{"id":102168,"date":"2025-03-11T12:18:58","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T16:18:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=102168"},"modified":"2025-03-12T10:37:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T14:37:29","slug":"rootstech-2025-fun-in-pictures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/rootstech-2025-fun-in-pictures.html","title":{"rendered":"RootsTech 2025: Fun in Pictures!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>RootsTech 2025 has now ended, and presenters and attendees are still bubbling with the warmth and excitement this special conference brings every year. Melony Young, our Director of Consumer Support, sent along these photos to show some of the fun she and her two staff members, Tashua Pouliot and Renee Guest, had interacting with visitors to the GenealogyBank \u201cbooth\u201d this year.<\/p>\n<p>The word \u201cbooth\u2019 is in quotation marks for a specific reason: Due to a shipping error at the very last minute, the GenealogyBank booth did not arrive at the conference this year! Melony and her staff rose to the occasion, scrambling to get signs, furniture, equipment, etc., together in time for the conference\u2019s opening \u2013 and they succeeded admirably!<\/p>\n<p>First, let\u2019s begin with the entrance to the Expo Hall. FamilySearch immediately set a tone of fun and inquiry (the conference\u2019s theme, after all, was \u201cDiscover\u201d) with a tree house (for people pursuing their family tree, of course) flanked by swings simply for the pleasure of it. This photo was taken on Wednesday, March 5, the day before RootsTech 2025 began.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102170\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102170\" style=\"width: 542px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-expo-hall-entrance.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: entrance to Expo Hall, RootsTech 2025. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"542\" height=\"707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-expo-hall-entrance.jpg 542w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-expo-hall-entrance-230x300.jpg 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: entrance to Expo Hall, RootsTech 2025. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Opening Day! It\u2019s Thursday, March 6, and Tashua Pouliot (on the left) and Renee Guest are standing in the area they (along with Melony) created to replace our missing booth. To the right is our presentation area, and to the far right is one of the tables used for the three book signings we held. We were pleased to partner with Genealogical.com to provide books for both sale and as prizes.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102172\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102172\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102172\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gb-presentation-space-first-day.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: GenealogyBank\u2019s presentation area for RootsTech 2025. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"960\" height=\"718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gb-presentation-space-first-day.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gb-presentation-space-first-day-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gb-presentation-space-first-day-768x574.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102172\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: GenealogyBank\u2019s presentation area for RootsTech 2025. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Here is one of the book-signing tables. We featured three authors:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sunny Morton<\/strong>, author of <em>How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records<\/em>;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Roberta Estes<\/strong>, author of <em>DNA for Native American Genealogy<\/em> and <em>The Complete Guide to Family Tree DNA<\/em>; and<\/li>\n<li><strong>Drew Smith<\/strong>, author of <em>Advanced Genealogy Research Techniques<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102173\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102173\" style=\"width: 956px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102173\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-book-signing-table.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: a GenealogyBank book-signing table. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"956\" height=\"709\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-book-signing-table.jpg 956w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-book-signing-table-300x222.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-book-signing-table-768x570.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 956px) 100vw, 956px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: a GenealogyBank book-signing table. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Here are two of the book signings underway. The lines for both were quite long, and the people were patient and enthusiastic. In the foreground is Renee seated next to Roberta Estes, while in the background Tashua is assisting Sunny Morton.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102174\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102174\" style=\"width: 536px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102174\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-two-book-signings.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: two book signings underway. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"536\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-two-book-signings.jpg 536w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-two-book-signings-221x300.jpg 221w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102174\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: two book signings underway. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the entertaining aspects of RootsTech each year is wandering the Expo Hall to see various booths and display areas. Here we see the presentation space for BillionGraves \u2013 who, appropriately enough, created a mock graveyard!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102175\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102175\" style=\"width: 536px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102175\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-billiongraves.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: display area for BillionGraves. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"536\" height=\"722\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-billiongraves.jpg 536w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-billiongraves-223x300.jpg 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102175\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: display area for BillionGraves. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A big hit at this year\u2019s conference were the GenealogyBank newspaper dresses! Here we see Tashua (left) and Melony showing off their fine attire. Stylish, yes \u2013 but also perfect for a site featuring extensive Historical Newspaper Archives!<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102176\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102176\" style=\"width: 536px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102176\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-newspaper-dresses.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: newspaper dresses. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"536\" height=\"715\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-newspaper-dresses.jpg 536w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-newspaper-dresses-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102176\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: newspaper dresses. Credit: Renee Guest.