{"id":4691,"date":"2019-03-30T23:32:38","date_gmt":"2019-03-30T23:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/?p=4691"},"modified":"2019-03-30T23:32:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-30T23:32:38","slug":"my-rootstech-experience-by-james-tanner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/my-rootstech-experience-by-james-tanner\/","title":{"rendered":"My RootsTech Experience, by James Tanner"},"content":{"rendered":"

My RootsTech 2019 Experience<\/a><\/h3>\n
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on the Genealogy’s Star blog site and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.<\/em><\/div>\n
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I am fairly certain that my RootsTech 2019 experience was far different than nearly everyone else attending the Conference. I have been attending the RootsTech Conferences since the very first one in 2011 except for the one last year when my wife and I were digitizing documents at the Maryland\u00a0State Archives for FamilySearch on a mission for\u00a0The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>. Of course, that first experience was far different than\u00a0what we just experienced but the seeds of my own experience were planted at that first conference.<\/p>\n

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Over the years, my focus has changed. During the early years of the Conference, I presented and attended classes. Slowly, I began to focus more on interacting with the vendors in the Exhibit Hall and I stopped presenting classes and began to attend far fewer classes. Eventually, I became more involved with the vendors and began presenting for them at their booths or at what has become the Demo Theater. This year was a catch-up year. Since I missed my opportunity to talk to all the vendors, I focused on making contact with those with whom I had long-term relationships.<\/div>\n
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My main focus was the booth for\u00a0The Family History Guide<\/a>. Because I am involved directly with the\u00a0company, we had been preparing for RootsTech during the past year and I became instantly involved as soon as I returned to Provo, Utah from Maryland. We had a great response to the booth and the classes we taught. There are a few things we learned and will change next year but for the foreseeable future, I will be intensely involved with The Family History Guide.<\/div>\n
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My second main area of focus was in working with and contacting the large online genealogy websites. I had a lot of contact with\u00a0MyHeritage.com<\/a>. Of course, I presented at their booth and will continue with acting as a speaker at the upcoming\u00a0MyHeritage LIVE 2019 Conference<\/a>\u00a0in Amsterdam, Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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I enjoyed learning about all the new developments from MyHeritage and interacting with their wonderful staff. Special thanks to Gilad Japhet and Daniel Horowitz for their support.<\/p>\n

I am always grateful for the help and support of\u00a0FamilySearch<\/a>. I have been a Blogger\/Ambassador since the first Conference and have enjoyed their tremendous help and all the extras that have come my way as a result of publicizing the RootsTech Conferences. I was able to conduct some interviews in the Media Center and also get interviewed. Thanks to FamilySearch for the Conference and for the Media Center and the support. I also enjoyed visiting with Ron Tanner.<\/p>\n

I had some wonderful conversations with the folks at\u00a0Findmypast.com<\/a>‘s booth. I was able to connect with some old acquaintances and meet some new people. I enjoyed talking with Jay Verkler and Alex Cox. Hope I have more contact in the future.<\/p>\n

One of the\u00a0most\u00a0impressive things that happened at the Conference was meeting the people at the\u00a0Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society<\/a>\u00a0booth and the\u00a0Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage<\/a>\u00a0booth. What a great experience and opportunity. I hope that I can establish a mutually beneficial relationship with both these organizations.<\/p>\n

I had almost a full week of other memorable experiences and opportunities to talk and came up with a huge list of blog post topics. I was especially touched by all the people who said hello. It was wonderful to see some of you for the first time since communicating over the internet. I hope I made a few new friends and immensely enjoyed seeing a few of my old friends.<\/p>\n

See you next year at RootsTech 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n