RootsTech 2026 - my first impressions!

Earlier in March I hopped on a plane to the US for RootsTech, the world's biggest genealogy conference. As well as two speaker sessions, I had plenty of time to attend other sessions and have a good look around the expo hall.

Talks on Catch-Up

One of the best things about RootsTech is that any of the sessions which were streamed live and recorded are available on-demand from the RootsTech website. There is no charge for watching any of the classes, or downloading the syllabus, but you will need a FamilySearch account.

The first session I am going to recommend you watch is (obviously) the one I delivered on the Thursday afternoon about Scottish church records other than baptisms, funerals and marriages. This was a fun session to teach, and there were lots of great questions from the audience afterwards.

There was also an interesting presentation sponsored by FindMyPast, all about customs in Britain and Ireland which people who moved across the Atlantic may have brought with them to North America.

There was also a great session on hidden clues in family photographs, which could let you finally identify the people in photographs handed down through the family.

I also really loved the session delivered by students at a Utah university about interesting ways of presenting family history research - through rapping, baking, or even lego stop-motion animation. There are literally dozens of interesting classes on every genealogical topic you can imagine.

Expo Hall and Salt Lake City

RootsTech is held in the centre of Salt Lake City and is just a block from the FamilySearch library. This is not to be missed - during RootsTech volunteers run regular tours of the library to showcase all the amazing resources they have to help in your research. They also have experienced researchers and experts on site to assist if you get stuck. The Expo Hall in the conference centre is huge, but if I'm honest there was not much of interest from a British perspective. Many of the booths were promoting US genealogical membership organisations and societies which is understandable as everyone I spoke to over the three days of the conference was from the US or Canada.

RootsTech was a whirlwind of jet lag, learning, getting to grips with live broadcasting, and connecting with friends and lots of other people interested in their roots. Get the 2027 event in your diary - March 4-6th at the Salt Palace conference centre in Salt Lake City, Utah. Maybe see you there?