Rain, Snow, and Blue Skies on the Opening Day of RootsTech 2013

In the Salt Palace Convention Center, Hall 1 was filled to capacity with only standing room as trails of conference participants braved the inconsistent weather and filed into the building yesterday morning. Dennis Brimhall, Syd Lieberman, and Josh Taylor addressed us. Although Dennis Brimhall did not mention the debuted FamilySearch logo of Wednesday night, there was a brief peek at the end of his presentation. RootsTech provides 8.5 hours of Thursday’s recap on the official site, but for those who may be pressed for time here’s a picture of the new logo:

The New FamilySearch Logo

For more information, please watch the recap at your convenience :-)

As far as the unveiled T-shirt, it’s another story :-) This year conference attendees were asked to complete the exhibit tour scavenger hunt to enter into Saturday’s drawing, but RootsTech broke with tradition and the T-shirt giveaway has been retired. This year official T-shirts can be purchased for $10 at the registration desk after the opening session on Friday, if all goes as reported.

Jill Ball, Marie Dougan,
Heather Rojo, and A.C. Ivory

The flow of the exhibit hall managed the crowds well. Within the first hour after it opened the button collectables available from FindMyPast, unveiled in the opening session, were gone and in the possession of the passionate :-) The claim on the buttons, with multiple different sayings referring to a person’s heritage from which one could choose, was described as a “frenzy.” If this is important to you, do not despair, Josh Taylor promised that there will be more buttons at the National Genealogical Conference in Las Vegas in May :-)

The official bloggers were busy in the media hub recording interviews among other things when they were not doing their own presentations. Jill Ball, Marie Dougan, Heather Rojo, and A.C. Ivory posed for a photo after their presentation discussing tech toys to take in The Genealogist’s Gadget Bag: International Panel.

For more information, the links to the official bloggers are provided on the official RootsTech page as well available on the RootsTech app under “news” :-)