With less than a week to go before RootsTech London 2019 opens at London's Excel Centre, I thought I would give a brief update for those who are planning to be there, plus some extra information for those who may still be undecided or are unable to join us in person.
Entry to RootsTech Exhibition Hall is FREE
Firstly, for those who are still undecided, the good news is that the RootsTech London Exhibition Hall is completely FREE! This is fantastic news for anyone who likes to wander around the various stalls but is not too bothered about attending talks. There are in fact quite likely to be some free talks being given on the various sponsor stands (Ancestry, FindMyPast, FamilySearch etc.) in any case. You can register for FREE tickets here.One of the most exciting things I am looking forward to in the Exhibition Hall is the Ministry Of Defence's stand, where they are offering to retrieve Second World War service records (Army and RAF only) within a three-hour turnaround. This service will still cost £30 (i.e. the normal fee), but a three-hour turnaround is far faster than their usual service. It is very exciting news for many of us, but especially our overseas visitor friends. Ideally, you will need your ancestor's death certificate and date of birth (or service number if you have it). You can read more about this service here.
You can see a map of the full RootsTech Exhibition Hall layout here (scroll down to the bottom of the page for layout and list of Exhibitors).
All Keynote and some other Sessions are being Live-streamed for FREE
Secondly, for those who live too far away, and attending is not an option, did you know that many of the talks will be live-streamed (for FREE)? The link to the RootsTech London Live-stream Schedule can be found here. This schedule includes all three Keynote Sessions (Dan Snow on Thursday; Kadeena Cox, Nick Barratt and Steve Rockwood on Friday and Donny Osmond on Saturday). Even for those of us planning on attending, these FREE live-streamed sessions can be very useful, as it means that we can concentrate on attending other sessions while we are actually on site.Premium Virtual Pass (£49) for those unable to get to London
There is also a Premium Virtual Pass (for £49), which allows you to watch a further 20 sessions from the comfort of your own home, including talks by well-known genealogist Nick Barratt, FindMyPast expert Myko Clelland and DNA specialist Angie Bush, to name but three. These talks will be available around 15-20 days after the conference. Tickets for this Virtual Pass can be obtained here.
Discounted Conference Passes now Available
If you're planning on attending RootsTech but haven't purchased your ticket yet, you can now benefit from a discounted pass. The RootsTech One-Day pass has been discounted from £99 to £49, and the RootsTech Three-Day pass is down from £149 to £99. The full range of current official pricing can be found here.
HOWEVER, there was also a recent offer from Time Out for a 40% discount off all RootsTech passes, so it may be that you can get an even better price using the code HALFTERM40. (I checked on my own account, and One-day passes were showing as being reduced from £69 to £41.40, using the Time Out discount code).
https://jennyalogy.blogspot.com/2019/10/one-week-til-rootstech-london.html
Hope to see many of you there!!
HOWEVER, there was also a recent offer from Time Out for a 40% discount off all RootsTech passes, so it may be that you can get an even better price using the code HALFTERM40. (I checked on my own account, and One-day passes were showing as being reduced from £69 to £41.40, using the Time Out discount code).
Preparing for RootsTech
As a RootsTech Ambassador, I have got to know many genealogists across the globe, some of who will be fellow Ambassadors at this year's London event. Here are a couple of blog posts from fellow genies in Australia, who have written up their advice about how to prepare for RootsTech:
Don't forget to download the Mobile App
If you ARE planning on attending RootsTech London, don't forget to download the Mobile App. It is a great way of meeting up with friends and colleagues (although they, too, will need to have downloaded the App) as well as track which events you plan on attending etc. You can download the App here.Where to Find me
Finally, for my many genealogy friends and colleagues attending RootsTech, I do hope that I get to meet up with you at some stage. You can probably find me much of the time in the Media Hub or maybe helping out on the AGRA stand, which by chance is just opposite the Media Hub! I am also hoping to attend quite a few talks, and have interview slots booked with Dan Snow, Donny Osmond and Nick Barratt. I will be hoping to blog about some of these over the course of the Conference, so watch this space!
Hope to see many of you there!!
