to stories. There is now an app where anyone can record conversations and have them uploaded to Library of Congress to have them preserved for future generations. 



RootsTech Innovator Showdown
 The final six contestants battle to win as they answer tough questions from the judges. The People Choice winner was decided by a text message vote from those attending and watching on the internet. If you haven't heard who won, I won't give it away. Check out the video and learn about the companies and their new products.

Sessions:


Lisa Louise Cook

 Proven Methodology for Using Google for Genealogists-Lisa Louise Cook
  Lisa is a Google pro. She teaches how to set up your Google searches in a way that will be the most productive for getting hits on your ancestors.  Did you know that there is a formula for telling Google what not to put in search results? This is very helpful for names associated with other things. She uses the example of Ivory. You don't want websites that talk about soap! In my case it's Price. I don't want the price of something; I want my ancestors!

Robert Kehrer

Finding Elusive Records on FamilySearch.org-Robert Kehrer
  Tips and tricks for narrowing down and getting more relevant hits when searching and how to browse records that are not indexed were demonstrated in this session. A must see for anyone searching for their ancestors on FamilySearch.org.

Myko Clelland

My Ancestors are From Britain-What Do I Do Next?-Myko Clelland
 Myko from findmypast.com gave a humorous presentation on British records found on the site. Parish, Census, and others were often annotated by the person filling in the forms. Drawings and commentary about the applicants were added to the records. One census listed the name of a little girl's teddy bear while another had the name of the family cat. Even if you don't have family from the British Isles, this is a fun one to watch.

               Another day of learning and wishing I was there! 

                                                                   In a way, a part of me was.
         This picture of my Great Grandparents was part of the Findmypast booth in the Exhibit Hall.

Wedding photo of
William Treadford Roberts (1894-1959) and Beulah Mae Price (1897-1980)
Married 28 June 1914
                                                                                     How fun is that? 

If you didn't get a chance or would like to review some presentations, you can watch Friday's sessions here. 



One more day of RootsTech and you guessed it, I'll be watching from my rocking chair!

Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people.
Thanks so much for stopping by!



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