Looking For My Roots

It’s been a week since I attended my first session at Roots Tech 2025.

Most of the sessions I attended were “In Person Only,” but all have a link to the slides or highlights of the session in the links below.

Here are some of the most insightful and interesting sessions I attended at RootsTech 2025.

• Crista Cowan – What’s New at Ancestry® in 2025 (Session Available Online)
It’s always great to listen to Crista’s genealogy experiences. Learned the highlights of what’s new and upcoming with Ancestry.

• Diahan Southard – Combine Multiple DNA Test Types (How atDNA+YDNA+mtDNA=More Answers!) (Session Available Online)
Gained insights into the importance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) versus YDNA. I was also inspired to take an mtDNA test with myFamilyTreeDNA. Stayed tuned to learn about my experience.

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Family Tree Maker 2024 Sessions

• Duff Wilson – How to Use Family Tree Maker with Ancestry and FamilySearch (In Person Only)
The session showed basic uses of accessing Ancestry.com with Family Tree Maker while demoing the upcoming Family Tree Maker 2024.

• Duff Wilson – New Features in a “Working” Version of Family Tree Maker 2024 (In Person Only)
Exciting new features including hyphenated last names, which is key for all the Spanish last names in my family history. Looking forward to the 2024 release and sending my thoughts and prayers to the Ukrainian developers behind the software.

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All thing Artificial Intelligence (AI)

I have been learning and using AI for various personal projects, including assisting me in writing snippets of my family history projects. Here’s what I saw and what I learned.

• Panel Discussion – Guidelines for the Responsible Use of AI in Genealogy (Session Available Online)
Excellent discussion on how AI should be used responsibly in genealogy research. It’s worth watching online.

• Storied – Using AI in Family History (In Person Only)
A fundamental overview of AI technology. There are lots of jokes but not much substantial information.

• Nicole Dyer – AI-Powered Transcription of Handwritten Documents: Tools and Techniques (In Person Only)
I really enjoyed Nicole’s sessions. I have followed her and her mom, Diane Elder, recently reading their blogs on https://familylocket.com/blog/.  Check out Nicole’s Youtube session on how she uses Airtable and  her video “How to Use Airtable AI to Write Paragraphs for a Genealogy Research Report“. The Airtable site also has good documentation using AI in it’s product. Check out https://www.airtable.com/guides/scale/how-to-use-airtable-ai.

• Denyse Allen – Using ChatGPT as Your Personal Writing Coach (In Person Only)
Engaging session with practical tips for genealogy writing.

• Nicole Dyer – AI-Powered Transcription of Handwritten Documents: Tools and Techniques (Session Available Online)
Another excellent presentation from Nicole. Great for intermediate to advanced transcription techniques using AI.

• Steve Little – Taking Your Prompting Skills to the Next Level (Session Available Online)
I highly recommend listening to or watching AI Gen Master, Steve Little’s sessions. Steve shared his journey in mastering AI tools for genealogy.

• Mark Thompson – Research Documents and Letters with Artificial Intelligence (In Person Only)
Mark is the other AI Gen master (IMHO), and his process for using AI in genealogy is fun and educational. The handout from this session was easy to follow and packed with valuable details.

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Missed this session

• Nicole Dyer – Simplifying Citations: Automated Tools for Efficient and Accurate Documentation (In Person Only)

Given my recent genealogy writing, I have had my challenges with citations. I reviewed the syllabus download. Great content.

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I hope you enjoyed reading my about RootsTech adventure. Let me know if you have any questions about RootsTech in general or these sessions. 🚀