Conferencing It Up!

I'm writing this from my Grandparent's living room in Midland, Texas, USA. I arrived in the USA on the 4th of February. I've been staying at a friend's house in Dallas and also went to New Orleans for the first time and experienced my first Mardi Gras. This week I'm with my Grandparents. Next week, with my Uncle - we're doing genealogy! The weekend of the 23rd-25th, I'm going to a family reunion! Yay! It's for the descendants of my 5x Great Grandparents John Gowan and Edith Faulk. 

On the 26th of February, I fly to Salt Lake City for my second ever RootsTech (Feb 28th - Mar 3rd)! I'm so excited! I can't wait to catch up with the friends I've made through genealogy. I've been going through the schedule and selecting the classes I might like to go to - most of them revolve around DNA and American research. If you have not got the app on your phone yet, download it! It is a must! You can see your calendar/schedule of the classes you have selected. It's so easy.

It's going to be a wonderful genealogy week!

The main stage. [Photo taken by me, Feb 2015]

I'm also excited for the huge Expo Hall! Ahhhh! [Photo taken by me, Feb 2015]

But that's not all.

I arrive back in Sydney on the 7th of March. On the 8th of March, I have to check into a hotel in Sydney for the Australasian Conference on Genealogy and Heraldry (9th to 12th March). It will be my first Congress. When I tell people what Congress is, I say it's the Australian version of RootsTech.

I'm so thankful for this quiet week with my Grandparents as from next week it's going to get busy.
Genealogists do like to party!

Can't wait! Going to be so much fun!

We have a winner!

My competition for a RootsTech Pass closed on Thursday, 23 November, and we have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition by sending a response to the question: If you could have been born in any other year, what would it be and why? I loved reading your answers.

I wish I had passes to give all of you, however, I only have one. And the winner is...

Marian Wood! 

Congratulations Marian! You've won a 4-Day RootsTech Pass valued at $US279!

Marian's response to the question was:

If the genealogy genie could grant me this wish, I would choose to be born in 1886, the year that the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York harbor. She made her official debut on Oct 28, 1886, so my wish is to have that be my birthday, too. Imagine being born in the same year, as this icon of freedom and hope was presented to the country, with a million people watching.

Marian is a RootsTech first timer and is very excited to attend next year. I look forward to meeting you Marian! You will have an awesome time!

How is it that we are already only 3 months anyway? 

An excited group of genealogists at RootsTech 2015.
L-R: Hilary Gadsby (UK), Me (AUS), Roger Moffatt (US), Sharn White (US),
Cheryl Hudson Passey (US) & Alona Tester (AUS)

____________

As an Ambassador for RootsTech, I have kindly been given free registration. All opinions are my own. 

GIVEAWAY - RootsTech Pass!

One of the perks about being an Ambassador for RootsTech 2018 is that I have a 4-Day RootsTech pass to give away!

That's right, you read correctly.

A 4-Day RootsTech Pass valued at US$279!!!

[Source: Giphy.com]

The awesome pass includes
- over 300 classes
- Keynote/General Sessions
- RootsTech classes
- Innovation Showcase
- Expo Hall
- Evening Events

You will have to fund your own travel to and from Salt Lake City, the conference, hotel, and food, but I promise you it is worth it!

If you win and you have already paid for a RootsTech pass, you will be refunded.

Now that all the minor details are out of the way, how do you win said RootsTech pass?

Easy peasy.

Answer the following question:

If you could have been born in any other year, what would it be and why?

No lengthy responses required -  a couple of sentences will do.

Here's my answer: 1970 - My maternal Grandmother passed away in 1980, ten years before I was born. She was the genealogy queen in our family. 1970 would give me ten wonderful years with her.  

E-mail me your response to genealogicallyspeaking@gmail.com by COB Thursday, 23 November.  

My mother will draw a name randomly from the responses and the winner will be notified via e-mail, and if applicable, social media.

I can't wait to read the responses!

____________

As an Ambassador for RootsTech, I have kindly been given free registration. All opinions are my own. 

Ready to Learn at FGS!

