2020 RootsTech Day 2
Day two was less about classes and more about interviews & blogging. I was determined to get my 2020 RootsTech Day 1 blog finished and knew that I had to spend some serious time in the Media Hub today. But I was excited to attend at least one session in the morning and then head to the keynote with Leigh Anne Touhy, the real life inspiration for the movie “The Blind Side.”
Sessions
I was really interested in the Innovation Technology Forum. Industry leaders and up and coming players presented new innovations and technology. We got to participate by rating them on our phone after we scanned the QR code they displayed. That in itself was kind of cool. I’m sorry I didn’t take enough detailed notes to be able to recap all of the innovations presented. One that stuck out in my mind was from Treasured Inc. Their concept was introducing family history and genealogy through an interactive 3D program. You could create your own ancestral house, put photos of your actual relative on the wall, and share stories in a kind of virtual genealogy world. While this kind of thing doesn’t especially appeal to me, I can definitely see the benefits that would draw in young people and gamers.
At the end of the day I went to a Podcasting panel discussion with Lisa Louis Cooke, Amy Johnson Crow, David Lambert and Scott Fisher. I enjoyed hearing how they all got into the business of podcasting. Lisa began as a podcaster and built her genealogy business from it. Amy Johnson Crow began as genealogist who is somewhat of a newbie to podcasting and it has expanded her genealogy business. David Lambert is the chief genealogist at New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and he guests on Scott Fisher’s podcast, Extreme Genes. Scott is an experienced radio man, who has been in the business for 50 years.
Keynote
If you’ve ever seen the movie, “The Blind Side,” you saw that Sandra Bullock’s character, Leigh Anne Tuohy, was a real force of nature. Based on a true story, Leigh Anne and her husband took in, and eventually adopted, a young African American boy, Michael Lewis, who had been thrown away by the system. Michael went on to thrive and succeed, eventually becoming a first round pick for the Baltimore Ravens and playing in the NFL for 10 years before retiring. If you haven’t seen the movie, make it a point to go out and see it.
Leigh Anne Tuohy is a 5’2″ southern, sassy, mama bear. She was a perfect keynote to talk about family and challenging us all to remember that you don’t have to look alike to be family. Some people don’t realize it, but, some keynotes who come to RootsTech have a teleprompter way up high and back in the main stage room in case they need to refer to it while they are talking. Leigh Anne was at one moment hilarious and another moment, so inspirational, you felt like you wanted to go run out and give all your spare change to the homeless. I glanced back to see what her teleprompter said, because surely she couldn’t do an entire keynote like this with so much passion and humor off the top of her head. When I looked back, the teleprompter wasn’t running at all. While I’m sure she practiced this speech, you knew she was speaking from her heart. She was really incredible. And in the interview I got to be a part of afterwards with my fellow Ambassadors, she gave us all the time we needed and was so warm and funny.
Blogging
The rest of the day was trying to get my 2020 RootsTech Day 1 published. I’m behind, I know!
DISCLAIMER: I am a RootsTech 2020 conference Ambassador. One of my responsibilities as an Ambassador is to promote the RootsTech 2020 conference before, during and after. In return for promotion, I receive a free pass to the RootsTech 2020 conference. My airfare, accommodations and other expenses are not compensated.