Space is limited, so sign up today.

Our Exhibit Hall is one of the greatest parts of our Expo. Be sure to tell your friends and those curious but not committed to classes that the hall is open and free to the public. We have lots of fun stuff for browsing in the Exhibit Hall.

Our prize drawings are tops! Exhibitors, advertisers, and local vendors donate gifts for the door prizes. You will certainly want to register so you qualify to win prizes.

You will absolutely enjoy the education opportunities we offer in the myriad of classes offered. Be sure to study the agenda and speaker bios so you can make your best choices once you arrive.

We always have our Bloggers of Honor tweeting and blogging about the Expo. You can follow the buzz by following us @FHExpos and searching on the hashtag #fhexpo.

Free Book Scanning Service at the St George Expo

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah is world renowned as the largest research collection under one roof anywhere in the world! You can access their collections through more than 3,000 FamilySearch Centers throughout the U.S.

At the St George Family History Expo FamilySearch is offering to scan your family history book and give you a digital copy on a flash drive provided by FamilySearch for your convenience.

Benefits of scanning your book:

• Share it with others easily and inexpensively
• Have a copy of your book preserved by FamilySearch
• Provide access to others who may share your ancestral lines by making the book available free of charge on FamilySearch.org

How it works:

• Sign-up and reserve your time for your book to be scanned (300 page limit)
• If your book is copyrighted, print out and have the copyright holder sign the permission form in order for scanning to be performed
• Bring your book and signed permission form to the FamilySearch Scanning booth at the Expo on the day of your reservation. Please drop the book off before 10:00 am, if possible, to allow maximum time for scanning
• Pick up your book and the digital copy on a flash drive provided by FamilySearch at the end of the day

Sign up online to reserve a day for your book to be scanned:

• http://familysearchbookscanning-ut.eventbrite.com

It was a real treat for me to attend RootsTech, I actually attended classes and visited every vendor booth in the exhibit hall.

A lot of insight and growth for exhibitors and their staff took place at the conference while they assisted conference goers to learn about new resources and technology available to them. When talking to Rachel Denning, general manager of censusrecords.com, at the brightsolid booth she mentioned how eye opening it was for her to get to really know the audience they serve. Rachel was excited at the response users had to the product and said serendipity happened when showing patrons how to use the site. Brightsolid is the home of family history and their tagline “If you’re looking into your past, we are your future” is right on. They are home to censusrecords.com, findmypast.com, ScotlandsPeople, The British Newspaper Archive and more.

Devin Ashby from the RootsTech booth showed me how the RootsTech app was built and just in case you didn’t know it will work on a Blackberry too. It was amazing to get all the latest updates on the cell phone or iPad. You can expect to see this happening at more and more events. Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree planners used something similar at their conference last year too.

There was never a quiet moment at the1940census.com booth. I talked to Jim Ericson near the end of the conference and he said they had signed up more than 970 volunteers during the conference!! If you haven’t registered yet do it now!

FamilySearch.org, Arichives, and findmypast.com have joined forces to allow indexers the opportunity to be involved in a history making event while making history available to all seeking records in the 1940 Census. Thank you!

Dell Computers booth was fun and Sterling Fuhriman was there manning the booth when I stopped by. He was thrilled to see “the older generation” using technology. He was quite surprised actually!

Besides FamilySearch there were other online family tree building companies including AGES-Online, MyHeritage, and Geni.com were pleased to demo their sites and help you to set up an online account. Isn’t it wonderful to know you can access your records anywhere you travel? I recommend that you put your records in more than one place as it hurts when a disaster destroys your hard work. These companies have the ability to help you collaborate and share.

Cemeteries are places I like to hangout in when doing onsite research and I found some help from BillionGraves.com, QRMemorials.com, NamesInStone.com, and Memory Medallion. These sites have different advantages from home and in the field you can contribute and you can search for your family that another user has shared.

