I'm headed to RootsTech 2025

Where I'll be and what I'll be learning

Release Date: February 22, 2025

I’ve made my list and checked it twice, and think I finally have a schedule I’m thrilled with for RootsTech 2025!

In deciding which presentations to attend, I thought long and hard about what new skills, information or insights I needed to make what I do here at The Lost & Found Story Box better and more engaging for you, my readers — so fingers crossed!

• Culinary Heritage: Finding Home within Yourself with Lisa Lisson.

  Although I don’t write directly about culinary history here at the Lost & Found Story Box, my other newsletter, Culinary History is Family History is dedicated to that topic, so I am beyond excited to attend this lecture, especially since Lisa is one of my favorite writers on this area.

• In That Case: Using Published Court Cases with Judy G. Russell

  In researching Call Me a Bastard, I worked my way through nearly 4,000 pages of legal documents, and I was definitely riding the struggle bus! Although I learned a lot by trial and error, I’m excited to learn even more from a master.

• The Beauty of Oral History with Rachel Trotter

  I’m committed to doing more personal oral history projects this year, and this course will give me the skills and confidence I need. In the bigger scheme of things, learning different interviewing techniques as well as getting some hands-on knowledge of new technology is always a win.

• Finding Original Records: The Real Game of Hide and Seek with JanaLee McBride

  Researching lost & found stories requires a a lot of different kinds of records, and none are more important, and coveted, than original sources - diaries, journals, personal correspondence, etc. My hope is this lecture will give me some great tips on where to find them.

• Efficient Locality Research with AI: Discovering New Avenues of Exploration with Diane Elder

  Local and social history are key to making lost & found stories engaging and readable, but finding those sources can be really time-consuming, especially since I am a researcher with a tendency toward falling down rabbit holes. Learning how AI can help could be a game-changer.

• Uncovering Ancestral Origins: Cluster Research and Indirect Evidence with Stephanie O’Connell

  I use cluster research a lot and am hopeful this case study will give me some powerful new hints on how to do it better.

• Becoming a Genealogy Speaker - from Preparation to Presentation with Cheri Judson Passey

  This one represents a stretch goal for me. After dipping my toes in with Barbara at Projectkin, I recognize presenting is a great way to tell stories, so am hopeful this lecture will give me some confidence in doing more on-camera and in-person stuff.

• Getting Started Part 6: Reading Old Documents with Amy Harris

  In my personal genealogy research I’ve gotten pretty competent in reading old German-language written records, but there are several really cool lost & found stories in my teaser file that have old records I can’t read or understand. I’d like to change that.

• Using U.S. Cemetery Records to Fill in Gaps on Your Family Tree with Julie A. Anderson

  Really digging into cemetery records is on my New Skill bucket list, so I’m excited about this lecture.

• Using ChatGPT as Your Personal Writing Coach with Denyse Allen

  I already use AI to help with brainstorming and some outlining, but haven’t gone much past that. Having am AI writing coach sounds like a great efficiency move! Plus, I’m excited to hear Denyse’s take on the topic!

• AI -Powered Transcription of Handwritten Documents: Tools and Techniques with Nicole Dyer

  Again, AI is something I’ve only dabbled in, and gaining the ability to use to to transcribe handwritten documents would be a huge timesaver and opportunity in researching lost & found stories, as well as my own family history.

• Why Did it Say that & Other Contextual Clues with Rebecca Whitman Koford

  A lot of what I do in researching and writing lost & found stories is dependent on context, so getting better at finding and understanding relative context is something I’m excited about.

• Mapping your Family’s History: Online Tools to Visualize your Family’s Migration with Katherine Corte Andrew

  Honestly, this is an area of family history and genealogy research about which I am totally clueless, but also utterly fascinated by! I’m coming in cold on this one, so really confident I’ll walk out smarter and more skilled than I was before!

There you have it, my RootsTech 2025 schedule. What do you think?

And, if you’ll be in SLC too, I’d love to hear what presentations you’ll be attending and what you hope to get out of them.