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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage president and CEO of FamilySearch International, Steve Rockwood. [MUSIC PLAYING] [APPLAUSE]

Wow. Wow. Welcome to RootsTech 2018. [APPLAUSE] Here we are again. We are so excited and humbled that you're here. That video, that portrays the strong emotions and profound nature of what we all do. The emotions of joy, love, and purpose inherent with family history are universal. While the sciences and technology are great enablers, it is the powerful human emotions that make this all so engaging. There's never been a better time to be involved with family history. We see innovators that have this very rare combination--brilliant minds and sensitive hearts. They have the brilliant minds that can harness all the complexities, especially of the sciences involved, and the sensitive hearts that can invoke the emotions you and I just saw. Take DNA as an example. The science and technology are mind-boggling. But people are engaging by the millions because they want to feel what it's like to connect and belong. How can all of we help these emotions of the heart spread in our families, in our community, and in society as a whole? Because our society needs it. We do so by making connections. And RootsTech is here to help you do exactly that, to connect. We want you to connect to your family. And we want you to connect to each other. Why? Because we've learned when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. Can you imagine how we would all treat each other if every group we belonged to, large or small, first found out how we were connected? Imagine if every neighbor compared DNA results with each other or found a common ancestor. Imagine if every class in school, work group, or congregation first found out the family connections they had with each other. What if, before every political race or sporting event, the opponents first found out how they were related before the opening debate, before the kickoff, tip-off, or face-off? You might have noticed how family history and common heritage had a pretty big effect on the Winter Olympics just these past couple of weeks. That was incredible. And why? Because when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. We have learned that there is a common simple cycle that can occur when people start to connect. It often starts with discovery. When we discover a connection to our family or to our heritage, we feel something. And that spirit of discovery often motivates us then to go on the next step and gather and preserve the memories of our family. Doing so ensures that connecting and belonging, then, can take place not just now, but for generations to come. This cycle of discover, gather, connect is packed full of emotion. And it's an ongoing cycle that's very, very fun, but also profound. This is discovery. They just discovered something about their family that connected and invoked emotion. This is discovery. She just discovered a photo that connected and invoked an emotion. This is discovery. This was last year. He had discovered a record that connected and invoked emotion. You're going to see a lot of that this week. We have all felt the emotions of discovery. We felt it when we got our first DNA results, when we discovered a family story, when we got a new hit in our tree, or when a family member who was lost is now found. Just this morning, I had a very, very sweet, tender discovery experience all by myself when I ate a dab of peanut butter with my cereal. Every time I do that, I'm reminded of my son's Grandpa Bob, who taught me the secret of adding a bit of peanut butter magic to cereal. We know discovery when we see it. We know discovery when we feel it. It always involves a smile, and at times, tears of joy. Research, which thankfully, for many of you, brings fire in your belly, actually turns the stomachs of most people. But discovery touches the hearts of everyone. It can even give us the power to turn the hearts of our family together and heal that which needs healing. This is so much more than finding a name. It's about changing and healing hearts of our family and of our friends. I have found that if I simply help others connect to their family or to their ancestral homelands, they'll feel the emotions of discovery. And I've learned the best way to do this is one by one. Now, it requires kindness. It requires curiosity. More than anything, it requires you and me leaving our ego at the door. And it requires ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to discern what simple question to ask or fun thing to do that can connect that person to their family or to their homeland. I just look for a very, very, very small connection that can invoke a big emotion, like a dab of peanut butter.

So I'll confess to you. I travel a lot with this job. And whenever I hop on a plane, I now always carry Kleenex, not for me, but for the poor person sitting next to me, because the minute they find out what I do, I swear, I should just wear a warning label on my chest that says, "Warning, sitting next to me is hazardous to your mascara and to your arm sleeves, because you are going to smile. And I guarantee you, you're most likely going to cry," because I'm going to help them discover them. Now there are tons and tons of high-tech and low-tech innovations to help people discover and connect. I hope you opt in on the Relatives at RootsTech feature in the FamilySearch Family Tree app. I logged in backstage. I have 312 cousins here.

