It’s hard to summarize four entire days of genealogical adventures, but here goes!

There were definitely people. . . and still more people. . . . but among all those bodies were the faces of old friends and new ones.

I was astounded that blogger Karen from Germany recognized me as we passed in the hallway, as I am not known for having many pictures of myself online! We visited and met up each day for lunch. Karen was on her first trip to the U.S. and came by herself (!) just to attend RootsTech. She said it has been 40 years since she studies English, but you’d never know it because her English is excellent – and definitely much better than my German, as I can count to four and say thank you!

The Photo + Story Gallery was new this year.

I liked the layout of the gallery, with a grouping of photos spaced throughout. It made it easy to read the story accompanying each photo.

The stories were cute, funny, poignant and historical. There was a variety of subject matter, too.

One of my main reasons for attending RootsTech is the classes.

What I really, really enjoyed about the classes this year is that so many of the speakers were first-timers at RootsTech. That doesn’t mean they were newbies, genealogically speaking, because they were excellent presenters and brought new topics to the class sessions. Funeral Home Records and Family History: They Are Dying to Meet You by Daniel Earl is a great example. His dad owned a mortuary business and he gave expert tips from firsthand experience. If you can’t tell by his class title, he did bring some humor into what could be a rather sad talk.

There were more sessions geared to the intermediate and advanced level researcher, which made me very happy. I hope that next year, speakers present even MORE advanced level sessions. Case studies are fabulous and the subject matter isn’t important. It’s the methodology that stretches our learning and helps us think outside the traditional box.

The very first genealogy book that I bought, way back in 1980, when I got started down this addicting path, was The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy by Val Greenwood. Recently, the 4th edition of this book was released by Genealogical Publishing Company. It was a fun surprise to meet both men and I now have an autographed copy of the book. 🙂

The Expo Hall, as you saw in my two posts earlier this week, is a learning experience in and of itself.

There is as much to learn in the Expo Hall as there is in the classes because many of the vendors offer mini-classes.

Lisa Louise Cooke had a steady schedule of mini-classes going all four days, as did many of the other big-company vendors.

That wraps up RootsTech 2018 for me, but before I close I have to give a big shout out to FamilySearch, which created and is a major sponsor of the conference:

A big shout out also goes to the RootsTech staff, who work all year long for a four-day conference. This year’s theme pretty much says it all. I think most attendees would agree.

Connect. Belong.