Of the three major family history shows I’ve been to this
past year (the other two being Family Tree Live and The Genealogy Show), by far
the largest and most energising has been RootsTech London which was held over
three days last week. Some criticism was
levelled at the choice of a London venue as it disadvantaged people in the rest
of the UK, but it was clear from the organisers’ remarks during the event that
they saw London as central to sharing family history knowledge and resources with
the rest of the world.
RootsTech began almost ten years ago in the United States, and
this was the first time it had ventured elsewhere. Much advance publicity, and special
discounted ticket rates from various companies (sometimes confusingly competing
with each other!) were available to help people decide if they wanted to
attend. My main gripe was that the
schedule of workshops wasn’t available until the price of travel and
accommodation was almost at the astronomical level. However, I heard from a few genealogists on
Twitter who managed to bag good value hotel rooms relatively near to the date,
so it wasn’t all bad news.
I had already decided to attend all three days of the
conference and had gone for the “book before you can’t afford it” strategy for
my travel and hotel room. In the end it
worked out pretty well as it meant I had over one hundred classes to choose
from, all of which were included in the ticket price. The free RootsTech mobile app was available
to download well in advance of the event, a really useful tool in planning my
schedule and connecting with other genealogists (and even distant relatives) who
were attending.
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| Genealogy DNA companies were very much in evidence |
As the workshops were all offered on a “first come, first
served” basis, it occasionally meant people being turned away when a class was
full, but there were so many other options that it wasn’t the end of the
world. As well as up to ten classes
running simultaneously in each timeslot, there were presentations in the main
exhibition hall. These were run by some
of the big boys in the family history market like FindMyPast, Ancestry,
FamilySearch, and Family Tree Maker, promoting their wares via informative
talks and Q&A sessions.
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| The FamilySearch stand had a variety of informative free talks on offer |
Everything in the exhibition hall - presentations, interactive displays,
stalls in abundance, advice from friendly experts and volunteers - was free, as was
entry to the main exhibition hall itself.
This price-less aspect of the conference wasn’t promoted nearly as early
or widely as it should have been, and of course was of most benefit to those
living in and around the London area. There was also a nifty free RootsTech backpack, handed out to each attendee, plus free bits and bobs to be collected from the stands around the hall.
Also included in the price of the ticket was entry to the
daily keynote sessions in the large auditorium.
Compered by historian Nick Barratt, these featured a different well-known
personality each day, who shared with us their own history and how they had
come to appreciate it, through very different routes. TV presenter and historian Dan Snow, Paralympian
Kadeena Cox, and singer Donny Osmond all spoke about their family backgrounds
and how this had influenced the person they had become. I was most impressed by Dan Snow, who had a
very engaging and natural style and told the eye-opening story of his
great-grandfather who had been a general during the Battle of the Somme. You can watch his presentation here.
This is another moneysaving angle to RootsTech of which I
heartily approve. Each day three
sessions, including the keynote talks, could be viewed live online by
anyone. And since the conference, more presentations have been posted and made available without charge. RootsTech sell a “Virtual Pass” which will allow several months' worth of access to 20 classes which were filmed and will be posted online within a few weeks. HOWEVER, frugal family history pals, the Virtual Pass section of the website also states that after the nine months’ access expires at the end of July 2020, all these videos will be made freely available at no cost. These will hopefully allow you to get as much out of the classes as those who
attended in person. Each speaker
provided their contact details and was happy to answer questions immediately
afterwards in person, by email, or on social media.
Another lovely element of the show was the many family
history enthusiasts already acquainted online being able to meet up –
sometimes for the first time – and
exchange news, ideas, and plans, and just generally socialise. I ran into old (and I mean OLD) friends,
Twitterpals, fellow family historians who have connected via more conventional
methods, and met and made new friends in abundance. I learned that we depend a great deal on a very
varied network of like-minded people to grow our family trees, whether they be academics,
marketing people, professional genealogists, hobbyists, or, indeed,
relatives. I was inspired by one of the
classes I attended to further my pursuit of DNA as a tool to break down my Irish
brick wall, and took advantage of one of the heavily discounted DNA kits on
offer at the show.
Asked which of
the three big genealogy events this year I would most recommend, I ventured to suggest RootsTech, purely
because of the sheer variety and number of subjects covered by the classes. I would certainly seriously consider attending any return events they hold.
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| This is what a Tweetup of genealogists looks like (Photo by Paul Chiddicks) |
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| An audience view of the Saturday morning class on Scottish research |
And to those of you who attended my own presentation about
Scottish research and resources on the Saturday morning of RootsTech, thank you! It wasn’t filmed (phew) so won’t be available
online, but if you want a copy of the handout I provided, you can download it
here – free, of course! In fact, you can
download handouts from any or all of the sessions at the RootsTech London website - which definitely reduced the “fear of missing out” factor for attendees who were spoilt for choice. Just select a class, then click on the "Syllabus" link after the talk Summary.
