RootsTech 2026: Our Experience

For anyone working in genealogy, RootsTech is more than just a conference. It is where researchers, technology companies, archives, and genealogy organizations come together to exchange ideas, present new tools, and discuss the future of family history research. For us at GenealogyDirect, attending the conference was a great opportunity to connect with others who share the same goal: making genealogical records and expertise more accessible.

A Truly Global Event

The 2026 edition of RootsTech, held from March 5 to March 7, once again demonstrated the remarkable scale of the genealogy community. The in-person conference took place at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, while a large part of the program was also available online. This hybrid format allowed researchers from around the world to participate.

Although several thousand genealogists attended in person in Salt Lake City, the conference reached hundreds of thousands of participants worldwide, with participation approaching 370,000 attendees globally. The program included hundreds of lectures and workshops covering topics such as archival research, migration studies, DNA analysis, and regional genealogy.

Connecting With the Community

One of the most valuable aspects of RootsTech is the opportunity to meet people from across the genealogy world. During the conference we had the chance to speak with professional genealogists, archive specialists, technology companies, and genealogy organizations from different countries.

These conversations were both inspiring and encouraging. Many people we met were interested in the idea behind GenealogyDirect: connecting researchers with local genealogists who can access records in archives that are difficult to reach. In a field where many records are still not digitized and archives are spread across different countries, there is strong interest in solutions that make it easier to access these materials.

For us, the conference was therefore not only about learning from others, but also about exploring possible collaborations and partnerships. We had several promising conversations with organizations that share the ambition to make genealogical records more accessible and to support both professional and hobby genealogists in their research.

Trends Shaping the Future of Genealogy

RootsTech also provides a unique overview of the trends that are shaping the future of genealogy. One of the most prominent themes this year was the rapid development of artificial intelligence in genealogical research. AI is increasingly being used to transcribe handwritten documents, identify names within historical records, and connect information across multiple sources.

Perhaps even more interesting is how these technologies are beginning to support the development of historical narratives. By combining information from parish registers, census records, newspapers, military files, and other archival sources, AI tools can help researchers reconstruct the life stories of ancestors. Instead of presenting genealogists with isolated documents, these systems help place individuals within a broader historical context, revealing migration patterns, occupations, and the social environments in which families lived.

Another important development is the improvement of full-text search in historical archives. Thanks to advances in digitization and machine learning, researchers are increasingly able to search directly within the content of historical documents rather than relying solely on traditional indexes. This makes it possible to discover references that were previously hidden deep inside large archival collections.

DNA research continues to play an important role as well. Genetic genealogy is now widely used alongside traditional documentary research to confirm family relationships and solve complex genealogical questions.

Finally, there is a growing emphasis on collaboration within the genealogy community. Many of the new platforms and tools presented at RootsTech are designed to help researchers share discoveries, work together across borders, and build family trees collectively.

Looking Ahead

For us at GenealogyDirect, attending RootsTech was an inspiring experience. It reinforced how vibrant and collaborative the genealogy community is, and how many people are working toward the same goal: helping individuals discover and understand their family history.

The conversations we had during the conference opened the door to several potential partnerships and collaborations. We are excited to continue these discussions and to explore how we can work together with other organizations, genealogists, and archives to make family history research more accessible worldwide.