We’re Back From RootsTech

We’ve just returned from RootsTech 2019, where the MyHeritage team left a lasting impression on thousands of family history enthusiasts. With a major MyHeritage announcement each day of the conference, excitement levels remained high throughout.

The MyHeritage Booth

The MyHeritage booth was hopping with visitors from the start of the conference.

In the live demo theater, presentations were given every half hour.

Ran Snir, DNA Product Manager, giving a demo at the MyHeritage booth.

Daniel Horowitz, Genealogy Expert at MyHeritage.

Multiple computer stands were set up for MyHeritage users to receive assistance from Support team members.

Shlomi Ben Ami (left), Email Support Manager, providing assistance to a user.

Product announcements

Throughout the conference, we announced the release of new and exciting features.

On Wednesday we announced a ground-breaking new innovation, the Theory of Family Relativity™. This technology fulfills a promise made by our CEO, Gilad Japhet, last year at RootsTech, and is the first of its kind. This theory is a game-changer in the world of genetic genealogy, scanning billions of family trees, historical records and other databases, to illuminate the relationships between DNA Matches.

Thursday brought the launch of AutoClusters, a new feature that automatically groups and visualizes shared DNA Matches. AutoClustering technology organizes groups of DNA Matches based on a likely common ancestor to provide new insights into family relationships.

The response to both genetic genealogy features was overwhelmingly positive. Users are thrilled to have new ways to explore their DNA Matches.

Friday was the MyHeritage-sponsored day at RootsTech. It began with a MyHeritage breakfast for friends.

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Later, founder and host of Legacy Family Tree Webinars Geoff Rasmussen introduced keynote speaker Saroo Brierley. In his introduction, Geoff announced that MyHeritage is extending its pro bono project, DNA Quest. We will donate 5,000 additional DNA kits, for free, to help adoptees worldwide reunite with their biological families.

We also hosted a MyHeritage Town Hall, where attendees had an opportunity to hear directly from the people who built the platform.

Maya Lerner, VP Product at MyHeritage.

On Saturday, at the MyHeritage sponsored lunch, Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet announced that MyHeritage has completed its goal of digitizing all of Israel’s cemeteries. It is now the first country in the world to have almost all of its gravestones digitized, and available online — for free!

Raffles and Games

Each day, we raffled MyHeritage DNA kits, Amazon Echos, and much more.

Crowds gather for the daily raffle.

We also had a pop-up booth where visitors could play a ring toss game to win a MyHeritage bear or a MyHeritage DNA kit.

Here are some of our happy winners.

Another main attraction was the dress-up vintage photo booth on Saturday. Here attendees could dress up in old-time outfits and say “cheese.”

Here are some of the great pictures taken at the booth.

Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and attended our classes. It was great seeing our old friends and meeting new ones.

We hope to see you all at MyHeritage LIVE 2019, the MyHeritage User Conference, which will take place in Amsterdam on September 6-8, 2019. Sign up today to save your spot!