Day 2 at RootsTech was African Heritage Day and featured LeVar Burton as Keynote speaker. I was surprised to read that LeVar was born in Germany but when I read further into his history, his father was stationed there whilst serving in the US Army Signal Corps. With the aforementioned certificate still not in our UK Office, research was put on hold for the day and learning was put at the forefront of plans. Last year, I managed to attend only one lecture (‘class’) and this year, I have actually fared worse. None, other than my own! Oops…. I definitely need the ‘must try harder’ badge on that score!!
I have spent a long time in the Media Hub with fellow ambassadors and also out and about in the Exhibition Hall. There are so many new and innovative ideas, and people really want feedback from users in the genealogical community too. The Innovation Summit winners were announced ain the ‘Innovator Showdown’ at 10:30am….. several worthy winners but the Top Three were (from first to third) OldNewsUSA, QromaTag and Double Match Triangulator, with Kindex winning the People’s Choice Award. [Click on the links to find out more!] There was a whole section of the Hall dedicated to innovators called ‘Innovation Alley’ (whether officially or unofficially!) and I had the opportunity to interview two innovators over the course of Day 2 and 3.
Friday evening saw the Canadian contingent plus my companion @HistoryLady2013 making a trip to the Marriott at City Creek as we had been invited to the MyHeritage party. And what a party it was…. party games, magicians, karaoke, prizes and more! A social event where there really is no way you’ll find yourself alone….
With the arrival of ‘the certificate’ on Saturday morning, I was more than slightly distracted from the early hours, though very pleased to be able to put a call in to a potential heir in the UK before Saturday came to a close ‘their time’. Several of my fellow ambassadors and RootsTech staff were amazed to hear how the story unfolded and how deep the digging had been to find heirs.
To close off the RootsTech experience, I was appointed as ‘Contact Les’ (in charge of a whole van of genealogists!) by Thomas MacEntee who arranged the transport for us to go to Dear Myrtle’s house for the After Party. She must have welcomed over 50 people to her home to round off an amazing week in Salt Lake City. I managed to spend about an hour talking to her and interviewing people together on Friday. What a wonderful lady!
The fun has continued throughout the week …. though sadly it cannot continue forever. All good things must come to an end. Sitting here on Sunday afternoon, we are already planning our trip (the email has been sent to our travel agent!) and many of our genie-friends have already begun their trip homeward. Safe travels all and we’ll meet again here next year, if not before [Wed 28 Feb – Sat 3 March 2018].
