I Went to RootsTech - Virtually, That Is

I just watched a rebroadcast of the opening keynote address for RootsTech. (I missed it this morning.) Wow! What the people at FamilySearch and other organizations imagine for the future of records access, use, and sharing is so much bigger and greater than what currently exists. Their foresight, thoughtfulness, and thoroughness are beyond anything I could have imagined. If you weren't able to watch, I hope you'll be able to see a rebroadcast. It's available now, this evening, Thursday, February 2, and will probably continue to be available until the live presentations begin again on Friday morning. FamilySearch seems to be a generous organization and I wouldn't be surprised if all the presentations that were broadcast live will be available later.

In other presentations I watched live, two speakers covered similar topics yet presented almost completely different information. Kory Meyerink's presentation was "Effective Database Search Tactics" and Barbara Renick shared "Eleven Layers of Online Searches." For me their presentations dovetailed and I learned plenty that I didn't know. Now I have some new ideas of ways to search for several of my elusive ancestors as well as collect further information about ancestors with sketchy information. I'm excited to have another go at some online databases.

Do you ever think, "Gosh, they had me in mind when...?" I suppose that's an egotistical viewpoint, yet sometimes in life I feel that way. My thoughts today were, "they must have had me in mind when they chose to broadcast two presentations on the same topic." They were just what I needed - further knowledge, encouragement, and motivation. Then I wondered how it was that I didn't already know much of what they presented: I use the internet all the time to search and research. I thought, "I'm really behind when it comes to technology." Suddenly I realized that the room was full of other people, probably in very similar circumstances to my own, watching the presentations. I suppose there are lots of us who can learn more about how to best use search engines to find information about our ancestors.

Here's a quote spoken by someone at the end of the Thursday keynote address. I don't know the name of the man who said it but I certainly appreciated the thought.

...family history is all about turning hearts because when you turn your heart to your family and your ancestors in the past, your heart turns in the present and you leave a legacy of a turned heart for the future.