Thursday Morning at RootsTech 2014

It's been a blur.  I'm hiding out in the Media Center after my sandwich and Fritos in the lunchroom.  There are too many people in the exhibit hall to easily meander through and talk to people, so that swill have to wait.

This morning was the Keynote talks by Dennis Brimhall of FamilySearch, Annalies van den Belt of FindMyPast and Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman.  Here are some photos:

Dennis discussed FamilySearch initiatives, and introduced Captain Jack Starling who came on and said "Dead men tell no tales...but their obituaries do."  FamilySearch has plans to index tens of millions of obituaries because they contain stories and lots of names.

Annelies van den Belt is the head of DC Thomson and FindMyPast.  She discussed her own family history by way of introduction, and the FindMyPast vision for the future.  She also announced the new FindMyPast mobile app for iPhones called "Capture."

The third keynote speaker was Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman, from Oklahoma, who started blogging eight years ago and now has thousands of readers, and her own cooking show on the Food Network.  A blog success story!  She talked about her own family history, her family, and her life as a celebrity blogger.

At 10:15 a.m., the rush was on to the Exhibit Hall and to the classrooms for the first sessions.  I went to the Media Center and got set up in the corner.  Today, I'm sitting with Sonia Meza, a geneablogger from Spain, and her translator.  The world passes by at my back and people stop by and say hello.  The Demo stage is nearby so it's always noisy in the Media Center.

I started the RootsTech 2014 Blog Compendium post, and will keep it at the top of the blog list through the weekend.  Other geneabloggers are experiencing RootsTech 2014 and they are writing a lot.

I just met and talked with Steve Anderson, who is in charge of the FamilySearch Blog.  You do read the FamilySearch Blog, don't you?  You should!

And some news - Jen Baldwin (who writes the Ancestral Breezes blog) is working for FindMyPast as their Societies Liaison.  Congrats, Jen, and a great choice by FindMyPast.

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Copyright (c) 2014, Randall J. Seaver