Mat and Savanna Shaw had a “whirlwind” 24 hours before performing Thursday, March 6, during the opening keynote session of RootsTech 2025.
The father-daughter singing duo — best known for their viral social media duets of uplifting music — had been asked to step in only the day before, after Emmy Award-winning singer/songwriter Rachel Platten dropped out last minute due to “unforeseen complications,” RootsTech leaders said.
Despite the unusual circumstances, Mat Shaw said RootsTech felt like an appropriate audience for him and his daughter because their music is so rooted in family.
Sharing music “has created so many opportunities for our family to be together through that process,” Mat Shaw said. “Our whole family is involved in the music.”
Father-daughter singing duo Mat and Savanna Shaw perform during the RootsTech 2025 opening keynote session on Thursday, March 6, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. | Christie Allred
They were preceded by Steve Rockwood, president and CEO of FamilySearch International, and Crista Cowan, corporate genealogist at Ancestry. Rachel Platten also briefly joined the proceedings via live video.
RootsTech is a three-day global online and in-person family history conference hosted by FamilySearch and sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other leading genealogy organizations.
The 2025 event is scheduled for March 6-8, with an in-person event in Salt Lake City and online at RootsTech.org, with select content available in multiple languages.
People attend RootsTech 2025 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News
See more coverage of RootsTech 2025 and family history
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long emphasized the value and power of family history work, which makes possible the completion of saving ordinances on behalf of deceased ancestors.
Speaking at RootsTech 2017, President Russell M. Nelson said, “As Church members, our interest in family history work has been motivated by instruction from the Lord that our ancestors cannot be made perfect without us and that we cannot be made perfect without them (see Doctrine and Covenants 128:15). That means we are to be linked together by the sacred sealing ordinances of the temple. We are to be strong links in the chain from our ancestors to our posterity.”
‘Discover’
Steve Rockwood, president and CEO of FamilySearch International, speaks at RootsTech 2025 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News
During his RootsTech 2025 keynote address, Steve Rockwood shared that his great-great-grandfather once tried to introduce oysters and lobsters into the Great Salt Lake. It didn’t work, but if it had, Rockwood joked that his ancestor might have started the “Rockwood Lobster Shack” dynasty.
Rockwood said he learned this story about his great-great-grandfather thanks to “one other source” who simply added what they knew to the global family history research pool. Now he, his children and grandchildren know their own family story better — and therefore know themselves better.
“What is your ‘lobster’ waiting to be discovered? … Have you added what you know in order to unleash the technology and all of us in the industry to begin your journey?” Rockwood said.
“Discover” is the RootsTech 2025 theme, and Rockwood said family history organizations work together so people all over the world can learn everything possible about their families.
“Together we share this relentless pursuit to access all the available information from your ancestral homelands, no matter who you are and no matter where you’re from,” he said. “And when you find it, we strive to assess how accurate it is and ensure that you’re discovering as much truth as possible.”
Andrew Wheelwright, left, helps Carla Canty as Jason Daniels and Ryan Plumb help David Hopper during RootsTech 2025 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News
Crista Cowan, corporate genealogist at Ancestry, added that an ancestor’s story isn’t complete without information about their friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow worshippers and other nonfamily members who knew and loved them.
“These connections are threads that, when woven together, create the rich tapestry of your ancestors’ lives … [Learn] not just the timeline of ancestors’ lives but the whole story of who they were,” she said.
And speaking via a live video, Rachel Platten shared how becoming a mother helped her rediscover and better love every part of herself. She also shared, in a pre-recorded video, a performance of her song “Girls,” written about her two young daughters.
“I think that loving myself so tenderly, not because of what I’ve done or earned … has allowed me to love my daughters in the same accepting way,” Platten said. “You don’t deserve [another person’s] love only because you’re good or because you’ve done something right, but just because you exist, because you were born.”
Rachel Platten speaks via live video during RootsTech 2025 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News