My experience of RootsTech 2025: Fantastic!!

10–15 minutes

What an amazing 3 days… This event went above and beyond my expectations! You can speak about genealogy all day and nobody yawns! It was also extremely pleasant and refreshing to be around many different cultures, hearing different languages and accents, people from all over the world, of different age, gender, religion, skin color, country of origin; everyone enjoying and respecting each other in our differences, all of us sharing the same interest: finding our roots and “connect” with those on the other side of the veil who contributed to make who we are today.

It was definitely a more profound experience than attending online from home. While at home the food options are much better and the bathroom breaks much easier, it was so nice to “swim in the vibrant energy” in person! What a great feeling it was to be around likeminded people… According to RootsTech’s website, we were 542,041 total participants, and 215 countries were represented!

I will absolutely go back next year if I can!!

(By the way, if you read my previous post “Countdown to RootsTech 2025”, I’m proud to report that I was able to compose myself in public…. Barely!)

I knew I would love the classes because I have attended RootsTech online the past couple of years, but I had a lot of practical questions prior to this event. So this post is more aimed at those who are thinking about participating in person next year and who, like me, have the same practical questions about the event.

Lodging

A couple of hotels very near to the Salt Palace Convention Center were listed on the RootsTech website, with a block of rooms and rates available for RootsTech attendees. If their website shows they are sold out, mention that you are a RootsTech attendee, and they’ll transfer you to a sales team that keeps a block of rooms not showing on their website.

There are also many hotels not too far either, and a little more affordable.

Salt Palace Convention Center (RootsTech venue)

The Salt Palace Convention Center is a beautiful and very, very large venue.

I only used the East entrance on SW Temple Street (the big round glass building).

If someone is dropping you off and picking you up

Very easy to do. There are two drop off/pick up areas on each side of the East entrance on SW Temple Street, just in front of the Salt Palace Convention Center (see photo above). That’s where my personal chauffeur and supporter (my husband) dropped me off and picked me up every day, but I think there are more entrances of the venue.
Be careful about the bike lanes: we saw a few cars driving on them thinking they were an actual street lane
The street names are interesting, though not as bad as the “23 5/8 E. Street” in Grand Junction, Colorado!
Quite a few one-way streets
We were in Salt Lake City and drove around its surrounding towns for one week. We didn’t hear one single honk from an impatient driver if we didn’t start immediately at the green light, or if we were clearly lost! What a nice change from Phoenix!

If you get lost in the Salt Palace Convention Center

Well… you won’t! As soon as you look lost, a smiling volunteer will approach you and help you find anything you are looking for. There were so many volunteers everywhere, all so kind and helpful.

I took this picture at 7:15am, so the place was pretty much empty. It’s a very different story at 8am!!

RootsTech Event

Before the beginning of RootsTech

Make a “priority order” of the classes you are interested in. If the class you wanted to attend is full, you’ll be able to quickly go to your “second choice” class.
Enter your classes on the app: it’s very convenient to quickly check your schedule, classes and room numbers.
Download the syllabus of the classes you want to attend (some were only available the day before or the day of).
Get familiar with the venue ahead of time. There is a map on the RootsTech App, and you can also get a “paper map” of the Salt Palace at the venue itself, or just check the big sign at the entrance.

Registration/Badge

You’ll get an email from RootsTech prior to the event indicating the days and hours to pick up your badge. There are two places you can pick it up:

at the registration counters of the Salt Palace Convention Center
at the FamilySearch Library, which is just a few minutes away by foot, on the same sidewalk. NB: you can pick up your badge at the Library before the hours listed in the email, which was nice as I was concerned about long lines. I picked mine up at the Library the day before the start of RootsTech, in the morning. It was very quick and easy.

Classes/Sessions

I attended a few classes each day. The rooms are spread out on 3 floors, and of different sizes. Of course, the classes I wanted to attend were not located next to each other, that would have been too easy! But you get used to packing your laptop, gather your coat, your water bottle, and move fast to the next event of your choice.

In the “smaller” classrooms, only people of the first few rows could read the bottom of the slides on the screens. It would be nice if the screens were elevated to allow everyone to view the entire slides presented.
Some speakers don’t allow pictures, audio and/or video recording during the class. If it’s the case, they announce it at the beginning of the class.
They speak fast! Some speakers even said so before the class. While I understand that they want to pass on the maximum information in about 45-50 minutes (they keep time for Q&A at the end of each class), I would personally prefer less content but more depth and more time between slides.
Classes usually include a syllabus you can download before or after the class.
Some classes are recorded and will be available online later.
Room temperature depends on the classroom. Some rooms were cool or comfortable, others were very warm (rooms #155, #255 and #355, at the back of the venue). Bring layers!

What to wear

Comfortable shoes!! Oh my gosh… the amount of walking you do in that place! I won’t need to go to the gym for a good 2 months!! The Salt Palace Convention Center is huge. 3 floors with meeting rooms on each one of them, and a humungous Expo Hall. There are steps, escalators and elevators to go to each level.
A winter coat for outside, and layers for inside! What a change from Phoenix, Arizona! I didn’t use the coat check (available). I carried my coat with me. A little cumbersome, but I preferred to keep it with me.
No particular dress code. Some people were wearing business attire (very few), but most people were dressed casual or business casual.