Competition and opposition in all things creates strength and assists us to be the best we can as we overcome the challenges. We have had the support and friendship of software developers AncestralQuest, Legacy Family Tree and RootsMagic over the years. Legacy Family Tree has given away a netbook computer at several of our Expos. Not to be outdone at RootsTech, RootsMagic gave away an iPad2 (one at the show and another online for those who could not attend). Thousands of entries in the Treasure Hunt yielded a lucky winner with miles of smiles as we all waited for our name to be drawn. I love the drawings and there is always something new coming from these fantastic developers!

The Ancestry.com booth was always full of enthusiastic attendees who had lots of questions. I saw Crista Cowan and others instructing and demonstrating the site. Even CEO Tim Sullivan had time to speak with attendees. Ancestry.com is approachable and willing to assist you with your research needs.

Oh boy, Family Roots Publishing and Maia’s books were ready to fill your sack with some good stuff. Family Roots Publishing not only sold mountains of books but I heard they sold over 140 Flip-Pal scanners.

Family ChartMasters (formerly GenerationMaps) had all the new charts and designs on display and offered to design any speciality chart you can possibly imagine. Genealogy Wall Charts debuted at RootsTech this year and they were welcomed by the crowd too. They had their printer going nonstop. Friday night the venue allowed them to keep their printer running until Midnight to handle the free chart special they offered.

Publishing companies, storytelling opportunities, genealogical associations, wiki info, and so much more!

A family history, technology, or any other conference is not complete without vendors and an exhibit area. Be sure to check out the specials offered by vendors ahead of time to get your best advantage. And always support the vendors as they are a huge part of the whole event.

If you missed RootsTech this year plan to attend next year. I’ll be there too! In the meantime I look forward to seeing you at an Expo in your neck of the woods.

RootsTech has been full of serendipity again this year. Here is just one example:

Kris Lloyd, from FamilySearch indexing, a member of the set up team, was assisting a woman to learn how indexing works. They pulled up a page on the Colorado 1885 Census and immediately this woman recognized the county as one her family lived in. So, she quickly scanned the page and WHA LAAA!!! Serendipity. . .  she found her great grandfather right on the sample page!!

I always say the more you do family history the more you find!! Serendipity is related to the amount of time you dedicate to learning more and more. RootsTech is full of opportunities to learn and share and serendipity happens even during an instructional lesson.

Way to go Kris!! Thanks for all the assistance you give the world as part of the indexing team. We love the indexes, we love indexing, we love serendipity.

Join the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project. You can assist with the transcribing and indexing of this great census before World War II. This census year gives information on the family in 1940 and asks where they were living in 1935.

To learn about how you can get started, visit:

the1940census.com

My parents will be listed in this census, will yours? Are you listed, are your grandparents? Who will you discover?

On April 2, 2012 NARA will provide access to the images of the 1940 U.S. Federal Census and for the first time it will be made available as free digital images.

Let’s all join in with Archives.com, FamilySearch, findmypast.com, and other leading genealogy organizations to provide quick access to these digital images.

RootsTech is unfolding great information on this project.

We are accepting proposals for our Houston, TX and Albuquerque, NM Expos.

Our Expo theme for 2012 is “Your Family History Starts Here!” Expos feature excited presenters who have expertise in a subject and want to share their specialties with others. Submission details can be found on our website in our Speaker Community Center.

Speakers whose proposals are accepted will receive the following benefits :

·      Free Business Card Ad in Expo program ($100 value);

·      Free Classifieds Ad on Family History Expos website ($50 value);

·      Registration to event ($100 value);

·      Professional exposure, networking, and more.

Family History Expos teaches people to trace their roots with modern technology and proven techniques. We bring people together in the name of one of the world’s greatest assets-families. Family history research heals. It aids our patrons in defining and refining their own lives. Through our past, we all become one family. Family History Expos links the past and future through quality, affordable, accessible education.  Family History Expos holds annual events throughout the United States and we are adding new cities this year.

