RootsTech - Day 1, Part 1

Thursday morning dawned with snow flurries and a quick walk to the Salt Palace Convention Center (I'm so glad we're in the Radisson, right next door!) for the opening day at RootsTech 2013 Conference.

The morning started with a 7:30 a.m. geneabloggers walk through the empty Expo Hall...and then we joined the other 4,000 people in the Hall 1 where the Keynote would be presented.  I managed to get a third row seat right in front of the stage... here are some shots from this vantage:

Dennis Brimhall's message was about what's coming to FamilySearch - Stories and Photos, in the FamilySearch Family Tree.

Then Syd Liberman came onstage and told stories for 30 minutes - weaving family with history, and encouraging us to tell our stories to our family and to the world.

D. Joshua Taylor was the third Keynote speaker and he discussed genealogy, technology and young people, noting that it's a connected world and that stories will win them over when documents won't.

I made a run to the Media Hub where all the official geneabloggers hang out and all of the famous people come to be interviewed, on video or audio, by other famous people.  I don't do that.  DearMYRTLE did a short Hangout around the table and then interviewed Dennis Brimhall right at the table.

I wandered around the Expo Hall a bit, meeting people, asking questions and checking out exhibits.  At about 11:15 a.m., I realized that the Future of genealogy panel was in session, so I tuned in on www.rootstech.org and watched it while also reading blogs and filling out my RootsMagic Treasure Hunt card.  Then I beat the crowd to the lunch area.

The Expo Hall is really busy at this conference, even though the hall is 40% larger than last year.  There are quite a few small companies with a Story, Photo and Video theme.

I picked a place in the Media Hub where I could talk to folks across the fence, so to speak.  I'm still amazed by people that stop to say hello that read this blog - I appreciate all of them!  I've also connected with three geneabloggers who I do not have on my Reader, so I've added them.  I'll try to take more pictures of what's happening here, but I struggle to find time to write about everything here.

Other geneabloggers that seem to be able to blog on the run include:

*  James Tanner's Genealogy's Star.

*  Jill Ball's Geniaus blog.

*  Banai Feldstein's Ginger Jewish Genealogist blog.