Nothing can be more fun for Jenny Gonzalez than planning a celebration and inviting the world to it! That's what RootsTech is all about, celebrating families around the world, and the Expo at RootsTech is where the celebration comes to fruition in a big way.
Jenny Gonzalez, the person behind RootsTech’s first simultaneous in-person and virtual Expo, has the rare distinction of pulling it all together for 2023. If you are planning to attend RootsTech in Salt Lake City on March 2–4 or choosing to tune in over the internet from home wherever you live, the Expo promises to be a one-of-a-kind event that will hold your interest, pique your imagination, and focus your attention on all things related to family history.
She’s right in her element. Jenny, the only girl in a family of 4 children, was always the chief decorator and party planner growing up. Even with 3 brothers, Jenny counts as the middle child because her 2 older brothers are twins, and her younger brother finishes the set of Gonzalez siblings. Within her family, Jenny was always the catalyst when it came to fun. She is now pouring the same energy and enthusiasm into the RootsTech Expo Hall—which, for the first time, is really 2 events rolled into 1, and the guest list is the entire world! We shouldn't be surprised she discovered her organizing skills years ago when planning a party for a friend. She relished putting the finishing touches on a celebration of a different kind, and in the process discovered the very thing she loves doing most. Planning events is her passion! Now, after several years of experience performing professional event planning, her most recent venture at RootsTech is just “icing on the cake!”
Since its beginning in 2011, the world’s largest genealogy and family history conference continues to innovate and invite the world to connect through shared interests in family history and to celebrate heritage and culture worldwide. There is literally something for everyone. From the time the lights went down on last year’s conference, key organizers have been putting their heads together to plan and execute a conference in 2023 to exceed all others. Jenny has been a spark on the RootsTech team, lending her talents to the mammoth task of putting together the Expo Hall in the world's largest genealogy conference, which she has done for the last 2 years.
Jenny Gonzalez just happened to have her finger on the pulse of the most dynamic and popular aspects of the whole RootsTech conference when she came on board. She already knew some of the key organizers who had been courting her to come and work for them earlier in her professional career. Her task now is to vet the best and brightest entrepreneurs who have built genealogy products related to family history, decide who would be invited to exhibit on-site, who would be virtual, and who would do both.
She reaches out to exhibitors from the past, and new exhibitors who want to participate, always adding her creative touches to what has become both traditional and unusual. The return of a RootsTech in-person event, coupled with a virtual event, promises many of the offerings in the Expo Hall will actually be in 2 places with the most diverse and dynamic ever participants from around the world.
Jenny Gonzalez, working behind the scenes
Jenny had been planning events from her early years, working with a private company. She came to the RootsTech team under the auspices of FamilySearch when her job ended in 2020 during the pandemic. Today she says she is in the best of all possible places to use her interests and talents.
Jenny’s college major, communications, comes in handy, but combining that with event planning has shown her a path laid out for her—and a passion flames from within. She has met so many different people who have carved out a niche for themselves with family history products, and she counts developing relationships with them a blessing. She says, helping exhibitors succeed with their business plans is so rewarding! Some focus on one small aspect of family history, like making still photos speak, and others are more universal and would appeal to family history experts who are deep into research and records. That’s where innovation draws a wide audience, and for Jenny it is the best of all possible worlds.
Decisions on who to place in prime spots in the exhibits that will be on-site, who would be virtual only, and who will do both, have pulled in the expected Platinum sponsors, less well known Bronze Sponsors, and made a place for Society Sponsors in the virtual Expo. She has welcomed a wide variety of vendors that connect with family history, and the internet provides options to connect users to vendor websites for a more enriching and expansive look at what’s new and what’s trending in genealogy. No wonder it is often said of RootsTech there's something for everyone to enjoy and learn.
Family heritage and coming to FamilySearch and RootsTech
Speaking of families, Jenny’s father came to the United States from Peru after serving a mission in his native country for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became friends with mission companions, one of which invited him to come to the United States. He stayed in the United States, attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, met, and married Jenny’s mom.
Jenny's parents are living in Utah where Jenny was born and raised. Jenny embraces her Peruvian heritage, has never learned to speak Spanish, but she’s well acquainted with her Peruvian relatives. Her dad is the native speaker, but she longs to learn more. An aunt is the family member who has done the most family history research on her mother's side of the family and knows the most about ancestors, but there is much work to do on Jenny's father's side. Jenny has strong ties to her extended Peruvian family, and she feels the inevitable pull of family history as she is discovering her own Catholic heritage in Peruvian records, some of which are not easy to research.
Growing up in Utah, Jenny attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She landed her first job with the event division in Modern Display, a local Utah company with both a website and a worldwide reach. She gradually worked her way up as an account executive and then left to work for a different company, where she hoped to broaden her experience. That's when the pandemic hit, which caused her to lose her job in 2020. Work contacts in the business had been jokingly asking her to come and work with them, so the next time they invited her to apply, she jumped at the chance. It was meant to be! She is now employed by FamilySearch, a nonprofit organization that hosts and sponsors the largest genealogy conference in the world! When Jenny began to work on the RootsTech team within FamilySearch International in early 2021, she was ready from day one!
Great pleasure in helping entrepreneurs succeed
While she didn’t plan to take the path she’s followed, that path has been thus far rolled out ahead of her. Working with vendors of family history products, each with a different focus, has been tremendously rewarding. Jenny recognizes commonalities and differences with vendor offerings. She also has a pretty good idea of the audience FamilySearch serves and what RootsTech wants to accomplish.
She is always willing to help move things along and work with people who have varying interests and goals. Building a virtual expo hall with more companies interested in family history products in very individual ways gives her great pleasure. She wants every exhibiting entrepreneur, virtual or otherwise, to succeed. She is not limited by an expo hall with 4 walls and entrances and exits. The virtual experience opens an opportunity to connect to vendor websites which gives more vendors and participants an opportunity to participate in the RootsTech experience. And that will have a lingering benefit in the archive of content that will continue to be available long after the conference.
Looking back, she never could have guessed she would be in a position to do much good doing the things she loves. She invites everyone to join the celebration!
You might see her on site in the Expo Hall in March of 2023, or just recognize she’s behind the scenes putting the last pieces into place even as the event goes live. If you are considering RootsTech, take time to register for RootsTech Connect 2023, either as an attendee in person at the Salt Palace, or virtually from the landing page at RootsTech.org. Browse the Expo Hall 2022 to get an idea of what’s in store for participants at RootsTech in 2023.
What Is RootsTech?
RootsTech is a place to learn, be inspired, and make connections through family history. Hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by other leading genealogy organizations, we have hundreds of expert classes, tips and tricks videos, and inspiring stories that can help you experience family history like never before. Visit our on-demand learning library, or make plans to join us for our next virtual or in-person conference event.
