Packing for RootsTech 2014

In just a week I will be flying to Salt Lake City for RootsTech 2014. Needless to say I am very excited for the conference. I attended in 2012, but had to miss last year. For that conference I created a nice Excel spreadsheet of things I needed to pack. It is interesting that in just two years that many of items are no longer needed on the 2014 list. The first is my once treasured hand scanner. That is being replaced by CamScanner on my android phone. That means one less device and one less charger. The second item to not make this year’s list is my digital camera. Again, the smart phone camera is replacing the need to take the camera. The third item to not make the list is my Nook. At the time I used it as a tablet and device to store my documents. This list is getting longer; I will also not need to bring my digital audio recorder, no extra batteries for the camera and audio recorder, and no charger for the Nook. It will be nice not have to pack or to worry about losing these.

That leaves what still made it on the list. I will bring refrigerator magnets for marking cabinets where I have pulled microfilm at the Family History Center. If you haven’t tried it, it saves a lot of time and helps ensure the microfilm gets back into the right place. I still like to take notes on paper. A neat idea I picked up from another blogger was to print the FamilySearch catalog records for the books and film I will be using. Those sheets will make a great place for taking research notes, plus the citation is already listed. I will still need to bring a charger for the phone and a flash drive to pick up extra files.  I carry a file folder with all of my hotel, air, and conference registrations with me, just in case. I almost forgot, I still need to bring pens and a notebook. Did I forget anything else?