Substack Live with Kyla Bayang: Planning Relatives at RootsTech for 2027

Thank you Linda Teather, Jennifer Jones, Jane Chapman, Bill Moore, DearMYRTLE, Carl Smith, Rob Melton, MamaCarole, Diane Burley, Susan Austin, Linda Stufflebean, The Legacy Project and so many more of you for joining Kyla Bayang and me today.I can’t tell you how much it means to us in California and Texas to see all of you joining from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States. Your thoughts, comments, and encouragement are the glue that holds this community together. The little ❤️s you drop keep us motivated and give this post a little more visibility. Feel free to create clips or this post with your friends. Projectkin programming is offered free thanks to the kind support of our patrons worldwide.Rounding up RootsTech: April 30thI was thrilled to have Kyla Bayang of RootsquadRoundup with me today. I can think of no one better to offer tips and strategies for getting the most out of Relatives at RootsTech and the remarkable recordings. On April 30th (we believe ending at 11:59 pm MDT)…Relatives at RootsTech will be taken offline.* Once that happens, you’ll no longer be able to connect with cousins you’re related to as documented in FamilySearch using their special Connect tool. * To visit the site right now (and see what the excitement was about,) make sure you’re logged into FamilySearch, then visit 👇 * Your special Connect page at FamilySearch.org/en/connect/…(each of us gets a unique string of numbers.) When you share this link the people who view it can see how they’re related to you. * 😉 Here’s my Relatives at RootsTech link. Are we cousins? The RootsTech recordings will migrate to YouTube.While the online recordings will for the most part remain accessible, there will be changes as the organizers start to migrate recordings from the conference pages at RootsTech.org to their YouTube channel. Speakers with special arrangements for their talks may have limited the availability of the recordings. The syllabi for many programs may be removed and playlist access may disappear.* Experienced participants like Kyla are telling us not to miss this opportunity to focus on the most important recordings. Just visit RootsTech, take a moment to log in and explore. Kyla’s tips to convert a contact into a research partnerAs a genealogy librarian and responsible as a FamilySearch Center affiliate, Kyla has some nifty strategies for us for making the most of the Relatives at RootsTech program in these waning days. This is a great opportunity to meet cousins who might be open to collaborating with you in your genealogy research. Everyone in the Relatives at RootsTech program has registered for RootsTech and opted into the program. To be fair, though, they may have other priorities; don’t be hurt if they don’t respond to your messages. ⮕ Approach each new contact as if you’re on a first date. Be respectful and “don’t scare ’em.” It’s always more effective to give first, pay-it-forward, and offer to share. * Kyla’s go-to line, “Hey, I’m working on this line … I’m more than happy to share what I’ve learned, but I could really use some help.” Before April 30th: Save the Cousin Connection To save the details on the cousins you’ve met, tap on “View Your Relatives” on your dashboard, then start with your closest cousins, or skip ahead to the connected relatives you’re most interested in and save…* User name (this is the name they used to register for Relatives at RootsTech; it might be the same as the user name they use on FamilySearch, but it also might not be…) * Full name (This may be a real name; it depends on what the user wanted to make available in their registration. This is visible if you’re connected.)* Group tree (you’ll see this by tapping the relationship button:👇) To capture the group tree, Kyla suggests grabbing several things (pick your own tool to store these…): * First, a screenshot of the tree (we’re 8th cousins!)* Second, the person IDs for the most recent deceased person on their tree. In this case, it’s * Oma Ogle (1928 – 2018) or L5BH-Y3G. (Thanks, Dad.) That’s going to give you a way to keep an eye out throughout the year if you come across other individuals who might be helpful to your new cousin. * You can also go back to the most recent common ancestors you share. In our case, we go back to 17th-century England to find:* L1NW-CP9 — Thomas Symons* GZZ5-6HT — Rebecca Ann West* Third, add your cousin to your FamilySearch Contacts. This may be the easiest since all you have to do is tap that “+” button. Once you do it turns into an “x.” If you tapped one by mistake, tapping the “x” turns it back into a “+.” * Fourth, screenshot your chat history with your new cousin. If you started a chat during RootsTech, it might be there during the year, but also… it might go away. This makes sure you’re in control. RideAlong TipsThe RootsTech RideAlong, our partnership with Geneabloggers, was such a hit this year that we plan to keep the website up indefinitely. You’ll find it chock-full of recordings, posts, and suggestions at RideAlongPartners.org. We might even come up with a few other special events to RideAlong to, as DearMYRTLE suggested in her post for GeneaBloggers: As Projectkin, we’re here to help families tell their stories in any form. I feel strongly that our collections of photos and other artifacts are key to our memories and, in turn, our stories. Do you have friends or family members who may benefit from this? Please share our work and invite your friends to join us. 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