#RootsTech2018 4-Day Pass Give-a-way!

I'm a #RootsTech2018 Ambassador, which means not only do I get to promote & participate in this mega genealogy conference, but I get to give stuff away!

I'm giving away a 4-Day Pass ($279 value) to #RootsTech2018. The conference takes place February 28-March 3, 2018 in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

#RootsTech2018 is one the largest genealogy conferences in the world, combining genealogy and technology. That's a heavenly pairing for me! There is something for every skill level. Click here to see why you should attend #RootsTech2018

#RootsTech2018 4-day pass includes

• Access to more than 300 classes, keynotes and general session.
• Admission to the Expo Hall with hundreds of vendors and mini-sessions.
• Networking with other genies, who love genealogy as much as you do.
• This giveaway does not include paid workshops, luncheon events, travel, hotel, printed syllabus or any add-on swag.

How to Enter

To be eligible for our giveaway and to be entered in the drawing

1. Follow me @JennyHawran on Twitter (Click here)
2. Tweet a favorite photo of one of your ancestors
3. Tag me @JennyHawran

That's it!

The contest runs October 23-November 1, 2017 (11:59pm, Eastern Time) I'll choose one winner during the week of November 6 and announce it via Twitter. 

One entry per person. 
No purchase necessary to enter. Void where prohibited by law. 

Am I eligible for the giveaway if I already bought a pass?

Yes! You will be reimbursed for the cost of your pass. 

DISCLAIMER: I am a RootsTech2018 ambassador. One of my responsibilities as an ambassador is to promote the RootsTech 2018 conference before, during and after. I'll be recounting my process in preparing to attend the conference. 

Learning how to be Irish

Being Irish

DNA results recently revealed to me a surprising revelation. I'm Irish. A lot Irish.

I've just begun to search this lineage. It's been interesting to say the least.

Do you know what I've discovered? Irish genealogy research is hard.

Missing census records from 1821 to 1891 due to fire and destruction require thinking outside the box.

So, I was happy when I received the schedule of sessions for RootsTech2018. Lots of Irish genealogy sessions! I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to learn about alternative records for Irish genealogy.

Digital Irish Genealogy

I'm liking this session especially. The best part of genealogy is the ability for me to do it while I am in my jammies if I choose. This beginners session looks like it will break it all down for me as to what is available out there so that I can start putting together an Irish online research toolbox.


I've started going through the entire RootsTech2018 schedule...my secret geeky pleasure. I'll mark all the sessions that I'm interested in. I love the RootsTech mobile app, so when that is ready for 2018, I'll build my daily schedule.

Check out all the sessions that will be happening at RootsTech 2018 Schedule. What is your research interest?


DISCLAIMER: I am a RootsTech2018 ambassador. One of my responsibilities as an ambassador is to promote the RootsTech 2018 conference before, during and after. I'll be recounting my process in preparing to attend the conference. 

When RootsTech calls

You guys! I am over the moon to share with you that this past week I was invited to be an official 2018 RootsTech Ambassador!

I can see you all now...some of you are silently high-fiving me. And some of you are looking at me with a confused look on your face .

What exactly is RootsTech?

Simply put, it's Genealogy Nirvana. The mother ship. The Comic- Con of the Family History world.  Without the dressing up part. Wait...actually, some vendors really do dress up in costumes now that I think about it.

Each February, people from all over the WORLD come for this 4 day conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This event is a combination family history, technology and trade show conference all rolled into one. RootsTech attracted 30,000 attendees last year and thousands more remotely for their live-streamed workshops. The next conference is February 28-March 3, 2018

Now, listen...I'm an introvert by nature. If you told me I would absolutely LOVE a conference with that many people, I would tell you that you were crazy. But the energy of RootsTech is intoxicating. The venue is so large, it doesn't feel crowded at all. It has an incredible vibe.  You have the luxury of doing as much, or as little, as you choose.

Me last year at RootsTech 2017

So what's the big whoop about being an Ambassador?

Ambassadors are official advocates for RootsTech and help generate awareness and excitement about the event before, during and after the event. I get to share info through my blog and social media.  Kind of like a behind-the-scene reporter. My journalism degree is finally getting to stretch its legs (thanks SCSU)!

