The 2026 RootsTech Conference offered several opportunities to learn practical approaches for those looking to get started in family history or become more involved.
This year’s theme was “Together,” but even those who didn’t attend the conference in person in Salt Lake City can take advantage of the wealth of knowledge available at RootsTech.
Steve Rockwood, president and CEO of FamilySearch International, said RootsTech is all about discovery.
Rockwood told a story of how he woke up Thursday morning, March 5 — the first day of the conference — with a notification on his phone telling him it was his great-grandfather’s birthday.
“I think of who did what they did in order for me to have that experience this morning,” he said. “I think of the individual who took that photo that I saw of him. I think of the archivist that has preserved his memories. … I think of the indexers that actually made this searchable.”
Rockwood said the theme of “Together” is about all those people working on family history with a combined mission.
“They simply want to bless the lives of every individual, including myself, by letting me discover, gather and connect my family,” he said.
Those looking to expand their current family history efforts can start with any of the following ways:
Get involved
The Get Involved feature on FamilySearch.org and on the FamilySearch Get Involved app (available on iOS and Android) allows users to review indexed records that artificial intelligence has already transcribed.
The goal is to verify the transcription in order to help people all over the world find those records with details about their ancestors.
The feature also lets one see how a verified name is used to connect someone else’s family tree and shows when temple work has been completed for that individual.
“It’s really neat to see that I did something, and I can totally see the impact of it,” said Rick Meier, the engineering lead for Get Involved.
Meier said doing the work of verifying the transcription is super easy — so much so that he’ll use the mobile app while in line at the grocery store.
“I can correct names while I’m sitting there at the store,” he said.
The feature also allows groups to set group goals to verify a large number of names together. But Meier said it’s not about the numbers.
“It’s really about connection,” Meier said. “We have billions and billions of records out there that have names throughout them, and those names just have not been digitized.”
Turn photo clutter into something that lasts
Starting with organizing family photos — or the thousands of photos on one’s phone — is another way to find joy in family history.
Cathi Nelson, the CEO of The Photo Managers, led a session at RootsTech about how to turn photo clutter into something more meaningful.
Nelson suggested starting with organizing printed family photos, organizing digital photos, using photos to spark family conversations, and sharing and enjoying photos with family.
Nelson said it’s more important to use photos to share the stories than it is to simply preserve the photos.
“When you sit down with your family, you want to go through photos together,” Nelson said.
She suggested a family activity where each person selects five photos that are important to them, and they each have time to share their stories. She also suggested asking family members questions like: “What was happening at this time in your life? Do you remember who took that photo? What do you miss most about this moment?”
Let artificial intelligence do some of the heavy lifting
Advances in technology mean that a lot of the difficult searching through census records and obituaries for family names saves time and removes the need to be an expert at searching records.
Ian James, a product manager at FamilySearch, led a session at RootsTech on how to use AI tools in FamilySearch.
One new tool from FamilySearch — called the AI Research Assistant — allows AI to make suggestions on possible family connections from indexed records. It just requires one to confirm that the information is correct before adding it to one’s family tree.
James said AI is definitely having more and more of an impact on the process of discovering names.
But he added: “There is still no substitution for intelligent people making intelligent decisions. Please come, please bring your best, and remember that there’s no machine that can do better than your intuition.”
The full session on AI tools in FamilySearch is available online in the RootsTech session library, along with all online sessions from RootsTech 2026 and previous RootsTech conferences.