To learn more about Family History Expos, visit our website FamilyHistoryExpos.com.

All you curious, ambitious genealogists, programmers, and innovators come on down to Salt Lake and get inspired. This is the place where we get to “Invent the future, as a community,” Jay Verkler will kick off the event sharing with us details on how we can be a part of this effort.

Innovation inspires me, I love to think about the possibilities and participate in the sharing of new technology with others. Rootstech is one of the places innovation is inspired and shared with regular users, developers, and business owners. It is a great place to express your wish list, concerns, and dreams to the people in a position to make it happen.

See you in Salt Lake City next week!

Our Bloggers of Honor provide information and updates about the Expo and assist in making each Expo a virtual event by tweeting, blogging, and Facebooking about the exhibits, classes, and networking opportunities they experience.

If you are a blogger attending the Yuma Expo please let us know and we will list you with our “Other Bloggers” to make it easy for attendees to follow your blog and get to know more about you.

Our Yuma Expo Bloggers of Honor are:

Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D. – Genealogy Evidence

James L. Tanner – Genealogy’s Star

Holly T. Hansen – Family History Expos Genealogy Blog

Leland K. Meitzler – GenealogyBlog

Other Bloggers in Attendance at the Yuma Expo include:

Nathan Richardson – Richardson Design

Send us a message via our Contact page and we’ll add you to our blogger list.

Yuma Arizona Expo January 17

Hilton Garden Inn / Pivot Point Conference Center

310 Madison

Yuma, AZ 85364

Mesa Arizona Expo January 20-21

Mesa Convention Center

263 N. Center Street

Mesa, AZ 85201

St. George Utah Expo February 24-25

The Dixie Center

1835 Convention Center Dr.

St. George, UT 84790

Types of Blogs that will qualify you as a Blogger of Honor:

• Family History or Genealogy Blog
• Family History Product or Service Provider
• Library, Archive or Research Center
• Professional Genealogist
• Preservation Awareness
• Restoration Projects
• Information Provider
• Other Blogs of Historical Interest

Chosen Bloggers of Honor will receive:

• Full Registration Benefits
• Listing on Event Website with Hotlink to Blog
• Promotion on Family History Expos Blog
• Gift Bag Provided by Expo Sponsors and Exhibitors

Bloggers of Honor will be expected to:

Pre-event

• Announce the Expo and Sponsors
• Promote Expo Speakers, Exhibitors, and Activities
• Share Press Release Information

On-site

• Highlight Websites, Tools, and Discoveries Made
• Share Blogging Tips with Attendees
• Report Daily on Presentations and Exhibits

Post-Event

• Summarize Overall Expo Experience

To be considered as a Blogger of Honor fill out the application below and submit to Family History Expos at bloggers@fhexpos.com.

BLOGGER OF HONOR APPLICATION

Your Full Name:

Address:

Phone:

Email Address:

Blog URL:

Blog Description:

Which Event(s):

Three References:

1. Name and contact information (Phone and email address)
2. Name and contact information (Phone and email address)
3. Name and contact information (Phone and email address)

300 word essay on why you want to be a Blogger of Honor:

Have you recently been doing something family or genealogy-related and thought, “There should be an app for that!”? Now is your chance. Solving that problem and entering the RootsTech 2012 Developer Challenge could earn you $5,000.

Tens of millions of people around the world are interested in some facet of family history. These people need software solutions—whether on the desktop, online, or through mobile delivery—that help them engage and succeed in their efforts to discover, preserve, and share their family history.  RootsTech will reward developers who introduce the most innovative new concepts to family history with $10,000 in cash rewards and increased visibility.

Visit the Developer Challenge page on RootsTech.org to find out more about rules, prizes and deadlines.  Developers wishing to enter the challenge must register by January 1, 2012 but actual submissions are not due until January 15.  Spread the word and register today!

Good luck and let me know when you enter so we can watch your success.