Not only will I be attending RootsTech in February, but I'll have an opportunity to interview Keynote Speakers, Guest Presenters, and other Genie rock stars during the event. I'll be blogging about workshops, sharing new research databases you might not know about and sharing my favorite thing of all...the technology, software and apps of genealogy.  I'll also get to connect with other family history lovers, vendors, family historians and all the other swell people that will be attending. 

Is there more?

Yup! As an official ambassador I get to give away a FREE 4-DAY ROOTSTECH 2018 PASS. 

I'll be announcing the contest sometime soon via my Twitter (twitter.com/JennyHawran) and my Blog (https://like-herding-cats.blogspot.com/). Make sure you are following both in the next few weeks and months. I'll also share the links of some other Ambassador pages who are running contests as well. 

I sure hope I can do this Ambassador role justice. I'm a little fish in a big pond of professionals I so admire and respect. I'm so excited to be able to share what I love to do with other people about an event I can't wait to attend again. 

NERGC weekend - Geeks unite

The process of researching is hardly a lonely road. I've met many people over these past 20 years in my research and through genealogy events. Many have come to be very good and dear friends to me. I've said this blog is primarily for my children and descendants to read so they will know some of our family stories. And that is true.  But I think it is important for them to understand what genealogy is for me and how it has become such a big part of my world. It is, in itself, one of my stories.

This weekend I am attending NERGC--The New England Regional Genealogical Consortium Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts. As I pack up my genie gear for a conference, my grown daughters just roll their eyes and say, "Another one? Didn't you just go to one of those things?"

Listen, I tell them. I don't run marathons. I don't shop. I don't knit. I don't scrapbook. I do genealogy. This is what I love. This is my hobby, and this is what I feel truly alive doing. It is a perfect compliment to my daily life. I love being a mother and a wife and a Community TV  Executive Director. But genealogy is something just for me, and something I never tire of.

So what's the difference between one conference and the next? Lots, for heaven's sake!

I attended RootsTech in February and while it was absolutely my Nirvana...a conference like NERGC is so much more manageable. Smaller workshops, more access to talk with speakers here, and more time to meet new people.
Highlights so far:

Wednesday, Pre-Conference Day
There were lots of options on this day, a Librarian Day, DNA Day, Tech Day and more. I chose the Tech Day (no surprise from those who know me).

What I really enjoyed about this day was that we had four workshops all in the same room. There was a break for lunch, but you basically hung out with the same people all day long. It's a great way to make new friends on the first day (pre-day, really).

Jennifer Baldwin gave me hope with her presentation about Project Management that I could finally get organized. I've been wanting to write the story of one of my ancestors, David Edgar Chase, for a while now. Not only did Jen talk about programs like Trello and Podio that I could use for something like this...she was honest in saying if you are not consistant in using a new program like...it will never become a habit. And once it is a habit, you will start to use it for the rest of your projects. I left that workshop inspired that I could actually, finally get organized to pull this story together!

Lisa Alzo is always a favorite speaker of mine. I've attended many of her webinars, and have seen her speak at RootsTech and Jamboree. I feel like she and I could be best friends (I mean that in a non-stalker way, Lisa). She thinks like I do in her methods, in her humor and how she expresses her ideas, and I get affirmation of that each time I hear her. It makes attending her workshops very enjoyable. At NERGC she presented on E-Books and Publishing. It was great! Jen gave me the tools to organize my project and Lisa showed how publishing has come a long way and that it is something I can totally do --and do it well. Two huge things off my list of tools I need to write this story.

A workshop on Pinterest, in all honesty, was a little too basic for me. Not the speaker's fault by any means. This was geared towards very beginner pinners, which I am not. But I did like the examples she had of building a story about your ancestor using Pinterest.

The final workshop was about free resources for genealogy. Dayna Jacobs was very funny knowing it was the last workshop of the day and we would all be a bit sleepy and our brains overflowing with a day of geek goodies. She wove in genealogy of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs into her presentation just to interject some lightheartedness. It worked. We all stayed engaged and awake for her very resourceful talk. Many of the resources I knew about, but there were definitely some new ones for me, such as a list of genealogy Podcasts. I've just discovered Podcasts and I love them! Listening to genealogy stuff when I'm cooking dinner? Heck yeah. Alexa, play Genealogy Gems.

Official Day one highlights I will talk about more tomorrow. But as I sit in this workshop about finding your relatives in death records, I feel new ideas flowing into my brain which I will sort out later with a glass of wine, in my hotel, while I look over my notes.

That, to me, is a great way to spend a day.