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>These dresses (and our staff\u2019s cheerful demeanor) generated many kind remarks. Here are two of them:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>From Tashua: \u201cI have a sweet story to mention. After leaving the conference, I met a lady in the bathroom who had stopped by our booth earlier in the day. She was gushing about the newspaper dress and asked if I wanted her to take a photo so I could keep a memory of it! I told her sure and after taking the photo she said, \u2018I just wanted to let you know that people were drawn to your booth because all of your workers were genuine and kind.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>From a visitor after the conference ended: \u201cSuch a pleasure meeting you last week. GenealogyBank was by far the best dressed of any of the booths we visited!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The last day of the conference, Saturday, March 8, was Family Day, and we tailored our presentations for children to get them interested in genealogy. Tashua talked about how to become your family\u2019s history detective, giving the children family trees and discussing questions to ask family members to fill in the trees. Renee conducted a family history bingo game. All the children were given stickers and candy.<\/p>\n<p>In this photo, Renee is hosting the family bingo game.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102178\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102178\" style=\"width: 537px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102178\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-children-for-family-day.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: children attending GenealogyBank presentations for Family Day. Credit: Melony Young.\" width=\"537\" height=\"710\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-children-for-family-day.jpg 537w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-children-for-family-day-227x300.jpg 227w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 537px) 100vw, 537px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: children attending GenealogyBank presentations for Family Day. Credit: Melony Young.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the highlights for our staff was Gena Philibert-Ortega stopping by for a visit. Gena has been a writer for the GenealogyBank blog since 2014, as well as producing many of our GenealogyBank videos.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102179\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102179\" style=\"width: 496px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102179\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gena-visiting.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Gena Philibert-Ortega (center) visiting the GenealogyBank staff; Melony is on the left with Renee on the right. Credit: Tashua Pouliot.\" width=\"496\" height=\"632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gena-visiting.jpg 496w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-gena-visiting-235x300.jpg 235w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 496px) 100vw, 496px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102179\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Gena Philibert-Ortega (center) visiting the GenealogyBank staff; Melony is on the left with Renee on the right. Credit: Tashua Pouliot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Along with meeting all the attendees, a highlight for Melony was giving her presentation \u201cSolving Mysteries with GenealogyBank.com,\u201d in which she gave helpful search tips for discovering information about your ancestors in historical newspapers, breaking through brick walls and finding family details you\u2019ve not uncovered before. Although she was given a challenging presentation time (8:00 Friday morning!) her talk was well attended, and she received much favorable feedback.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102180\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102180\" style=\"width: 957px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102180\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-melony-presentation.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Melony Young giving her RootsTech presentation. Credit: a FamilySearch tech assistant.\" width=\"957\" height=\"719\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-melony-presentation.jpg 957w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-melony-presentation-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-melony-presentation-768x577.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 957px) 100vw, 957px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102180\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Melony Young giving her RootsTech presentation. Credit: a FamilySearch tech assistant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The three days went quickly, with our staff busily answering visitors\u2019 genealogy questions, providing search tips, and giving advice on such topics as women\u2019s changing names, and military research.<\/p>\n<p>When it was all over, Melony, Tashua and Renee finally gave themselves some relaxation time, sinking gratefully onto the FamilySearch swings for some gentle swaying.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102181\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102181\" style=\"width: 1106px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102181\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-swings.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: (left to right) Renee, Melony and Tashua relaxing on swings. Credit: a FamilySearch staffer.\" width=\"1106\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-swings.jpg 1106w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-swings-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-swings-1024x601.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0311-2025-swings-768x451.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1106px) 100vw, 1106px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102181\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: (left to right) Renee, Melony and Tashua relaxing on swings. Credit: a FamilySearch staffer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Reflecting on the three-day whirlwind, Melony said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI loved connecting with our existing customers and with potential new customers. Most of all, I enjoyed the excitement of helping people find the information and stories about their ancestors they didn\u2019t think existed. Being able to help someone find a missing link in their family history is an incredible joy: you get tears, high-fives, even delighted squealing. It\u2019s truly a connection to our genealogy community, and this is a beautiful thing for us to experience and share.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/sign-up\">Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> a past RootsTech genealogy conference. Credit: mormonnewsroom.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RootsTech 2025 is now over, three days packed with fun and information. Enjoy these photos to celebrate this grand affair!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":102097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12717],"tags":[2009,1661,1655,58977],"class_list":["post-102168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-conferences-activities","tag-genealogy-conferences","tag-genealogybank-2","tag-rootstech","tag-rootstech-2025"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/photo-0202-2016-featured-graphic-genealogy-conferences.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102168"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102186,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102168\/revisions\/102186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}