Hello Reader!

I'm writing this newsletter from the Salt Lake City airport (and interrupting your regularly scheduled Pennsylvania genealogy news) to get you the freshest news from RootsTech and free download of my presentation.

An estimated 15,000 attended in-person—up from 12,000 last year, and several million viewed sessions online. There was (as is—see more below) something for everyone. I had the great fun of meeting 6 subscribers to this newsletter and it felt like I was meeting old friends from high school. That was unexpectedly cool, and makes me want to organize more in-person events.

​Steve Rockwood, FamilySearch CEO, speaking on the theme of discovery at the opening keynote, said "our moments of discoveries turn into ongoing journeys." I really felt that. For me, family history for me is an ongoing journey, and one I’ll continue, and share what I learn with templates and frameworks in this newsletter.

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Conference Highlights

While I honestly didn't really know many of the keynote speakers before the event, I left completely inspired by their stories. When they spoke about how their families shaped their lives and careers, I got tears in my eyes every time. (Did you know there is a social media hashtag #tearsatRootsTech for people to share each time this happens to them? Glad I'm not the only one!)

As part of the Media Team, I interviewed these keynote speakers, leaders inside FamilySearch, and vendors specializing in family history book publishing. I’ll be releasing those video interviews over the next month—you can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified as each is released.

I also recorded a video with a more personal review of RootsTech 2025—the classes, vendors, and overall vibe—look for that on Wednesday on YouTube.

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My Session on ChatGPT as Your Personal Writing Coach

On Saturday morning, I gave a talk on how ChatGPT can be a helpful writing coach for family historians, and several attendees told me it was their favorite session of the conference. So thrilled it was received so positively!

While the session wasn’t recorded, I’m making my slides and handout available exclusively for newsletter subscribers.

To access the session slides, I have a one question survey asking what some of your obstacles are when it comes to writing family history. Your answers will help me create content for family historian overcome those obstacles and write a family history they can be proud of.

​Here is the link to the one question survey and downloadable session slides.​

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Take Advantage of Relatives at RootsTech and Session Recordings

There are hundreds of sessions from RootsTech 2025 available to watch online. If you missed a talk or want to revisit something, check out the official recordings. Michelle Chubenko recorded a session on mid-atlantic research resources that I heard was fabulous.

Additionally, I have directions on how to make custom transcripts of these conference sessions, so you can progress in your genealogy research faster.

Relatives at RootsTech—our one chance a year to connect with living descendants—ends on April 11th. My post below details how to use it, if you are new to it. I’ve received baptismal certificates from Germany and photos from 5th and 6th cousins. You may exchange similar items and collaborate on research with your cousins.

Be sure to check out the Relatives at RootsTech post with video to learn how to use this feature before it closes down on April 10th :

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I hope you had a fantastic RootsTech experience! I’d love to hear about your favorite moments from the conference—just hit reply!