Gosh. Where has the time gone? I have suddenly realised that in just over 6 weeks I will be in Salt Lake City for my first RootsTech conference! When it was confirmed that I would be an official Ambassador for the event I had months to plan my trip – now I can see the next 6 weeks disappearing before my very eyes.

I’ll be arriving a week earlier, on 2 February, so that I can spend time researching at the wonderful Family History Library. The last time I was there, in 2010, I spent 4 whole days in Basement 2 which houses the British Isles collection. This time, I am hoping to at least visit one or two of the other 4 floors before RootsTech kicks off on 8 February.

But for now, what is turning out to be my biggest drama is, what clothing will I take?

I’ll be leaving Sydney at the height of our Australian summer and arriving in Salt Lake City, at the height of their winter. I think I am pretty well covered for the outdoor side of things – running (or will I be skiing) from accommodation to the Salt Palace Conference Centre or the Family History Library – but I’m not sure what to take for the indoors. Layered clothing sounds good but do I layer down to short sleeves or long?

All my besties know how much I hate the heat so I am currently leaning towards short sleeves for indoor activities. However, I will probably have to draw the line at shorts and thongs!

After what can only be described as a very hectic couple of weeks in our household I have finally managed to get some time back at the computer to catch-up with all that is happening in genea-land.

Well that was the plan. However, the first item I came across was a blog post from a friend, and fellow RootsTech 2017 Ambassador, Jill Ball, announcing her participation in the semi-finalist judging for the RootsTech Innovator Showdown. What an honour it must have been to be part of the selection panel that evaluated  a massive 42 entries in the competition.

Hearty congratulations must go to the following trimmed down list of semi-finalists – all very deserving of their spot in the Innovator Showdown.

Champollion 2.0
CSI Crowd Sourced Indexing
Cuzins
Double Match Triangulator
Emberall
JoyFLIPS
Kindex
OldNews USA
QromaTag
RootsFinder

Each of the above Innovators, from around the world, will compete for $100,000 in prizes at the Showdown where five finalists will then pitch their innovative ideas on stage on 10 February 2017. You can read more about each of the 10 semi finalists at https://www.rootstech.org/innovator-showdown.