Another smooth journey. As we walk towards the ExpoHall we are triaged to divide us from the ComiCon attendees who are meeting in another part of the arena. We are clearly deemed to look more like family historians. That’s probably a good thing. Although we are slightly later today, we enter an almost deserted ExpoHall; pretty much just us and the explosives search dog. I begin the day listening to a lively presentation from Sylvia Valentine on workhouse records. She rightly praises Peter Higginbotham’s workhouse website.

Next the much vaunted keynote by Donny Osmond. He speaks of his career with his family and his origins. Finishing with, ‘When you discover more about your ancestors, you discover more about yourself’. This time I have left the limited interviewing spaces to the die-hard fans.

I follow this with a stint on the Pharos stand, encouraging people to enhance their genealogy education. I have met several of my former and present Pharos students over the three days at RootsTech; it is lovely to put faces to names. I also have the go-ahead to devise a new course. Watch this space but don’t hold your breath.

I opt for Drew Smith again, this time ‘Using an Ancestor’s FAN Club to get Past Brick Walls’, which he delivers to a capacity crowd. FAN stands for Family (or friends, depending on who you listen to), Associates and Neighbours. By investigating extended family, co-workers, school mates and others in the community, we may find clues to our own ancestors. Some FAN Club members are more likely to lead to success than others, so we should prioritise. The session ends with some interesting case studies.

Today is family day so there are many children present. It is a shame that the children’s programme does not seem to extend beyond LDS families. It is even more of a shame that the will to involve young people is not universal in the family history world. RootsTech do a great job in this regard. With this in mind, my final session is ‘Family History that won’t put your Kids to Sleep’ aka ‘Easy Ways to get your Family Involved in Family History’ by Mike Sandberg. This is based on the provision by Family Search. Suggested activities include ‘Walk Where they Walk’, ‘Touch what they Touch’, ‘Hear what they Heard’ and ‘Eat what they Ate’. He quotes, as I do in my talks on a similar subject, from Bruce Feiler’s ‘The Stories that Bind Us’.

The ExpoHall has closed during this lecture. My coat is in the hall. I have volunteered to help break-down a stand. My pass includes the words ‘Ambassador’ and ‘Speaker’. It does not include the magic word ‘Exhibitor’. It takes ten minutes and all my persuasive powers to get past security and back into the hall. The Guild of One-Name Studies stall dismantled and it is time to head back to the van. We have missed the worst of the ComiCon rush but there are still plenty of interestingly clad folk about. We crowd on to the DLR and are almost taken out by a pair of bunny ears. On the final escalator there is another incident. The up escalator is crammed. Chris is on the step in front of me, manfully carrying a box of books and therefore not holding on. The woman in front of him is wearing a large back pack. She leans back. He grabs for the rail but not before he has leaned into me. In order to avoid a domino rally of disastrous proportions, I instinctively grip harder. The sharp edge of the rubber handrail slices through my fingers. Great. I now have deep cuts filled with black rubber and neither of the two first aid kits we have with us appear to contain any antiseptic.

So, after all the build-up, it is over. I wish I could have cloned myself to hear more presentations. I am sad that I had to miss so many talks that I would have like to have heard and that I could not support all my friends who were speaking. The highlights were meeting friends, collecting the records from the MOD, giving my presentation to an appreciative audience and meeting Dan Snow and Kadeena Cox. I hope there will be another RootsTechLondon but maybe not until I’ve recovered from this one!

I seem to have been on a non-stop roller-coaster since April. These months have been book-ended by two major genealogical events, with another one in-between. It was wonderful to have played a part in all three. I have been away from home more than I’ve been there, we’ve had a wonderful genealogical cruise, family reunions, visitors, family holidays, research trips and the job we must not mention. Now I have nine talks to give in the next month and I need to prioritise finishing novel number two. I also need to seriously deplete the stock of the books I’ve already written in order to make room for the new one next autumn. The holiday season is rapidly approaching, if you want gift suggestions…….. (Unless you are outside the UK, please buy directly from me, otherwise my pile does not go down!)

Disclaimer: As a RootsTech Ambassador I receive complimentary admission to the event and a free registration to give one of my readers. My status as an Ambassador does not entitle me to any financial assistance for accommodation, travel or meals.