What to bring

A backpack! (Several people also had carry-on with wheels). When we were waiting to board our flight back to Phoenix after the conference, just in front of us was a woman with a… “RootsTech” backpack! I’ll try to find that for next year!
A water bottle: there are multiple areas to refill your water bottle with purified water. If you don’t have one, there are small paper cups at some of the water areas.
Snacks
Laptop: I had been debating whether to bring mine: it’s a little heavy to carry, but I am so happy I brought it! Most classes have a syllabus included that you can download from the app or online, but I personally like to take notes during the class, and go immediately to the website the speaker is referring to. Also, when I had a break between classes, it was nice to get my laptop, check my emails, reply to a few texts, and especially “play” with the new things I learned in class.
Phone and laptop chargers: there are multiple areas to charge them throughout the day if needed.
Business cards: I distributed a few of mine during those 3 days. You meet a lot of people and exchange about your passion. It’s nice and very convenient to give out your business card instead of typing or writing down your name and email address. (I designed mine in 3 minutes from a template in “Pages” for Mac and emailed them to our local UPS store in Phoenix. They printed them on “thick paper”, and cut them out. 40 business cards for $9. They were done while I was waiting).

Lunch

Lunch at the Salt Palace is the only thing I didn’t like about RootsTech. Now… I’m originally from France, and as such, I’ve always loved my food. While I wasn’t expecting to have a 5-course meal on china and wine served in crystal glasses, I was disappointed to see that there were only a couple of food vendors. For such a large event, I think it would be nice to offer more variety.
There are a few areas with tables and chairs by the Expo Hall. People also ate at the “phones/laptops charging tables” on the 2nd floor, on the different sitting areas available throughout the venue on each level, and even sitting on the floor (by choice. Not because there was nowhere to sit).
And of course, there are restaurants around the Convention Center.

What to avoid

Avoid attending too many classes each day. While there is usually a gap of 30 minutes between classes, the rythm of the day can get overwhelming. I would recommend giving yourself some time to absorb the content of the class, make time to meet people, have some quiet time, take some notes, or try the new features you just learned about.
Avoid arriving while a class is in session. In each of the sessions that I attended, a few people arrived up to 20-25, and even 35 minutes after the beginning of the class. It’s a little disrupting. All individuals in the row have to grab their laptop, getup, let people go through, and sit down again, missing some information of the class.

Expo Hall

The Expo Hall is huuuuuuuuuge!! You’ll see all sorts of booths and exhibits, discover what’s new in genealogy, and talk to many people. I really enjoyed walking every day throughout the Expo Hall.

I started my tree on Geneanet in 2016, so I went to their booth to introduce myself to the Geneanet team. It was so nice to meet them and, of course, to speak French! (all of them speak English as well).

While Geneanet is a French company based in Paris (launched in 1996), they also have support in English. I personally use the English interface in my account, but other languages are also available (French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc).

Geneanet was bought by Ancestry in 2021, but their model has not changed: free to use, with an optional very affordable yearly subscription ($50/year) which provides additional options and records.

Picture: Tony Neulat, from Geneanet, and myself.

If you are a smoker

There is a smoking section with benches just in front of the Salt Palace Convention center (left side of the East entrance on SW Temple Street).
Know that smoking is not allowed on “Church grounds”. From what I understand, it means that if you are at the FamilySearch Library, for instance, you have to walk further away from the actual building to smoke).

FamilySearch Library

Absolutely make time to go there!

The Library is situated at about a 5 minute walk to the Salt Palace Convention Center, on the same sidewalk. They also offer free little shuttles (like golf carts) that go back and forth all day long between the Convention Center and the Library. If they see you walk, the drivers will ask you “Are you going to the Library?” “To RootsTech?” Just hop in the shuttle if you don’t fell like walking!

You can go to the Library between classes, or plan to go there before or after the conference. Just like at the Salt Palace Convention Center, you’ll see a lot of very kind individuals who will go out of their way to help you and direct you within the Library.

They have a couple of floors dedicated to international research.

In conclusion…

Thank you so much FamilySearch for organizing RootsTech! Thank you also for all the records you have digitized so far over the years and made available to anyone. When I started my genealogy in 2016, I realized that most of the French records available online for free in each département (department) of France have been digitized by FamilySearch.

I will absolutely go back next year if I can!

Genealogy

Here is the link to my Geneanet tree: Isabelle Menter (née Revenu)

Because I am a “living person”, I chose to be “semi-private” and only show my first and last (married) name. You should also be able to access, on the right side, the different pages I created on my tree, such as “Timelines” (of Countries, Presidents, Kings), Castles, Battles of History, Churches, Monuments, etc.
Anyone born within 100 years is only partly visible (first and last name).
My father is fully visible because he was famous and is listed on Geneastar (genealogy of famous people, site also launched by Geneanet).

(FYI: on Geneanet, the little “green circle” on an individual’s image indicates my direct lineage with the individuals).