RootsTech in review
So what did I think of the first RootsTech I have attended? While I am sure that my experience in the USA in 2020 will be different this is my take on the London event.
The program
Overall, I thought the program was OK to good. However, many of the sessions I attended were pitched at the beginner and when looking at the program overall, it seemed to be the most common – even my presentation had that descriptor. The speakers for some of these sessions were brilliant but it was a waste of my time to learn more about where to look for Irish records, for example, but would have loved to have heard a session or two on unique/unusual records (though there were two which came close). There were numerous DNA presentations for beginners and two which I enjoyed were Maurice Gleeson on combining DNA with Irish Research and Jonny Perl on predicting relationships with autosomal DNA.
There were some speakers who I thought would be terrific because of their high profile but who proved to be disappointing. Others were highly entertaining while some were quite boring. Overall, there would have been coverage of most of the key areas in family history so I think the program enabled attendees to make a choice for each session. The rooms for most of the general sessions were around the same size so there were sessions where the room couldn’t hold another person so some missed out. This is not something that can be known in advance by the organisers but would have been disappointing for those who really wanted to hear that particular presentation.
The keynote speakers
I went to two of the three keynote speakers. I missed Kadeena Cox because I was busy trying to fix my slides.
Dan Snow, the keynote on the first day, was quite good – started really well and was entertaining but fell off part way through with an overlong clip from his appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? It told a story about an ancestor who wasn’t one you could boast about, but in my opinion, I felt that it was a filler and didn’t really add to Dan’s story and would have loved to have heard more about his Welsh grandmother, for example, where did the love of history come from? Why did the family move from Canada back to the UK? However, he was an excellent presenter and seemed to be very down to earth.
I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by Donny Osmond. His presentation was entertaining but I guess you couldn’t really expect anything else with his background. The audio was VERY loud when some of his song were played but thankfully they weren’t very long. His jokes were good, he strongly promoted FamilySearch and there was very obviously a squad set up near him to cheer on cue, clap loudly and make appropriate noises at intervals. There had been extra seats added to the auditorium but there wasn’t anywhere near the large crowd I thought there would be.
The venue
Excel was not a good venue and it didn’t help that for the second and third days of RootsTech, ComicCon was being held at the other end. RootsTech is for a certain demographic and if you had mobility issues but weren’t in a wheel chair, the walk from the lifts or escalators to the presentation rooms was quite a hike.
While ComicCon was on, that end of the venue was closed so there was no access to any of the food vendors in that area. There wasn’t anywhere to just sit for a bit on any of the main floors so they opened up a room with some chairs in it on Friday – but this wasn’t advertised in the app. RootsTech attendees were not allowed into the ComicCon area but the ComicCon attendees walked through the RootsTech area all day. I must say that they did add some colour to the venue.
Tech support was good, the computer and data projector worked well and everyone could see the screen in the smaller rooms, but it was more difficult to see in some of the larger rooms if your seat was right at the back.
The toilets were busy and were not being monitored on a regular basis with some not working and no signs to indicate that. Food choices were not great and prices were high. Still, it was easy to get a cup of coffee without too much of a walk.
The exhibition
I have mixed feelings about this. For such a big event I would have thought there would have been more exhibitors but apparently the costs were quite high. I think that some the exhibitors would have been disappointed with the number of people who visited them and it was clear that those which offered freebies were the most popular ones. As expected, Ancestry, FindMyPast and the DNA companies were busy all of the time but the Ministry of Defence, Society of Genealogists and the Guild of One-Name Studies appeared to have a steady flow of customers on the occasions when I walked through.
The networking and overall
As a speaker, I was paid for the event but it was a very thoughtful gesture for the organisers to provide a small gift and handwritten card for each speaker. This was not expected but was appreciated by all of those to whom I spoke.
The speaker’s room was small but well appointed with water and snacks available. This was a great place to just sit for a bit but you could also network with others who came in and out of the room. Really this was the only way you could do this kind of networking. There were get togethers at various times but these were organised for people who knew each other (or at least some in the group). You could try to chat to a speaker following his/her presentation but they were either surrounded by others asking questions or heading off to do something else.
Would I come back? Well, the answer to that has to be yes because I have already booked in for RootsTech in Salt Lake City next year. Would I give it a resounding thumbs up? Probably not – good but not great.
Still it was terrific to catch up with other Australians and to meet people I have only communicated with either by email or phone. I also met a couple of people who I found to be genuinely nice individuals and very caring – that certainly makes for a positive experience.
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