The following is a press release from FamilySearch:
Salt Lake
City, Utah (15 March 2018), The desire to discover and connect with one's family or ancestors
brought together tens of thousands of family history enthusiasts from 43
countries and 50 states—and even more online—at RootsTech 2018.
Celebrities Brandon Stanton, Scott Hamilton, Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., Natalia
Lafourcade, and FamilySearch CEO Steve Rockwood keynoted each day of the
popular 4-day event originating in Salt Lake City, Utah. Cool technology,
popular consumer DNA services, and hundreds of how-to classes kept beginner to
advanced attendees buzzing.
MISSED
ROOTSTECH 2018? WATCH THE FULL KEYNOTES, AND SELECT SESSIONS ONLINE
The 8
th annual conference continues to grow in popularity.
More than 17,000 guests from every state and 47 countries gathered at the Salt
Palace Convention Center, and more than 111,000 watched live using the
internet. Keynote sessions were highlighted each day with special announcements
from show sponsors
Ancestry.com,
LivingDNA.com,
MyHeritage.com,
and
findmypast.com.
In his keynote,
FamilySearch CEO
Steve Rockwood suggested that when you discover you are related to someone, you
treat him or her differently. Using geo fencing technology and a little
engineering wizardry, FamilySearch enabled attendees to use its Family Tree
mobile app feature "Relatives Around Me" to make
connections with unknown cousins in attendance at the conference, showing
how they were related and enabling them to communicate and rendezvous.
Astonishingly, over half of the attendees (8,450 people) were connected with
other conference goers. The total number of cousin connections found at the
conference (from 1
st to 10
th cousins) were
2,334,110, which makes the average number of relatives discovered at the show
per user 276.
WATCH STEVE
ROCKWOOD'S ROOTSTECH 2018 TALK
The show offered over 300 mostly packed class sessions on a vast range of
family history-oriented topics, an expo hall filled with vendors’ displays and
products, and enrichment events nightly filling every moment with family
activity. It was energetic, lively, exciting, entertaining, inspirational, and
educational.
Brandon
Stanton, author of the blog and book
Humans of New York, shared
his story of how his dream job came true through hard work and determination.
He said, "Following your dreams is nothing but hard work." He said that
we shouldn't get to a place where you don't have to work, but to get to a place
where you get to choose your work. His blog, and resulting books, illustrate
the importance of all individuals. He says "listening is a scarce
commodity" in this age of selfies. Stanton has found that everyone needs
to tell someone about themselves, if they can find someone to listen long
enough—a key to the success of his bestselling books that depict pictures and
intimate and personal stories of people around the world. When asked why people
share personal stories with them, he replied, "I ask." He says that
the feeling of being validated, the feeling of being heard unlocks something in
people that allows them to share.
WATCH BRANDON
STANTON'S ROOTSTECH 2018 TALK
Scott Hamilton, an Olympic gold
medalist, is as energetic and affable today as he was during his career run of
athletic medals. He shared a touching story about himself as an adopted child,
his bouts with different types of cancer, and the help of “family” figures in
his life. He captivated the audience with his love of family and how important
families are in everyone’s lives. He told about his own family, his wife, and
the miracle and blessings that are his two natural children and two adopted
children from Haiti.
WATCH SCOTT
HAMILTON'S ROOTSTECH 2018 TALK
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., host of PBS's
hit series
Finding Your Roots, shared how an obituary of an
"estimable" great aunt he read when he was a child planted the seed
for his lifelong love for family history, and how knowing their stories can
impact future generations. Gates shared how his journey through an Ivy-league
education, African American roots, and a DNA test paved the way to a string of
genealogy-related television shows that led to his current popular and
long-running series on PBS. He introduced the DNA Detective,
CeCe
Moore, and explained how DNA is breaking down long held family history
brick walls, dispelling myths, and blessing the lives of people young and old.
He has created an initiative to introduce K-12 children to the joys and
benefits of discovering their family histories in a summer camp called
Finding
Your Roots: The Seedlings.
WATCH HENRY
LOUIS GATES JR., AND CECE MOORE'S ROOTSTECH 2018 TALKS
Natalia Lafourcade, a Mexican
pop-rock singer and songwriter, is one of the best known singers in the pop
rock scene in Latin America. She shared the importance of family memories and
quipped that family lore says she had French pirate ancestry. FamilySearch
revealed a personal genealogy that confirmed her French roots, but could not
validate the pirate family legends. She sang songs from her latest album,
concluding with the Oscar-winning song “Remember Me” from the Oscar winning
animated movie
Coco.
WATCH NATALIA
LAFOURCADE AT ROOTSTECH 2018
The RootsTech 2018 Innovation Showcase, hosted by
Extreme
Genes' Scott
Fisher, addressed the state of historic records, digital
memories and DNA. Panelists included Judy Russell, legal
genealogist, David Rencher, FamilySearch CGO, and Kurt Witcher, director
of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, Allen County Public Library, Brewster Kale of
Internet Archives, and five popular commercial DNA companies.
WATCH THE
INNOVATION SHOWCASE
In concert with Brandon Stanton's keynote, RootsTech invited aspiring local
photographers and writers to participate in a video-story contest. Over 200
people entered the contest, and the winners were Russell Hathaway, Karen
Foster, Amberley Beck, and Cali Church. They received prizes such as a Dell
laptop and Canon cameras. The pictures with their stories will be published in
the future on RootsTech and social media channels.
RootsTech 2018's Family Discovery Day welcomed more than 26,000
attendees—mostly families with children. President Dallin H. Oaks, first
counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, showed how they share their
family history with their posterity. Their grandchildren and great
grandchildren participated, sharing how they have been able to personally
connect with ancestors through written histories, photographs, and stories.
Also participating in Family Discovery Day were Hank Smith and Jason Hewitt,
and singers Evie Clair, Kenya Clark, and Alex Melecio.
WATCH
THE FAMILY DISCOVERY DAY SESSIONS
Find this announcement and
additional photos online in the
FamilySearch
Newsroom.
###
About RootsTech
RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global conference celebrating
families across generations, where people of all ages are inspired to discover
and share their memories and connections. This annual event has become the
largest of its kind in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants
worldwide.
