What an event! RootsTech is over for another year and for the first time, it was completely virtual. The statistics are simply mind-boggling – over one million people from over 235 countries and territories registered for the conference which ran from 25-27 February. Around 2000 live and on-demand sessions were offered as well as a virtual expo hall – all for absolutely no cost.
Even thought it is over for this year, the best thing is that all of the RootsTech Connect classes will be available On-Demand up to a year after the conference ends. Go to rootstech.org and check out the Speakers to find your favourite presenter or browse the Sessions and dd the one that seem interesting to your playlist.
I must admit that my playlist is VERY long but I am slowly working my way through it.
I had three presentations and did each of them differently.
- Ankle Beaters and Barkers: Exploring our Ancestors’ Occupations has video of me all the way through it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGUXtkaUHiA…)
- Lost a Civil War soldier? He might be in Australia! has only a voiceover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f51E6g20TQA&feature=emb_logo)
- The 3Ps: Preparation, Planning and Progress (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VreqYE9j-PQ&feature=emb_logo) has no voiceover and no talking head.
I tried the different versions for two reasons – to see which one worked best for the audience and to extend my skills in using Powerpoint and including video and audio. I still have some more learning to do to make the videos more polished but I thought that generally they worked quite well.
Ankle Beaters and Barkers now has thousands of views so to say I am excited is an understatement as I did not anticipate any of my presentations would reach so many people. The viewing figures were boosted because RootsTech promoted this session the day before the conference started so that really helped. You can check out the post at this link:
https://www.facebook.com/RootsTech/posts/3847627898617450
I also had some great emails from people who were particularly impressed with the 3Ps presentation. I really appreciated that people took the time to tell me how much they enjoyed my sessions.
My playlist is mainly focused on DNA sessions as I want to extend my skills further in that area. So I am going to make the most of the on-demand access for the next twelve months. I can’t wait to see what will be on offer next year.