Keynote Speakers selected for RootsTech 2014 - Bloggers Rule

I was quite interested to see the lineup of the Keynote Speakers for RootsTech 2014. The selection represents a pretty dramatic break from the CEO lineup of past years since only one of the six speakers is actually the head of a genealogy company. It is a big recognition for Bloggers and I realize they desperately had to do something different after my performance as a Keynote speaker last year.

The first Keynote Speaker is Ree Drummond. I actually owe part of my own reason for blogging to her very indirectly. I started blogging, in part, due to a challenge from one of my daughters after we had looked at several blogging sites, including Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman website. This was about six years ago. If you could see the impact this decision has had on me, I guess you could say that The Pioneer Woman was part of my initial inspiration. Interesting how things come around. Obviously, I did not end up on national TV but maybe I would have if I had chosen to write about something as popular as food or whatever. Now, that is a pretty scary thought. I am the antithesis of a cook. I am not even a bad cook. Oh well, I guess genealogy will have to do.

Here is the lineup:

Thursday, February 6 

Ree Drummond, blogger and author, The Pioneer Woman 
Ree is an award-winning blogger and New York Times bestselling author. Her popular website, The Pioneer Woman, was founded in 2006 and showcases her cooking, photography, and stories about country life. 

Annelies van den Belt, CEO, DC Thompson Family History 
Annelies is changing the way digital genealogical records are published and organized. Her company hosts 1.8 billion genealogical records across a family of online brands. 

Friday, February 7 

Dr. Spencer Wells, project director, National Geographic Genographic Project 
The Indiana Jones of genetics, Dr. Wells has traveled the world and captured the DNA of more than a half-million people to tell the story of the human journey. 

Judy Russell is a certified genealogist with a law degree who enjoys helping others understand the interplay between genealogy and the law. She blogs and maintains The Legal Genealogist website.

Saturday, February 8

Stephanie Nielsen, blogger and author, NieNie Dialogues 
Stephanie's story of survival and recovery after a plane crash captured the hearts of the nation. She has inspired others through interviews with Oprah Winfrey and on the Today Show. 

Todd Hansen, TV host, The Story Trek 
Behind every door there is a story. This TV series consists of random door-to-door interviews to discover who lives behind those doors and their real stories.