Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen, will be the featured keynote speakers at RootsTech 2025 Family Discovery Day on Saturday, March 8.
The announcement was made Thursday, Jan. 9, in a news release.
RootsTech, a global family history event, is scheduled for March 6-8. The event will have an in-person event in Salt Lake City and be available in multiple languages online at RootsTech.org.
RootsTech is hosted annually by FamilySearch, an international genealogy organization and popular website sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Family Discovery Day is a one-day event during RootsTech designed to help Latter-day Saints discover and celebrate their family heritage. Family Discovery Day is a free event at the Salt Palace Convention Center featuring live music and family history activities for all ages.
Family Discovery Day 2025
Elder and Sister Andersen will speak at 1:30 p.m. MST on March 8 about the power of discovery and the blessings of temple and family history work, the news release said.
Following the Andersens, The Piano Guys will perform on the main stage.
The Andersens’ address and the music performance will be streamed live and available later for on-demand viewing on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Attendees at the Salt Palace can participate in games, art projects and activities for children. Dozens of free family history classes are available that day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., including special sessions for youth taught by John and Kim Bytheway, Scott and Angelle Andersen, and a special session with filmmaker T.C. Christensen.
Virtual participants can engage in the following digital activities:
- Look-a-likes.
- Relatives at RootsTech.
- Photo Collage Creator.
- Free Family Trees.
- Famous Relatives.
- Personality Match.
- Top Contributors.
- Shared Surnames.
- More than 200 new online sessions on Rootstech.org.
Other 2025 keynote speakers
The first four keynote speakers for RootsTech 2025 were announced on Dec. 4, 2024. They include:
- Olympic gold medalist Tara Davis-Woodhall and Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhall, track and field athletes who are married.
- Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of the late Nelson Mandela, speaker, writer and philanthropist.
- Dana Tanamachi, a prominent artist.
Previous Family Discovery Day keynotes
Church leaders who have been featured keynote speakers at Family Discovery Day in previous years include:
- 2024 — The late President M. Russell Ballard, then acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in a film that was recorded months before his death on Nov. 12, 2023.
- 2023 — Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his wife, Sister Susan Gong.
- 2022 — Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Rosana Soares.
- 2021 — President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Patricia Holland.
