Published February 15, 2021
| 1 Comment | Leave A ReplyFamilySearch.org, the genealogy mega-website owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has a mega-conference upcoming in a couple of weeks.
The Mormon organization has sponsored a large in-person wintertime conference in Salt Lake City called RootsTech for a decade with celebrity keynote speakers, hundreds of live genealogy presenters, and a vibrant exhibit hall.
Re-creating such an event virtually would be an impossibility for groups with less wherewithal than FamilySearch.org, and indeed the spinoff conference “RootsTech London” (first presented in 2019) scheduled for the fall of last year was a casualty of COVID-19.
But FamilySearch.org rolled up its sleeves and morphed the plans for this year into “RootsTech Connect 2021: A Free Online Conference Experience.”
RootsTech Connect is scheduled for Feb. 25 to 27 and more than 200,000 people already have taken advantage of the free registration to sign up. The conference features celebrity speakers and entertainers and classes.
Among those celebrity keynotes for this year’s event are former Mexican professional golfer Lorena Ochoa, Italian musicologist Francesco Lotoro, OurBlackAncestry.com founder Sharon Morgan, motivational speaker and author Nick Vujicic, actress Sunetra Sarker, former Uruguayan soccer captain Diego Lugano, Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez, and Indian-American actor Erick Avari.
There will loads of classes available to registrants, most of them prerecorded and lasting just 20 minutes, which is a large difference (perhaps in a nod to more fleeting online attention spans) than the hourlong presentations that were the staple of the in-person RootsTechs.
FamilySearch International hosts the annual global event in Salt Lake City. FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world, according to its website. It is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by the Mormon church.
To register for RootsTech Connect 2021, visit www.rootstech.org.
In the last decade, FamilySearch has been able to digitize millions of microfilms containing records from around the world that were previously only accessible in some cases at its Family History Library in Salt Lake or affiliate libraries. Now many of these records (or indexed abstracts of them) are available on computer desktops.
Supplementing these many records is the FamilySearch Wiki, a genealogy encyclopedia with articles, maps and other research aids that also spans the globe of family history information.
While the Family History Library has been closed to general use because of the pandemic, FamilySearch has stepped up its online education program with webinars that feature many of the library’s expert staff with instructional videos.
FamilySearch.org’s website, www.familysearch.org, is the gateway to the records, wiki and webinars. Creating a free login in required to access some of the information available.
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For Sale
The Best of "Roots & Branches", Fifth Edition published July 2017, edited by Terri J. Bridgwater.
It contains a selection of columns from Beidler’s award-winning newspaper column (currently published in the Altoona Mirror), which is the only syndicated newspaper column on genealogy in Pennsylvania.
The book can be ordered online, or purchased directly from Jim when he speaks at a conference.
Kim Whiteman
3 years ago
As lovingly and lightly as I may, I’d like to bring something to light and add to this beautiful blog post. In the past 2 years as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we have been asked if we might refer to our religion as just that. The nickname Mormon, takes away from us being a Church that centers on the Savior. A nickname leaves that focus out. You will now here a member take the time to say and spell out Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have been to a lecture you did in Columbus, Ohio. We are all indebted to you and your endless and fruitful information. Thank you so very much for all your hard work. Please know it is not my intent to appear pompous or negative by pointing out out new direction in introducing ourselves as life is constantly keeps going forward.