But I kid you not. I have known a member of the audience here for over 25 years. And 15 minutes ago, I just found out we're cousins. [LAUGHTER] So, Gail, that just touches my heart. And now that--and Gail and I have loved each other for 25 years as friends. But now that we've made this connection, we'll treat each other differently. Now you're not getting a laptop, Gail. [LAUGHTER] I'm confident that this week, we're going to see a number of cousins unite in the hallways with warm hugs and high fives.

Now if you don't see any relatives in the app, that's OK. Let me tell you why. That just simply means your family tree isn't as connected as maybe it could be. And you can easily change that if you'd like to. We have more success discovering, gathering, and connecting our families when we share and connect our family trees. At FamilySearch, we love all trees--public and private. And we love all of the different providers and the different platforms available for you to plant and to grow your trees. We do not compete with anyone as FamilySearch. As the neutral Switzerland of the industry, we are always looking for ways for you to share and connect your trees to each other. And when you decide to connect to the open, public FamilySearch Family Tree, you get connected to millions of other users from literally all over the world who use multiple tree platforms. It truly is a global family tree. You also connect to more than a billion potential ancestors and billions of records, once again, from all corners of the world. You can even connect by sharing your very pristine private tree in our Genealogies section in the FamilySearch, where they'll be preserved and untouched but you can still give and receive benefits from the global public tree. Either way, we invite you to connect and belong and bring the best that you have and see if we can add to it and further help you connect to your wonderful family. We have found that trees thrive in groves where they're connected as one much better than if they're alone. So come on, join the grove. And why? Because when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. Now another fun and profound way to connect is to discover our ethnic backgrounds and our homelands. That, of course, is one of the key emotional appeals of DNA today. Ah, DNA, this is the ultimate personal record. And it is changing everything. It's bringing a wave of millions of people to our door. In just a few short years, it's projected that over 100 million individuals will have ordered a DNA kit, 100 million new customers, new potential cousins bringing new revenue, new investors, new innovators, and new opportunities for everyone. And they're not coming in the name of family history, with pedigree charts and family group sheets in their hands. They're coming in the name of discovery and connecting. We want to welcome and thank all of the DNA innovators that are here. Now here's the fun thing. Throughout the week, you'll notice them, because curiously, you might find them always sitting on the front row of all of the classes. I think it's because they want to sit there in the family history equivalent of the splash zone at SeaWorld, ready to literally capture everything that comes out of your mouth so they can analyze it and preserve it. My DNA and my family tree tell me that some of my homelands include--and I need everyone to listen closely--my homelands include Massachusetts, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, Utah, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Denmark, and I just found out only a few months ago, Germany. Now be loud and proud. How many of you share one of those homelands with me? [APPLAUSE]

See, homelands are so incredibly easy but powerful ways to connect, because family transcends all borders. It even transcends politics. It transcends mortality. I love the many GPS and mapping innovations that connect us to our homelands. I want you to go check out the Expo Hall tonight, and you'll see some of them out there. I'm so glad that my kids have their whole family tree and their homelands in their pocket at all moments. And with the Map My Ancestors feature on the FamilySearch Family Tree app, for example, at any time, they can easily see the photos, the stories, and the locations of their ancestors. Believe me, you watch. The mapping industry, the travel industry, even the virtual reality industry are going to discover the power of connecting us to our homelands. As we discover our homelands through DNA or other discovery experiences, we naturally then want to experience those homelands. We want to experience them firsthand. We can do that online. We can do that in virtual reality. And we can definitely do it in person. We want to see what our ancestors saw, walk where they walked, eat where they ate, sleep where they slept. Here I am in London, where my father walked as a young Mormon missionary more than 60 years earlier. And here is his grandson, who has never met his grandfather, walking where his grandfather walked. Can you imagine the new opportunities awaiting innovative local genealogy societies and family history centers who decide to accommodate those who want to come and discover and connect to their homelands? Who knows what they want to discover better than you, the locals? They'll come to have fun. And they'll come in person. They'll come online. And you can make that visit profound if you so desire. They're coming. Are you ready? With Google Maps, you can already tour the streets of the towns of your ancestors from the comfort of your own home. But imagine this. What will it be like when you enter a virtual world, and you now are walking down the street as it appeared back in 1880? And you see the apartment building that's populated, by the way, with all of the residents that lived there in 1880, reconstituted by the information found in census and other records. You now walk and knock on the door of your ancestor's apartment. They answer the door, and you see them based on photos and descriptions of their appearance. You sit down with your ancestor, and you hear them relate to you their story of when they first migrated to this country. That can happen. Wouldn't that be fun? And that would be incredibly profound. Today, any trip can be personalized and enhanced with the strong emotions of family history. On a recent visit to Boston, a business trip, my friends at American Ancestors connected me to the first Rockwoods who came to America and settled in Boston over 300 years ago. They made a routine business trip literally a life-changing experience for me. And now I am friends for life with American Ancestors. And now what do I want to do? I want to take my whole family to Boston, which by the way, family, we're going to Boston. I want to take my whole family to Boston so they can see that homeland. Why? Because when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. That trip also, along with that other business trip to Philadelphia, set the stage for me and my family at this year's Super Bowl. I learned that the Rockwoods first settled in Boston in the 1600s, and on the other side of my family, the Chandlers settled Philadelphia in the 1700s. So for us, this was a total no-lose game. So we made super nachos with Philly cheese steak on one side of the nachos and New England crab on the other. [LAUGHTER]