Day 2 - Wednesday, 11th February

FGS Day 1

I woke up on Wednesday morning eager to start the day; however, as I was still recovering from jetlag I was a bit slow in getting ready. I made the decision to miss the opening session – 8 am when you’re still not 100% with it is too early. My first session of the day, at 9:30am, was Engaging Your Long Distance Membership by Jen Baldwin. I was very keen to hear Jen speak and I thought this topic would be handy because most of the societies I plan to join are interstate or overseas. I thoroughly enjoyed Jen’s talk. One important point she made, and probably the most important in my opinion, was that it is just not about the distance physically – members may also be mentally un-engaged.

After Jen’s talk, I finally met Laurie Desmarais! She actually tweeted during Jen’s talk that she was waiting to meet me! I also met Lisa Dawn-Crawley briefly and Laurie’s friend Bev Fieg. Sharn, Pauleen and I also had a chance to catch up and mingle. We saw Cousin Russ, Cheryl, and Thomas MacEntee. Sharn, Pauleen and I grabbed the chance to each get our photos with Thomas. 

Me & Laurie! She reminds me so much of my cousin :)

Me & Thomas!

Next, we were off to our second talk – How the Genealogist Can Remember Everything with Evernote by Lisa Louise Cook. Now, me being Gen Y and all, you would think Evernote would be an easy app for me to grasp. Nah ah! For some reason I just have not been able get the hang of it and it has frustrated me to no end. 

Frustration!

You have no idea how happy I was when Sharn told me she couldn't understand Evernote either! At least we know we’re not alone and shall get frustrated about Evernote together. I found Lisa’s talk to be very informative and I plan on giving myself the challenge of using Evernote for a week. I might even do a video on it. I think I might have told someone I would do a video on my learning to use Evernote. Anyway, I now know a lot more about how to use Evernote. I’ll give it a go and see what happens.

I found Laurie and Bev waiting for me outside the room afterwards. They promised they weren’t stalking me…hmm. Haha. Dalton and Hilary also appeared too. By this time (midday), I was starving, so we went to the Blue Lemon for lunch.

Lunch Buddies: Hilary, Laurie, Dalton, Me, and we found Roger
wandering the streets after.

The next session for us all was The Ethical Genealogist by Judy Russell. I was extremely keen to hear Judy speak, particularly because she’s known as the Legal Genealogist. I just graduated with a degree in Criminology which included a bit of law. Today’s Fun Fact about Caitie: I love legislation! So if there is any topic or seminar that relates to law AND genealogy, count me in! I learned that Judy has three rules of ethics – tell the truth; play nice with others; and don’t tell tales out of school. Judy’s talk was brilliant and made me super excited for her other sessions.

Judy Russell speaking about The Ethical Genealogist

I did not have anything planned for the next session so I went back to the hotel for an hour’s rest. The last session of the day that I attended was Video Marketing: Killer YouTube Strategies for Societies by Lisa Louisa Cooke. This was all about YouTube and as you know, I have a YouTube Channel. I am wanting to really improve my YouTube Channel this year so I was not going to miss this session. I took five pages of notes! When Lisa mentioned a particular aspect, I would get an idea of how it could be applied to my channel. I am keen to start putting these ideas into practice. 

The last item on Wednesday’s agenda was a Behind The Scenes look at Family History & Television. We watched some snippets of Who Do You Think You Are, and two other shows that aren't on air in Australia – Genealogy Roadshow and Finding Your Roots. Then it was a panel session with D. Joshua Taylor, CeCe Moore, and Kenyatta D. Berry. The audience was able to ask them questions about filming the shows. It was great to get some inside information and it was funny to learn that the celebrities in WDYTYA do not know where they are going, they are just told if they need a passport or not!

Behind The Scenes: Family History & Television Panel

Overall, it was a fantastic day!

Waking Up in Salt Lake City

Day 1 - Tuesday, 10th February

I woke up on Tuesday morning after a wonderful 12 to 13 hours of sleep. I was still pretty exhausted from the 24 hours of travel and no sleep, so I had a chilled morning in my hotel room. I did not make an appearance until around 10:30 am when I visited Alona Tester in her room. It was awesome to finally meet her and we had a good chat for a few minutes.

