In Anticipation of an "Electric" Conference Experience

In Feb. 2011 I learned of the first RootsTech conference sponsored by FamilySearch and many other large genealogy corporations.  I watched the live streaming sessions and was  immediately intrigued because I'd been using some "new" technology--cloud storage through Dropbox and Sugar Sync--in conjunction with my genealogy research. I made up my mind I'd attend this year's conference, if at all possible.  

It wasn't until Spring of 2011 that I got a smartphone, however, and learned how much fun and helpful apps could be with genealogy research. My husband and I started taking photos of graves for BillionGraves, and I started using Evernote to keep track of research notes. Early last December I got a Kindle Fire as an early Christmas gift from my husband and discovered so many more things I could use digital tools for in my research. I've downloaded pedigree charts and ancestry reports as pdf files, I've put free Google books on my Kindle Fire that are published family histories. And on my phone I've downloaded such apps a "Bump", "World Card", "EasyBib", a QR Code Reader, and a genealogy database program. 

Last week when the syllabi were made available, I downloaded them as pdf files to Sugar Sync and have saved the ones I'll use to my Kindle Fire so I can open them and follow along in the classes I attend. I'll pack my new netbook so I can take notes during the lectures. I plan to put my notes in Evernote. In fact, I'm looking forward to the Evernote class as much as anything on this trip. I want to learn to use it more effectively. I'm an organized person, a list maker and note taker so I think Evernote and I can become really good friends. It can spare me from hauling around that big spiral notebook I've been using to keep my research notes in.

I was happy when the RootsTech app came out because I've connected with some good friends who I want to be sure to meet at the conference. Like distant cousins Lorine Massey, Debra Marsh, Elaine Mayfield, and blogging Facebook friends Randy Seaver and Russ Worthington. I downloaded the list of Geneabloggers at the conference so I can use it as a checklist in my effort to meet most of them in person. I'm not shooting for meeting ALL of them, as Amy Coffin is, but I'll do my best to meet as many as I can.

In my previous post yesterday, I published the information from RootsMagic about how you can enter to win an iPad2, even if you don't attend the conference. I'll be at their booth Saturday at 1:20 pm for the drawing, as I hope to win that new toy...oh I mean tool! 

I'm not an "Official Blogger" at RootsTech, but since I'll have my netbook and digital camera with me all week, I plan to post as much about the conference as I have time for. So stay tuned!