More Rootstech 2016

There had to be some given returns  from 2015's Rootstech success and AJ Jaccobs was one for sure:

 Who would have thought we would all be donning medical masks this year?

 Beng an Ambassador, you get an up close and personal view of the stage and great periphery like this:

 

The expo hall is a huge reason many people come - hundreds of vendors all in one spot with new, improved, and exciting products and services!  What's not to love?

 

 Read the advert about this one that stood out for iphone users.

 

Geneabloggers abound in the media hub - where was I for this shot?  Photoshop specialist ahoy...

 

We were provided a great palace Map:

 

We were provided a decent Expo Hall Map:

Tami Osmer Mize ensured the vendor list was organized since the app didn't seem to be up at all:
Alphabetically first...

 

Then by vendor # to mate up with the map:

 

If you met me, then you were given one of these to adhere to your conference badge - Saturday folks wore wristbands which seemed a deterrent to the ribbon joy, but better creative planning next time ;-)

 

My planned schedule with purple check marks of my actual attended events - missing 7 sessions is not bad at all given all the folks I spent quality time with in lieu of each block of instruction.

I gave away more Genedocs hats than in 2013 and Carol advised we need to have a raffle for them next time!  I almost gave away some precious T-shirts just to be able to bring my conference bag back to TX.

 

I might even show up unexpectedly behind you at an after hours MyHeritage after party event with games, snacks, karaoke, and more!

 Rootstech is a blast no matter what year you decide to go - just make the most of every opportunity and encounter with every one you can meet!

More Rootstech Wrap Up - Photos

There was a great deal of picture taking and here are the best photos I took of my experience outside of meeting individuals:  Register and get your bag of goodies:

 

 Behind the scenes Expo Hall tour prior to keynote Thursday.  Ambassadors also enjoyed a very nice media dinner the night before with an extended look at Paula Madison Williams video and heard her speak more!

 

Ambassador view entering the keynote area from behind the curtains headed for the Thursday VIP seating!

 

Following the keynote we were able to see the largest chart in the world actually hanging in the Expo Hall

after we saw them unrolling its pieces onto the floor during the tour.  Back view:

 

The front or obverse of this chart was impressive also even with the 3-D looking fellow atop a ladder writing in areas that needed to be filled out (zoom at right).

 Pat R Erickson AKA Dear Myrt earned the second Genedocs cap and only Heritage Series 2016 Edition created thus far given away by being the first person to ever video interview the Founder of Genedocs.

 

You simply have to ask other strangers to take your photo sometimes - a nice young lady managed to capture my raw enthusiasm at the conference logo fountain after Thursday's wonderful time!

 Which you can clearly see is a stark contrast to how I plainly began the same day just hours earlier !

 Rootstech will change you and for the better I must add!  You may need to spend some money to make it happen, but you will leave wishing you had twice as much time and money to invest in this wonderful even bringing so many like minded industry leaders together for such a fun time together!

Friday meant losing the tie, the collared shirt and replacing them both with an even bigger smile!
A smile like the late comedian Robin Williams used in the film Patch Adams to encite a response from every passer-by:

   Yes this should and did do the trick - most peoples faces lit up whether they wanted to or not as they read this shirt and saw my big smile - they must have been thinking - "great, another completely crazy genealogy guy!"

  Thomas MacEntee and Amy Archibald (below) both gave distinctly different yet added value facebook presentations pertaining to genealogy.

Devon Lee made sure I attended her husband's Audacity freeware use with Genealogy session

KEYNOTES were all unexpectedly awesome!

                                          Familysearch CEO Steve Rockwood tells the audience

                                          what basis story telling has vs. pushing the genealogy side

                                          of what we enjoy so much.

A Week to Reflect on Rootstech - What You Wear and Who You Can Meet

It was an amazingly wild week for an Ambassador,  a furious flurry of a week for a fellow developer, a bit intimidating week for an entrepreneur, and one of the most exciting weeks for a passionate genealogist.

Just packing right resulted in this series of attire for the four day event:

   WED                                      THU                                       FRI                                        
                             SAT
   

But more importantly were the great cohort ambassadors, bloggers, Facebookers, and Genedocs followers and even group members I met:

                                          Shelley Murphy, Me, True Lewis, and Peggy Lauritzen in pink behind us!

 

                                         True, Shelley, and Thomas MacEntee moments later.

                                          With Teresa Ricketts who ended up with Genedocs cap #2!

                                          With Joe above at the Preserve the Pensions (1812) booth

                                          With Randy Whited TXSGS President and Eowyn Langholf of WikiTree

                                          My shot of Miles Meyer from Florida with me.

  

                                          Miles' shot of us enjoying not winning dozens of prizes - Ha!

