Wednesday, February 9, 2011

RootsTech for Free!

In Salt Lake or in your home town, there are parts of RootsTech that you can participate in for free.

The Insider is an Official RootsTech 2011 Blogger

A Few, Select Sessions Live and Free Online

Conference organizers have selected eight popular sessions to broadcast live and free on the Internet. These include all four keynote addresses. You can watch the live presentations at RootsTech.org.

10 Feb Thursday Sessions
8:30-9:50 a.m. A world of Information, Shane Robison, chief technology officer, Hewlett Packard
Turning Roots, Branches, Trees into Nodes, Links, Graphs, Jay L. Verkler, chief executive officer, FamilySearch International
3-4:00 p.m. Digitally Preserving Your Family Heritage, Barry Ewell, founder of MyGenShare.com
11 Feb Friday Sessions
8:30-9:30 a.m. The Changing Face of Genealogy, by Curt Witcher, manager of the Historical Genealogy Department, Allen County Public Library
9:45-10:45 a.m. Cloud Computing: What is it and how it has been used to create the next familysearch.org, by Brian Pugh, senior engineer, FamilySearch International
12 Feb Saturday Sessions
8:30-9:30 a.m. Personal Archiving and Primary Documents, Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archives
1:45-2:45 p.m. Virtual Presentations Round Table and Collaborative Panel Discussion, Thomas MacEntee, professional genealogist and technology specialist
3:00-4:00 p.m. The Power of PDF: Tools for Every Genealogist ,  D. Josh Taylor, Director of Education and Programs at New England Historical Genealogical Society

All times are MST. 8:30 MST = 9:30 CST = 10:30 EST = 7:30 PST

RootsTech Expo HallFree Expo Hall

If you are in the Salt Lake area, you have got to take time to stop by. This is not your father’s expo hall. The RootsTech Community Zone Expo Hall is free. And it has it all:

  • Vendor booths with the usual swag, candy, and special discounts. (I wonder if Gaylon Findley will repeat the incredible special deal he had last year for FamilySearch missionaries?)
  • RootsTech Playground—Enjoy Xbox Kinect, massage chairs, air hockey, pool, ping-pong, and chess in the Playground sponsored by Microsoft.
  • Cyber Café—Stay connected to your world with free internet access at the Cyber Café, sponsored by Dell.
  • Family History Library Mini-Lab—Get personal help digging for your family roots at the Family History Library Mini-Lab.
  • Demo Area—Munch on free popcorn and treats as you learn about the latest products and services in the Demo Area.
  • Media Hub— Stop by the Media Hub to check out the RootsTech official bloggers and other media keeping tabs on the happenings at RootsTech.
  • Collaboration Stations—Sit back, plug in, debate, and discuss at the Collaboration Stations.
  • Give-aways throughout the day.

The Expo Hall is open

  • Thursday: 10:00am to 5:00pm
  • Friday: 9:30am to 5:00pm
  • Saturday: 9:30am to 3:00pm

High Tech Demo Presentations

Every 30 minutes another mini-class/demo is taught in the High Tech Demo Area of the Expo Hall.

Event organizers seem to have learned a lesson from the 2010 NGS Conference, where the demo area occupied an entire exhibit hall but only two rows of seats were ever filled.

The Expo Hall map (above, right) appears to show only two rows of seats in the Demo Area. The map makes It look like there will be several comfy chairs there. I have got to check that out!

The current Demo schedule is

Thursday, 10 February 2011
10:30 am—10:50 am GeneTree: The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships A
11:00 am—11:20 am MyHeritage.com Mobile Applications for Family Photo Sharing
11:30 am—11:50 am RF Memorial Technology: Rosetta Stone Memorial Archiving
12:00 pm—12:20 pm Oracle Systems Solutions
12:30 pm—12:50 pm Family Search Software Community and 3rd Party Products
1:00 pm—1:20 pm Microsoft: Find, Better, Smarter, Faster, Easier
1:30 pm—1:50 pm brightsolid: Find My Past
2:00 pm—2:20 pm Ancestral Quest: Upgrading from PAF to Ancestral Quest
2:30 pm—2:50 pm Lifewood Data: Multilingual Handwriting Data Capture
3:00 pm—3:20 pm National Institute for Genealogical Studies: Distance Genealogical Education
3:30 pm—3:50 pm MagiKey Family Tree Demonstration
4:00 pm—4:20 pm GenerationStation, Inc: Online Future of Family History Preservation
4:30 pm—4:50 pm LifeStory Productions: New Ways to Organize and Share Family History


Friday 11 February 2011
10:00 am—10:20 am PhotoLoom: Hang Pictures on Your Family Tree
10:30 am—10:50 am FamilyLink’s Products and Services
11:00 am—11:20 am My Heritage: Enhanced Smart Matches and Social Networking Technologies
11:30 am—11:50 am One Great Family: Hands‐on Overview
12:00 pm—12:20 pm brightsolid: Genes Reunited
12:30 pm—12:50 pm Next Generation Software TNG: Starting Your Genealogy Web Site
1:00 pm—1:20 pm Legacy Family Tree and new FamilySearch
1:30 pm—1:50 pm Oracle Systems Solutions
2:00 pm—2:20 pm RootsMagic: Evidence Explained Source Templates
2:30 pm—2:50 pm Branches Genealogy: Graphics Approach to new FamilySearch
3:00 pm—3:20 pm Ready Micro: Low Cost, High Quality Microfilm Digitization
3:30 pm—3:50 pm FamilySearch Indexing
4:00 pm—4:20 pm Generation Maps: Family ChArtist—Beautiful Charts, Easy and Free
4:30 pm—4:50 pm Olson DataMax: Accessing and Preserving Information with iPac & PermiPac

Saturday 12 February 2011
10:00 am—10:20 am Family History Expos: Where Ol’ Dogs Learn New Tricks
10:30 am—10:50 am My Heritage: Family Tree Builder 5.0: What’s New in the Next Generation
11:00 am—11:20 am Using Flip‐Pal Mobile Scanner for Sharing Your Family History
11:30 am—11:50 am Legacy Family Tree and new FamilySearch
12:00 pm—12:20 pm Generation Maps Full Service Chart Printing
12:30 pm—12:50 pm FamilySearch: Moving the Classroom to the Internet
1:00 pm—1:20 pm SharingTime: Making New.FamilySearch Easier and More Efficient

If you get to the soft seats before I do, save me one!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.