22 February 2022
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The world’s largest online genealogy event returns on 3-5 March 2022. Discover how to find your relatives, access more than 1,500 online sessions and build your family tree – all for free – with the Family Tree RootsTech prep guide.
What is RootsTech 2022?
RootsTech is a free, three-day online conference from FamilySearch that anyone can join and access. Originally held each year in Salt Lake City, Utah, since the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference has moved to an online format.
This year’s conference includes:
- Over 1,500 sessions across nine categories – a mixture of online, live stream and interactive
- Keynote speakers from around the world
- Find Your Relatives to discover and connect with relatives at RootTech
- An Expo Hall offering new products and the latest technology
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How do I join RootsTech?
It’s so easy to get started! Visit RootsTech to register and as shown below, simply enter your name, the method by which you’d like to receive RootsTech updates, and after agreeing the terms of use, simply click the ‘register for free’ button.
Add your family tree to FamilySearch
You’ll get much more out of RootsTech if your family tree is on FamilySearch – meaning that people with ancestors in common can reach out to you and share information. Again, this is very simple. At Family Search just click ‘get started’ and then follow the steps to either create a tree from scratch, starting with yourself and working backwards in time, or by importing an existing tree as a GEDCOM file.
If you already have a tree uploaded at FamilySearch, it’s worth taking a few minutes before the conference to check you’ve added all branches of the tree and your information is up to date.
Explore the sessions
With 1,500+ sessions to enjoy this year, family history fans are spoilt for choice! This year’s theme is ‘choose connection’ and the categories are:
- Keynotes
- Connecting with family
- Finding ancestors
- DNA
- Places, records and research
- Memories: stories, photos and video
- Traditions and heritage
- Websites, tools and apps
You’ll likely discover that there are so many sessions that tempt you, you simply can’t watch them all in one day. But fear not! You create your own playlist from the menu at the top of the sessions page and then save sessions to watch at your leisure over the coming year. Don't miss our recommended sessions here.
The talks also include inspiring keynote speakers from around the world – people who have overcome challenges, achieved great things in their career and personal life – and have come along to share their stories and inspire us all.
RootsTech ExpoHall
As well as the sessions, RootsTech features an Expo Hall with exhibitors from around the world. This is always an exciting time of the year, as many organisations and companies reveal new products and innovations at RootsTech so you’ll be one of the first to know!
You can find ExpoHall here and see the demo theater for an explanation of how this virtual experience works. See the latest procuts, get hands-on instruction and even get 1:1 help with your research. Use the ‘search for a company’ feature as shown on the screen below to find a particular organisation or simply browse. And don’t miss Family Tree’s stand for help, advice and fab offers!
Get ready to find your relatives…
Another really fun aspect of RootsTech is the ability to find relatives who are also at RootsTech. These are most likely people you don’t know about, but who share ancestors with you – thanks to the family tree that each of you has uploaded. The video below explains how this is done.
Also, be sure to visit the ‘are you related to your friends?’ page and enter surnames for yourself and any friends you know are attending RootsTech, to discover whether you have an unknown shared ancestor.
Let us know how you get on
We’ll be sharing RootsTech news throughout the conference, so be sure to visit our Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as the news section of our website to keep up with all the latest news.
Join the conversation on social media and let us know about your discoveries and any must-watch sessions you discover.