                                          True meeting up in the media hub for more smiles.
                                         

                                          Randy Seaver was nice enough to shoot True and I so
                                          turnabout is fair play!

 

                                           Katherine Willson and I have been talking about finding
                                           the right time and place to meet up and BAM!  Rootstech

      2016 became just the right spot

        

                                                        Becky Jamison and I have also been Facebook
                                                        friends for several years and it was great to have a
                                                        new huggable Genedocs supporter live in my midst.

Not tracked down photos of yet folks are: Tami Osmer Mize, Peggy C. Lauritzen, and a few other notables!

Rootstech Saturday and Close

   The final day of rootstech is two words Amazing, Crowded.  We had more folks than 2015 but it was still quite managable and so many many youth - seeing them is always a highlight of excitement for us to know the future generations are embracing their first steps in journeys we each began so long ago, just as unsure, uncertain, and in my case at least so very hopeful that these family mysteries can be tackled some time in our lifetimes so that posterity doesn't have more questions than answers - if such a thing is possible in any genealogical endeavor - part of the perpetual fun with frustration I guess!

     I didn't get as much interactions with the youth as I'd like, but I hope seeing a guy in his 40's in a bright Luau shirt and a Tee bearing one of our country's earliest historical documents on it with a big smile wandering confidently through their midst proved this all can be more than a little fun.  You can actually have a blast when not being mistook by a fellow blogger for buddy Thomas MacEntee - that guy passing out prizes at the MyHeritage event on stage the previous night at the Marriott.  LOL Indeed!

    I have most of my cards left and a bunch of ribbons all of which I unreasonably for a second year at the event expected to hand out every last one.  At least I was wise enough not to post a wetpaint address on each that would change to wikifoundry URL address  just weeks after the even - domain challenge blues!
They are all keepsakes and this years can be used at future evens alone or in tandem with newer more improved Genodocsian versions.  After all, I had intended on cool MOO printfinity cards with a different back design on each, but this is a partly a start up and lower expenses in any endeavor from the onset are something each entreprenuerial success speaker at rootstech repeated.  Spend less up front and just get the successful idea out infront of potential investors.  SO sheaper vistaprint with a 50% off wins this year - but so do I with more swag!  Is it mere coincidence that Thomas MacEntee has dozens of unique PCnametag.com ribbon designs at the ready for our remarkable blogger group and his friends?  No - he has invested years of conferenceing and lessons learned which, when combined with his strikingly similar sense of humor, ends up with some great cheekey adult humor possbilities for future year's badge ribbons! 

Rootstech Saturday and Beyond...

Ahhh...the end of another super conference melding genealogy types with technologists to break through frustrating hurdledes and pitfalls galore!

We the users almost always seem to win... well almost.  This year I would like to recount some of my wins a

and losses and maybe a few break evens - you go to a conference with certain expectations - some reasonable - some ambitious - some down right out of this world lottery odds probably not going to happen!




Here is my smiling proof of satisfied customer #1 - I asked a stranger to take this pic and it took two takes- this one is much better.



How many takes were needed for the promototional shot's photo at the right?  Way more than my two I am imagining.

I wasn't counting on photos with the former Governor or Doris K GOodwin who loved my bright shirt per her own words!  She's a great lady!







I couldn't get most of my group info cards out to the masses and retained a good stack of ribbons for next year.  

TECH WIN - I survived and did rather well running an smart phone with less than a week of use !  Still need to learn that video load to social media and patience and timing with photos of keynotes, but not too shabby for a brand newby!

LOSS - Slept less than 4 hours most days and missed two breakfasts , budgeting resources is always a heckle fest worthy endeavor in my astute opinion!  Look how Tru

HUGE WINS - look at all the friends I finally met and new ones too from FB mostly but all are really gold when you get together such kind like minded souls abound which is so refreshing and we are so adult but fun to the core - some comments I won't repeat here but when Genealogy and adult film industry are mentioned in the same breath - you know genealogists are getting wild and crazy!  Look at how friend True warmed up to this new found funny guy.  When I met her she was crying from laughing.  When we left Dear Myrt had her sad and teary so I got her another hug - we found out we both we prior military - both working with military police - both assigned to Korea practically the same years in the 90s.  Wow small world - thanks for letting us discover our vast common ground beyond the geneacrazy in each of us!  Shelley there with us is what Mom would have called a pickle too - great senses of humor abound in our group of blogging fun folks!   This is by no means my last post on people I met and great meaningful spent time with , but a dose you can handle before I head to the airport...

 Geneagblogger Randy Seaver

 Joe from 1812 and former NARA worker

 with Randy Whited (TX also) and also Eowyn all smiles

 with Teresa another one of my shadows :-)

with Miles all the way from FL - Friday and evening party together .

I can't miss my shuttle so I will close and prep for airport.