After seeing record participation in 2021, RootsTech organizers were happy to report that “millions” more engaged the free, online global family history conference last weekend.

The number jumped from 130,000 (in-person and online) in 2020 to 1.5 million (online) last year. The 2022 audience last week was several million, organizers said. A more specific figure will be released later.

And this is only the beginning as engagement is expected to continue in the weeks and months to come, said Jen Allen, director of events at RootsTech.

“That was our premiere weekend. ‘Star Wars’ just opened at the theater,” she said. “We have some big plans still happening for the next three weeks and beyond. We anticipate these numbers will grow. Right now we’re pretty confident that we have had millions of people participating in 227 countries and territories and the world. When we look at our goal and what the numbers are currently saying, we are very, very, very pleased and excited to see it grow.”

The continued growth of the largest family history conference in the world was one of several highlights that Allen and others discussed with the Deseret News following the conference, which took place March 3-5.

New goals and strategies for RootsTech 2022

Of course organizers wanted to see huge numbers of RootsTech participants worldwide — they had a goal to reach “millions” — but they also focused heavily on providing a quality, engaging experience in specific areas of the world.

“I know that can be vague,” Allen said. “Our focus wasn’t to grow the whole of it, but to look at how we can grow Ghana, and Argentina, and look at different places around the world and how we might increase participation and engagement in…