DearREADERS,
There has been some grousing about the selection of "official" RootsTech bloggers by
one not been selected these past three years. And for these three years I've been silent, wishing to stay above of the fray. Now I feel it my responsibility to speak in defense of the hard working bloggers who are reporting about RootsTech, whether or not chosen as "officials". Clearly, Ol' Myrt here doesn't think the grousing is justified. From Dictionary.com we read:
The blogger's posts specifically single out by name, each official blogger, and is
based by her stated and very purposefully limited review of the work official bloggers
actually do before, during and after RootsTech. Her stated purpose is
to criticize how official bloggers are selected, yet she attempts to do this by pointing out perceived
faults in each official blogger.
Frankly, there's a "whole lotta grousing" going on.
PRE-CONFERENCE PROMOTION
The disgruntled blogger's posts register concern that official bloggers don't blog much about
RootTech prior to RootsTech. In reality, the only information official
bloggers receive about the upcoming event is from the main sponsor,
FamilySearch.org. The first year there were periodic informative conference
calls. But in subsequent years, we received precious few emails from
FamilySearch about what will be happening at RootsTech. These emails are
usually sent days after RootsTech posted the same text on their official blog. Ol'
Myrt here doesn't like posting "redundancies". That's why
GeneaPress.com is such a great idea.
Bloggers cannot write about something they cannot "see" or "hear" about.
Regularly-scheduled conference calls are advisable here, so bloggers are
better able to build interest in attending RootsTech. This would best
be weekly meetings, starting a good six months before the conference and
would encompasses 48 hours of work, half for the conference calls and half
for writing a post each week.
BLOGGERS ARE NOT PAID
There is a misconception that travel expenses are paid for official
bloggers. We come at our own expense, though typically our conference
registration is paid. This represents a hardship on Derk (Germany),
Sonia (Spain), Rosemary (England), Jill (Australia) and others who traveled many
thousands of miles to participate in RootsTech throughout the years.
Our conference admission is comped, though this year I paid the $99 "early
bird" special conference registration rate. I did not know I would later be
chosen as an "official blogger". I was not reimbursed.
One decided perk, each year official bloggers attend a bloggers dinner
the night before the event, where we receive our registration kits and
conference bags. This saves us from standing in registration lines the
following morning. There is no partying late into the night, as the next
day we must be up early to cover the opening keynote.
WHAT WE DO
On RootsTech day one Official RootsTech Bloggers can elect to attend an private tour of the
closed exhibit hall before the opening keynote session, making it easier
to find a vendor later when he is at his booth. Interviews must be done
in quick moments when the vendor can get someone to manage his booth.
Typically this interviewing is held during class session periods when traffic in the
exhibit hall is lower.
We are not restricted as to which classes we must attend and how many tweets, blogs, Instagrams, Facebook and Google+ posts we must make as "official" bloggers.
WHAT DID MYRT DO DURING ROOTSTECH 2013?
My work with video blogging is completely discounted by the
disgruntled blogger. My
blog had one "
DearMYRTLE Live! at RootsTech 2013" post pointing my
DearREADERS to my YouTube channel. Except for participating on two
panels, one live-streamed, I attended no sessions because I was taping
and uploading the unprecedented number of video interviews on a timely
basis.
Ooops, I did attend one session - where my daughter presented,
her first time at a national conference. It was all I could do to FB a
picture of her at the beginning, since my tears of joy prevented
blogging of any sort.
I agree with Amy Coffin's comment on the disgruntled blogger's
recent post, that the disgruntled blogger has only considered our blogs, when more
conversations are going on using other regularly-accepted social
media tools. This multifaceted social networking trend is
well-documented by main stream media. Our blogs may have put us on the
map, as noted by Thomas MacEntee with his comment about "top 40" and "official" blogs. Drew Smith responded with
"I am more of a podcaster than a blogger". In my case, more conversations are indeed happening on
Facebook, Google+ and Twitter than in my blog. Photos from the
presentation at the bloggers dinner brought the first look at
FamilySearch's new look posted by "official" bloggers Thomas and Ol' Myrt on Facebook.
By the disgruntled blogger's own admission admission, she chose not to put the effort into analyzing
these well-accepted social media outlets resources when evaluating the
reach of RootsTech Official Bloggers.
Ol' Myrt realizes it is hard to keep up with changing technology, and it
is hard to quantify the impact of the RootsTech bloggers. Checking Klout,
you'd find my score higher than Dick Eastman's rating, and that is
obviously inaccurate. His readership is higher, and he is more techy than Ol' Myrt here.
ETHNICITY ISSUES
Let's avoid playing the ethnic or religious heritage card. I attend
genealogy conferences as an family history researcher, not as a Quaker,
Lutheran, Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, atheist or a practicing LDS;
nor as a German, English, Scottish, Irish or Welshman, with typically Caucasian but some Native American in my blood.. Those
orientations certainly shaped the lives of my ancestors and affect who I
am today.
I come to conferences with an inquiring mind to discover
new research methods and learn about evolving tech tools that may assist in
my personal ancestral quest. I choose to share what I learn with my DearREADERS in my blog, and more effectively in my video work now developing on my YouTube channel, where we can actually try out some of the tech tools together and discuss rather than lecture about research methodology. I certainly don't know it all, and:
I sure enjoy being in conversation with other genealogists on a regular basis where we can grow our research skills together.
By contrast, disgruntled blogger states
"I write for myself. I write because I want to and I write about what I want to write about." Blogging is indeed a worthwhile method for honoring ancestors and expressing individual breakthroughs in research.
THINKING POSITIVELY
Ol' Myrt here applauds RootsTech.org and it's sponsors for the profound, forward-thinking
influence in the genealogy space. Innovations such as live streaming
were previously unheard of at our conferences. Is there room for growth
and change? Certainly. And big changes on already on the docket.
RootsTech is scheduled to broadcast to 100,000
attendees world wide in 2014, using satellite technology in place at
local LDS meetinghouses throughout the world. I
know of no other organization willing to dedicate such time, effort or expense to reach a
world-wide audience and teach them how to preserve the history of their
culture and ancestral heritage.
Happy family tree climbing!
Myrt :)
DearMYRTLE,
Your friend in genealogy.
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http://blog.DearMYRTLE.com
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