I arrived in Salt Lake City with excitement on Wednesday, Mar. 4, in anticipation of attending the 15th annual RootsTech Genealogy Conference sponsored by the FamilySearch. A short ride on the Utah Trax (train system) took me into downtown Salt Lake City for $2.50 and a 10 minute walk had me at The Kimball (timeshare condos), my home for the next four nights.

I had to be at the Memphis airport early for my 7am flight, which meant leaving Tipton County by 4am, which meant no sleep the night before because I was afraid I’d hit snooze and miss my flight. I arrived at the Kimball about 10am MST, which was hours early than my 3pm check-in time, but they had my room available already and even upgraded me from a studio to a one-bedroom and allowed me entry right away. A sane person would have taken a nap but if you know me, I’m anything but when it comes to genealogy. I dropped of my bags, sat for 30 minutes to catch my breath and headed to the Family History Library!

Thursday morning I headed to the conference center, which was about a 10 minute walk for me. I was not expecting to see it snowing though when I walked out of the hotel. But it wasn’t too bad, and thank goodness, I did have enough sense to bring a hoodie jacket an umbrella.

The Conference Center was packed! Thousands of people from all over the world attended, and folks of all ages. I was smiled to see the number of young people attending and interested in Genealogy. I had attended the first RootsTech in 2011 and the 2026 conference was nothing like that! It’s evolved so much. This week, there were so many classes to select from with topics ranging from basic genealogy to specific country research to AI, which, I’ve learned is making a huge impact in genealogy research.

The vendor area was equally amazing! Companies and leaders in the Genealogy world from all over the world were in attendance, and many I had not heard of. The major genealogy players were there – Ancestry, FamilySearch, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage – as well as Genealogical Societies from around the world, DNA companies, new tech companies seeking to enhance memories for seniors before their history is lost, chart makers and story tellers, clothing lines, and jewelry and so much more.

And yes, I went shopping… all three days! I bought lots of new reference books, charts, story prompt cards, children genealogy books and games. I had to get an additional bag… which is nothing new for me when I travel!

The classes I attended were on using AI in Genealogy research, how to use AI to date photographs, using land records efficiently, how to use clusters and matrices for DNA analysis, Italian genealogy, finding parents using methodology when vital records don’t exist, using AI in the archives, making use of Mitochondria DNA and Y-DNA and where to look for German genealogy. Plus, some of the classes I didn’t have time to attend are online, so I still have access.

And of course I spent HOURS at my happy place researching!

On Friday, I learned that the West’s largest tattoo convention, the Salt Lake City Tattoo Expo was in the same conference center and on the same weekend! So Saturday, after I finished my last class and I spent time at the library, I went and walked around the Tattoo Conference for an hour or so.

Talk about night and day! The people who attended the genealogy conference are not the ones who attended the tattoo conference! But the vibe was good. Over 500 tattoo artists from around the world and more than 150 tattoo studios were represented. Tons of tattoo artists were practicing their craft and those getting tattooed had no shame about showing out! Vendors selling tattoo equipment, tees, art, bugs in jars, music, piercings and good vibes… which meant more shopping, in fact, this is where I found the additional baggage I needed to make it home. But it was so packed, and a bit more strange than what I am used to dealing with, so I didn’t stay long… and I know some will be wondering… no new tattoos for me there.

I headed back to the library to make use of my final day for research and worked until they closed. It was a great four days of learning, networking and research… and I found the death record of my 4x Great-Grandfather, Jean Gamaliel Panchaud who died in 1786 in Poliez-le-Grand, Vaud, Switzerland, at a young 55 years, so it was a good trip!

If you’re interested in genealogy, this is one conference you should make the effort to attend. I promise you, you’ll learn something new!