When you help others discover, gather, and connect, you change. You go from being a "here I am" person, with a bunch of theme music and your big face on that screen, to, "ah, there you are" person. I love family history because it's packed full of "there you are" people feeling a "there you are" industry. In this industry, you are the customer, and you are the product. Now think of that. Every other industry says, yeah, they revolve around the customer. But what that means is they have a product they want you, the customer, to buy. They want you to buy their food, their jeans, their cars, their insurance. But in family history, you're the product. Think of it. Those who are thriving in family history today are those who are centered on you, not themselves. They're discovering your--they want you to discover your story, discover your family. The focus on you means family history gets very personal very, very quickly. Therefore, discovery experiences are best had one by one, with you. That is why you received a hint on your tree one by one. Your DNA results are sent to you one by one. The best help you can ever receive is given to you one by one. I'm convinced the best way for us to accelerate or hasten the spread of the emotions of this great effort is to take the time to focus on the one--one by one. So as you all know, family history is not a spectator sport. You've sat there for 15 minutes. So let's do some connecting now, shall we? So why not just--I want you to do this. Turn to your neighbor, maybe someone you already know; better yet, someone you don't. Introduce yourself. But then I want you to be an "ah, there you are" person. Make it all about them. Help them discover themselves. Help your neighbor connect to either their family or to their homeland. Use high-tech methods like DNA or the apps, or use some good, old-fashioned, low-tech questions like, how did your parents choose your name? Where does your last name come from? Where are your homelands? What are your sweetest memories of your family? But remember, it's all about them. It's not about you. Help them connect. And then we'll switch, and they'll make sure it's all about you. Who knows? Maybe you'll even find a connection between the two of you. So ready, set, go and connect. Congratulations, way to connect. Now, I know I'm interrupting you. You can continue on, hopefully connecting the rest of the week. Hopefully, you found even a newfound friend, or maybe a cousin. Why is that so important? Because when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. Now let me end. Let me end with how gathering helps us connect. It helps us connect now and for generations to come. There's a great gathering going on. And we are all gatherers. We are gathering our families, our records, our memories at unprecedented rates. It seems when we feel the spirit of discovery, we sense there's something more. And we want to then gather all that we can. Our motivation evolves, and it changes from self-interest to love and concern for others, love for those that preceded us and love for those that follow. The movie Coco, this past year, beautifully illustrated the power of gathering, didn't it? [APPLAUSE] It showed us the importance of gathering the memory of every single family member, one by one, and how that can heal the hearts of families. Gather one by one so that no one is forgotten. Ladies and gentlemen, we believe strongly, everyone deserves to be remembered-- [APPLAUSE]

--every single one. And why? Because it matters, because she matters, and she deserves to be remembered. Because he matters, and he deserves to be remembered. We all matter in this rich tapestry of the human family, a tapestry in which we are all connected and we all belong, intertwined on earth today and connected through generations of time. Ladies and gentlemen, she matters, and she deserves to be remembered. In her face is a life story, a story of aspirations and dreams, some realized, some not, a tale of highs and lows, happiness and hardships, endurance and resilience. They matter. But for them and for much of the world, too many will pass from this life with no more than a line or two to show that they even existed. It's estimated that almost a third of the world's population today is undocumented and not officially recorded. Why should one person be able to leave a legacy for his children and grandchildren to read and share, while others disappear without a trace? Will he be remembered? Will her story be lost? Will he be remembered?

