Saturday, February 27, 2021

Thoughts on RootsTech 2021

RootsTech has always been a from-home experience for me--in previous years I enjoyed watching presenters, videos of interviews, and still shots of bloggers in a variety of settings at the conference--so you wouldn't think watching from home this year would be all that different from past years.  But it was!  It was a whole different feeling.

I'm not a fan of zoom meetings and this conference felt like a series of either zoom meetings or zoom presentations.  I know they did the best they could but even most of the interactions with the speakers seemed stilted and unnatural.  I think the energy is greater when a crowd of real people are there as an audience.

The Cons of RootsTech 2021
  • The excitement and enthusiasm that was almost palpable in past years (even though I watched from afar) was missing this year.
  • The spontaneity during keynote sessions when the MC asked questions and interacted with the keynote speaker was absent. 
  • I missed seeing photos of bloggers I know interacting with each other.
  • I missed seeing videos of interviews of bloggers I know.

The Best of RootsTech 2021
  • I was thrilled with how many sessions were offered and the variety of topics.
  • I have access to every presentation and can rewind or rewatch if I choose!
  • Having access to every presentation for a year is great.  Just think, the education can continue daily if I can keep up with a session a day.
  • The playlist is fabulous.  How wonderful to be able to click a session and know I won't have to search for it again.
  • The music competition was fun and I was please that Daisy Chute and her song won.  (Is this the first year for a music competition?)
  • I love, love, love Elder and Sister Holland's keynote address.  What a treat to take a family history tour with them and their children.  I love how they shared memories.  It was especially fun to hear Sister Holland's early impressions of her husband ("most overly confident, obnoxious person I've ever met" but she had the deep feeling she would marry him).  Wouldn't this kind of video be wonderful for every family and individual to do?

As good and as not good as RootsTech 2021 was, I'm looking forward and hoping for the old format next year.  It would be great if they could combine the best from both the in-person and virtual conferences.

–Nancy.

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