View of Temple Square from the Plaza Hotel. Gorgeous!

Somehow, midday rolled around quickly and it was time for lunch at JB’s. Before I left Australia, Pat Richley-Erickson (DearMYRTLE) invited me to lunch with a few others. I finally got to meet Pat, Jill Ball (GeniAus) and Russ Worthington (Cousin Russ). I also met Katherine Wilson, Barry Kline, and the girls from In Depth Genealogy – Jennifer Alford, Shannon Combes-Bennett & Terri O’Connell. Lunch was absolutely delightful with lots of laughs and excellent conversation. I was feeling very happy for the rest of the day.

The wonderful Jill!

The wonderful Pat!
Taken by Jill Ball

After lunch I made my way over to the Salt Palace Convention Center to register. As you can tell from the selfie below, I was super excited to receive my lanyard. While I was lining up, I ran into Cheryl Hudson Passey, and my new young geneamate Dalton Smith! After registering, I headed over to the Family History Library to explore. I made my way down to Basement 2 - many people had been asking me to come since Monday arvo when I arrived. I found Alona, Helen Smith, Fran Kitto, Jenny Joyce, Hilary Gadsby from Wales, and Roger Moffat. After an exploration and meeting Pauleen Cass on the way out, I went back to my room for a rest. However, I decided I did not want a rest. I messaged Jen Baldwin to see where she was. Luckily she was in her room and up for a visitor! Woohoo! I mozied on down to the Radisson and up to her room. To say she was excited to see me is probably an understatement! I had many presents for her and one for her daughter which made her tear up a little. Awwww! We hung out for a good 45 minutes to an hour which was wonderful! THANK YOU JEN! :D 

Salt Palace Convention Center - Wow!

LANYARD! REGISTERED! YAY!

Family History Library

Helen & Me inside the Family History Library
Taken by Alona Tester

After that, I had about 90 minutes til dinner so I decided that I really did need to rest. Jill had organized a dinner for geneabloggers from the Commonwealth who were attending RootsTech & FGS. At dinner I met Sharn White, Rosemary Morgan, Tessa Keough, Alan Phillips (Alona’s Father!) and two Canadian women whose names sadly escape me at the moment. Dinner was held at the California Pizza Kitchen – my second time there, the first was in Honolulu a year ago. I had a very yummy pizza (duh!). I had decided not to get dessert, however Jill and Alan were. As the waitress was taking their order I saw a peek of the dessert menu, and what do you know, they had RED VELVET CAKE. I love anything red velvet, and had not had anything red velvet in a long time. So yes, I splurged! It was deeeelicious! Dinner was a blast and it was so wonderful to meet geneabloggers who I had been conversing with online for the past couple of years. It also provided me with some familiar faces before being submersed among thousands of people. 

Pre-Commonwealth Dinner

Dinner! Photo taken by Alan Phillips.

Super excited & ready to dig in!
Photo taken by Jill Ball

I was quite tired after dinner and still feeling the up and down motion from the plane. I organised everything I needed the first day of the conference and plonked straight into bed. Excitement & happiness levels...

:-D

Look out Rootstech! I'm coming!

Last year, I made it my goal to attend Rootstech in 2015, and now it's happening! I'm going to Rootstech! Two weeks ago my Aunty & I booked our hotel room at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel. Currently, my Aunty is coming with me to Salt Lake City and she will do her own thing while I am conferencing it up. 

I am so excited y'all!!! Booking the hotel room has made it all so real. This is actually happening. I am going to be at Rootstech! You can expect many blog posts and videos about my preparation for Rootstech. I am also going to be needing lots of advice from you all too.

I want to meet as many of you as possible! I know it's going to be a blast and I want to soak up the experience as much as possible. DearMyrtle mentioned in her latest Mondays with Myrt that she is excited to meet me and will have to do another open house like she did this year. Woo! :D  

Here's my video that I did right after the hotel room was booked. I'd only woken up about 45 minutes prior, but I was like, I need to tell you all right NOW.

I am just so excited. And to see my family in Texas too of course!