RootsTech Ride Along: Day 1 » Robin Stewart | Maureen Taylor & Kathy Stone

RootsTech Conference Day 1

The clips above¹ pull highlights from the Live stream videos. Below explore the full videos with resources and a few photos that I hope give you a sense for the joy of the experience.

Live Sessions, Full Recordings

Robin Stewart,

Genealogy Matters

Mentioned in our conversation:

• FamilySearch Wiki, a surprising source of tips

• The “no-eyeroll-zone” throughout the conference space

• Watch for more posts from

  Denyse Allen
  of
  Chronicle Makers
  and
  Kyla Bayang
  of
  Rootsquad Roundup

• Rhonda Lauritzen has been a Projectkin speaker, don’t miss her program from October 2025 “The Curious Call of Ancestral Places.”

Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective

&

Kathy Stone

of Kathy’s Corner

Mentioned in our conversation:

• Our Live program unfortunately started before NGS’s AI Program Director, Steve Little’s could complete his talk.

  • So you don’t miss anything, here’s the recording “AI Genealogy: Year Two: The 2025 Outlook: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re At, Where We’re Headed” and below you’ll find his slides.

Ai Genealogy Year Two 2025 Little Steve

8.26MB ∙ PDF file

Download

“AI Genealogy: Year Two: The 2025 Outlook: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re At, Where We’re Headed”

Download

• Earlier in the day, Crista Cowan from Ancestry spoke, introducing a new “Networks” feature of the platform that creates a new way to look at Friends, Acquaintances, and Neighbors. That is what led into our discussion of interfaces and technologies.

• On the topic of obituaries and writing your own, Barbara mentioned

  Jane Hutcheon
  ’s Forget-Me-Not series for Projectkin, specifically the episode last month featuring, James R. (Bob) Hagerty. He’s the author of “Yours Truly, An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story.”

• Maureen Taylor mentioned that she’d be doing a talk on Friday for the Family Tree Maker team, streamed into their booth. Look for it in their expo booth.

Photos from the show floor!

Robin Stewart

,

Lori Olson White

,

DearMYRTLE

, Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal and Tami Mize gathered near the National Genealogical Society table in the Expo Hall. Later Robin took a moment to buttonhole Rhonda Laurtizen after her afternoon talk, “How To's of Writing a Life Story Everyone Will Want to Read” (not recorded, syllabus provided in the link.)

The joy of gathering comes streaming through. Robin with Rhonda Lauritzen on the left. On the right is DearMyrt and the gang, with Robin, Lori, Tami and Elizabeth. Decked out in blogger beads.

Posts & Observations

Kyla Bayang

added to her series of daily posts for

Rootsquad Roundup

• RootsTech Week

  • March 3rd: “Here’s the Plan”

  • March 4th: “What really happened”

If you’ve had any trouble finding your way to the Expo Hall, you’ll find it here:

Have tips? Share them!

Finally, there’s so much happening during this show we welcome all tips. Drop your tips in the comments, or send them to one of us via DM. We’d love to add them to this discussion. Come on in, you’re among friends here.

1. Music credit: “Slick Strut Song” by @QuincasMoreira for YouTube Audio.