Now that I have covered some of the required photo promotion as an Ambassador, it is also my duty to share some of my own experiences from past Rootstech attendance.  I went at a great time in 2013 when things weren't so exponentially enormous like attendance last year cresting over 21,000 clearly due to Donnie Osmond and members of the Presidential Bush family being celebrity keynotes that did what celebrities do - draw unprecedented attention and crowds!  My few days in 2013 were perhaps some of the most remarkable as far as interacting with others sharing the same interest and passion for family research!

I met fellow Geneabloggers Randy Seaver, and Heather Wilkinson Rojo, and Thomas MacEntee in person for starters which was great but somehow missed out on the prized geneablogger beads - hmmm?  That oversight will not reoccur in 2016 :-). 

 

You definitely want to bring a camera or camera phone for sure, your laptop, wireless items, chargers, business cards, swag to pass out, etc. 

I gave away about twenty T-Shirts for things as simple as the first person I met, the first person to sit next to me in a key note, the first person from TX to meet me, etc.  Even one fella with Swedish roots who was the first to tell me a great joke about the Norwegians and the Swedes!  Folks were always delighted and delightful to meet and there was never a moment without something fascinating to share with one another.

Did I mention there is a spot with an all you can eat sushi bar within walking distance?!  You will eat well too and the entertainment is great seeing the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal live and a Capella groups is all real treat also!

It was the ideal venue for spring boarding ideas in a crowd of like-minded folks for Genedocs.  Now I have some business to attend to.  See you there if you can make it in 2016!

It is time to blog more than once in a day as an official Rootstech Ambassador.  Most of my following is on facebook, but the blogger crowd is entitled to see and know more too!  Here you go - the remaining pics from the ambassador photobase:

Rootstech - Less than 4 Weeks Away!

Well  Rootstech is finally almost upon us and with vehicle repairs, holiday bills, and more, I scramble to ensure it can be a succeess for me - here are some Ambassador snapshots for you to enjoy!

 Registration

 On Stage Crowd View

Folks at the Computers in the Expo Hall

Rootstech Conference Pass Contest

We made it to 5,000 Genedocs Templates Facebook Members!  To Celebrate...

As Christmas fast approaches, I have figured out just how to select the contest and winner of my Ambassador Contest Pass and it is definitely true to the heart of Genedocs legacy preservation goals - I will begin accepting submissions via the Facebook Genedocs Templates group page for one week: starting December 26 2015 through January 1st 2016.

What the Pass includes: one 3-DAY PASS, it includes the following

• over 200 classes
• Keynotes
• General sessions
• Getting Started classes
• Expo hall
• Evening events

NOTE:  Here are the short rules you must comply with:

1.  To qualify, you must be able to attend Rootstech 2016 Conference in Salt Lake City from Feb 4 - 6, 2016, handle the expense of your own travel to and from the conference, hotel accommodations, and meals.  The prize pass is non-transferable beyond the winner and will be instead presented to a runner up participant should the initial selected winner not meet this basic eligibility criteria.  If the winner has already secured their registration prior to the contest, then Rootstech can and will reimburse them for their previous purchase of a like valued or lesser valued pass for the conference so that they may take advantage of this prize pass.

2.  To enter, you must submit a brand new template of your own designing using MS Office tools.

3. To enter, you will submit your template including a relevant privacy screened example from your family tree to the "Files" area of the Genedocs Templates Facebook Group page with a file name that includes both the words Rootstech and Contest.

4.  Your template must be a tool that you could have most benefited from when you first began your family research whether you began last week or sometime decades ago.  It should be universally applicable to others doing similar research in the following categories.

5.   Your template submission should focus on one of the following general categories:

- Hybrid Category: Preservation of both Textual Information, Photographic Information, and Detailed Source Document Information in a better organized unique format relevant to best organizing family research findings.
     
