3 Ways to Enjoy RootsTech From Home!

This year I am heading to Salt Lake City, Utah for RootsTech. It is a dream come true to be able to attend this magnificent event and especially to have the opportunity to teach two class sessions!

FreeImages.com/Alberto Grilo

As I was preparing, I remembered back to last year. I couldn't go, was rather sick with a cold, and feeling pretty bummed. Somewhere, I read that I could enjoy RootsTech even from home. That is exactly what I did!

Would you like to participate in RootsTech from home? Let me share with you how!

RootsTech is being held Wednesday - Saturday, February 3 - 6. Remember, times are based on Mountain Standard Time.

Go to the RootsTech website at www.rootstech.org. If you click "Attend" at the top, a pull down menu will appear. Click on "Video Archive." Here you can enjoy nineteen class sessions from 2015. Once this year's RootsTech conference is over, there will be videos of the sessions from 2016.

Last year, class sessions were also LIVE STREAMING from the RootsTech website. While many of my friends were sitting in the classroom, I was sitting comfortably on my couch! This year, the new sessions will be live streaming too. You will see the schedule for live streaming soon and can plan accordingly. The great thing about watching from home is that if something comes up, you can always watch it later.

These sessions will be archived at the website for your viewing until 2017.

The next important thing to do is "like" the RootsTech Facebook page. You want to make sure you are "liking" the correct one (I found three), so I have included the link here. You can keep up with all the announcements, articles, and pictures from the event.

In addition to Facebook, follow along in real time by using Twitter. Follow your favorite bloggers, favorite speakers, and RootsTech itself. Don't forget to tweet your own thoughts as you watch from home! Use the hashtag #RootsTech.

Bowser Family Photo, 1966

Lastly, there is a special Saturday event titled "Family Discovery Day." Many of these sessions will be streaming live as well. The times, sessions, and speakers for Family Discovery Day can be found here. These sessions will be archived and later available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Conclusion

There you have it. Three great ways to enjoy RootsTech from home. I hope to write a post or two from Salt Lake, so don't forget to check back in. Follow me on Twitter @mykithnkin. For those of you attending the event, come by the RootsBid.com booth and see me, or attend either of my class sessions. (See below.)

Session Title: "Overcoming Genealogy Roadblocks by Crowdsourcing with RootsBid."
Session Time for Thursday: 11:00 AM, room 155 E
Session Time for Friday: 1:30 PM, room 255 B

My Journey of the Certification Process: Entry 5

I have been spending many hours, especially Saturday's, at wrestling tournaments. Have you ever been to a wrestling tournament? You watch your kid wrestle for about 2 to 4 minutes, then you wait about 40 minutes until they wrestle again...for 2 to 4 minutes. About half way through the day, they have an intermission that is roughly an hour to an hour and a half. This schedule leads to a LOT of downtime!

Luckily, I have found wi-fi access at each school and was able to work on some research. At first, I was dragging a heavy bag along with me. I needed a computer, my notebook, my Genealogy Standards book, Mastering Genealogical Proof workbook, my Evidence Explained, and I wanted to bring my Professional Genealogy volume, but that nearly broke my bag AND MY BACK! The answer to an overloaded bag is getting digital versions of your books!

I have already purchased these books in hardback. I don't really want to buy them again. Evidence Explained in the Kindle version (found on Amazon) is $32.95. However, Genealogy Standards is only $6.99. Mastering Genealogical Proof by Thomas Jones, in Kindle edition, is $9.99. Unfortunately, I have yet to find Professional Genealogy by Elizabeth Shown Mills in a digital format.

I will be replacing some of my books with these digital versions, but for the more pricey ones, I have taken a photo with my phone of important pages. Then, I saved them to my phone. You could go one step further and save the images to your computer or to your Google drive. It will come in handy when you are on-the-go or at least until you have purchased them all as digital copies.

I would encourage any of you who have not yet purchased these books in preparation for certification, to consider buying the digital versions. It is such a blessing to be a genealogist in these days! Smartphones, apps, software, laptops, e-books: genealogists today have every advantage!

Read "My Journey of the Certification Process: Entry 4: Power of the Cold Call

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