Wednesday, January 20, 2016

#RootsTech 2016: Plan to Go and Plan Your Time

The Ancestry Insider is getting excited about RootsTech.With RootsTech 2016 just two weeks away, it’s time to start planning.

  • If you’re planning on deciding to come to RootsTech or not, now’s the time to decide. Looking through the class list is a great way to decide.
  • If you’re already registered, now’s the time to look through the class schedule and make some tentative decisions.

To see what sessions are available, visit https://rootstech2016.smarteventscloud.com/connect/search.ww. Using this list, you can decide to come to RootsTech or not.

To see what time each session is offered is considerably more difficult. It can be done in one of two ways. (Thanks, Clytee for this information.)

  • Download the RootsTech 2016 app and tap Schedule. Be forewarned. Judging from Wednesday, it is apparent not every class is listed in the app.
  • Before looking at the schedule on the web, login (using the link in the upper-right corner) and select Browse and Search. Then filter by day. The class times magically appear in the right column.

Login and filter by day to see class times.

While you can not reserve classes, you can use RootsTech website or the app to create a calendar for yourself, showing the classes you’d like to attend during each session time. I recommend you use the web to begin with. Scroll through all the classes for the day and select the star for every class that interests you. Once you’ve marked all classes of interest, go back through and look at the classes for each session time. Decide the class of greatest interest. Select the blue plus sign above the star to add the class to your schedule.. (Leave the stars selected in case circumstances change.)

Once you’ve completed this, you can look at your schedule on either the website or the app. On the web you can print your schedule or export it to your regular calendaring system.

The RootsTech website is a good place to create a schedule for the RootsTech conference.

The calendar on the app is synchronized to your calendar on the web. Changes you make on one will appear on the other. However, I wasn’t able to find a way to view a list of the collections I had starred. You’ll have to find another way of equiping your phone with a list of alternate classes to attend if your first choice is full when you arrive. Remember, putting a class on your schedule does not reserve a seat for you in the class. Classes are still fist come, first seated.

2016-01-16 22.03.05

Now, plan to go to RootsTech 2016 and plan what to do when you get there.

Keynote Speakers and Performers Announced

In other news, RootsTech has finished announcing the keynote speakers and the special event entertainers for RootsTech 2016.

RootsTech 2016 keynote speakers

Hope to see you there!

7 comments:

  1. Two weeks to go and still NO syllabus which is what I often use to decide what classes to attend.
    And, it would have been nice if we could mark the map for the vendors we would like to visit. On the phone, the map is so small, it is impossible to read the vendor booth numbers without blowing it up and losing all geographic perspective.

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  2. "fist come, first served"?

    Oops. No, I'm not advocating violence. It should have read "first come, first served." Oh well.

    ---tai

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  3. Will any of the conference be live-streamed?

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  4. I am excited for my first RootsTech. I am also frustrated cause the App is not syncing with my ipad/iphone/computer entries. Any suggestions for solving this problem? Thanks

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    1. I think the contact email is info@rootstech.org. Ask them for technical support with the app. Hopefully, their app vendor is as good as the one recently used by NGS. That company kindly walked me through the necessary fix.

      ---tai

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    2. Wish there was an app for Windows phones. In fact, wish there were FS apps for it also. Seems so strange that programmers don't provide them. When I ask, the response is "that is in development."

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