- Legal Category: (best method of organizing uncovered Last Wills, Trust documents, Contested Wills, etc. and their significance to the family as a whole)
      
- Audio/Visual Bonanza:  Preserving a minimum of three audio and/or visual clips (1-2 minutes maximum for each clip in MS PPT

6.    Your template must be created using in MS Office (Word, Excel, or Power Point) and include a relevant  example from your family tree for at least one deceased relative (= without any concerns for privacy of the living.)  This means your template must be accompanies by a clear graphic example (screenshot  pasted from your own family tree)   Please make it professional looking enough to post on social media since by submitting your template and relevant example from your tree you are consenting for the  template and example to be viewed and tried out on other family trees by the 5,000+ like minded family researchers who make up the membership of the Genedocs Templates Facebook Group administered  by Eric Jelle / Genedocs Founder and Contest Judge.

7.   Submissions meeting all of these guideline rules prior to the cutoff date and time of 11:59 on 1 Jan 2016,
will be judged on the following elements/factors creativity,  relevancy, professional appearance of the screenshot shared example and the template as a whole, and ease of use for family researchers of all skill and experience levels.

Good Luck!

Deciding How To Award A Free 3 Day Rootstech Pass

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM GENEDOCS! 
 

As Ambassadors to next February's annual conference, we are provided many nice perks for being social media springboards to our many followers - perhaps a few dozen or hundred on our genealogy related blogs and hundreds or even thousands more on our own relevant social media administered groups . 
Need I mention our Genedocs Templates Group on Facebook is about 16 members away from our 5,000 member goal?

Yes - that is where I will be selecting my 3-Day Pass recipient in the next month.  One of these can be worth up several hundred dollars with hundreds of top notch classes available to attend not to mention the always worthwhile keynotes and non-stop extravaganza of genea-activity you can enjoy and learn from in the expo hall.

If you know me at all and how I roll with offers, it is all about offering maximum quality and often a FREE cost level so do stay tuned on facebook in the next month or so if you are interested in winning a Free Pass.  Also if you have already paid for one and win, there are instructions on being credited back your original purchase if you are selected as a winner of an Ambassador provided pass to Rootstech.

What have I been up to?  Here is a peek of some of my many recent projects:

 

Halloween 2015 Update 4,900+ Facebook Members!:

Our Genedocs Templates group on Facebook has just crested the 4,900 member mark and we have less than 100 folks to add to reach the phenomenal milestone of 5,000.  Who will be the last under 100 to reap the remarkable benefits of the early bird 5,000?  There is only one way to find out ;-) Let your genealogy minded friends know they are missing a whole dimension of family research most of the world has never even seen before at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/genedocstemplates/

This Rootstech News just in this week on Keynote Speakers for Thursday!:

RootsTech Announces Thursday Morning Keynotes We are thrilled to announce the Thursday keynote speaker lineup for RootsTech 2016, happening at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on February 3–6. Paula Williams Madison Author, Filmmaker, and Retired NBC Executive Paula Madison is chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management, a retired NBCUniversal executive, and the author and filmmaker of Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China, a personal story about discovering family connections as she discovers her long-lost grandfather. Bruce Feiler Best-selling Author and New York Times Columnist Bruce Feiler is a New York Times best-selling author, columnist, and frequent contributor to NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. His most recent book, The Secrets of Happy Families, is the result of a personal three-year journey to find the smartest and most novel solutions to make his own family happier. Stephen T. Rockwood President and CEO of FamilySearch International Steve Rockwood is the newly appointed president and CEO of FamilySearch International, the largest genealogy organization in the world and host of RootsTech 2016. Prior to working with FamilySearch, Steve was a successful entrepreneur, creating unique services for worldwide customers such as Disney and Citibank.     RootsTech, hosted by FamilySearch, is a global conference celebrating families across generations, where people of all ages are inspired to discover, preserve, and share their family stories and connections. This annual event has become the largest of its kind in the world, attracting tens of thousands of participants worldwide. For more information about RootsTech 2016, visit RootsTech.org.