Yes, he will. With all the innovations of the last 10 years and with the innovations yet to come, we truly are in the position to gather and unlock the records of mankind and connect them and create a true family tree of mankind. We are all connected, and we all belong to one great human family. There is a wave of opportunities right now to digitize and index records of mankind all over the world. Written records and oral histories are being accessed at an accelerated pace. However, the immediate opportunities far exceed the resources. Now let's look at DNA. The unlocking of DNA came as a result of the Human Genome Project. That was an intensive common effort that required unprecedented cooperation of the private and public sector to crack the genetic code of mankind. Now to gather and connect the data locked in the written records of the world is going to require a very similar cooperative effort. It requires all of us in the private and public sector, for-profits and nonprofits, to partner like never before, each leveraging their own expertise and domain but connecting and belonging for the common good. Cooperative efforts, along with incredible innovations in family trees, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and neural networks, will make this possible. We are all indebted to the selfless camera operators and indexers who, one by one, day by day, painstakingly make sure the records are available to discover, gather, and connect. Current research and development efforts with partners are leading us to teach computers now how to read and index records. As the machines, coupled with the eyes and minds of indexers, accelerate the pace of making written records more searchable, then artificial intelligence can kick in and help reconstitute communities and families. The wonders of technology let you view what the computers have done and then deliver to you so you can discern for yourself how to best gather and connect your family. Imagine what we'll be able to do when the written records of mankind and the genetic records of mankind are unlocked, searchable, and connected. We must gather and connect these records before it's too late--before it's too late for the records themselves, and before it's too late for the people recorded in those records. That is why we've significantly increased our focus and limited resources on harvesting the oral histories of Africa and of the written records at risk of decay in other parts of the world. But as we do that, our question for you is, what are the records at risk within your own family? Who will be forgotten if you don't gather their memories now? My family will always be indebted to my son Sean, who is a very busy college student, made the effort to interview his Grandpa Bob, who had just been diagnosed with cancer and was not going to survive. After Grandpa's funeral, Sean surprised all of us with a set of videos where he captured Grandpa's stories, love, and counsel. When asked what advice Grandpa had for his grandchildren, this was his response. Well, it would be hard to capsulize it. And it would be to stay true to the faith and to love one another, to love the Brethren, but to love your parents and your siblings and your cousins unreservedly, unconditionally. I think that that is so important, recognizing that nobody is perfect, but we can give perfect love to one another. It is very difficult to see any of our children unhappy with each other.

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I'm so glad Sean gathered to preserve that precious family record at risk. He did it for us. Now let's us as an industry do it for them--the children. They need to be connected, and they need to belong. Let's do it for her. She has an innate desire to connect and belong to her family now, while she's young, pure, and tender. The knowledge of her heritage will arm her with power and protection well before she is exposed to the distractions that await her. The trials and triumphs of her ancestors become hers and can inoculate her with resiliency to better understand the epidemics of violence and addictions and pornography and loneliness that she'll be exposed to. She can know now that she's part of something bigger than herself and that she is never alone. Ladies and gentlemen, we can do this. As the neutral entity in the industry, we at FamilySearch will continue to approach you as individuals and as organizations and invite you, as very specific projects and opportunities, to gather, preserve, and connect the records and family trees of mankind. The initiatives will range from very simple to pretty ambitious, from connecting grave sites around the world to reconnecting the vast Chinese family of man, from helping you with your own family's living memory to connecting the descendants of African slaves back to their village homelands. Why? Because it matters. And we do matter, because when we connect and belong to each other, we treat each other differently. Thank you, everyone. Welcome to RootsTech. [APPLAUSE]