Well, now, THAT was fun. A hearty debt of thanks to the dozen or so of you who were able to join us for our very first WEEKLY <gulp> Projectkin Substack LIVE program.
The idea here is to have a simple broadcast out there you can choose to preview if you’d like with what’s coming each week. Like many of the features here in Substack, I’ve discovered that I can’t figure them out by reading about them, I have to just play with them. So far, (and with your kind support) it’s been working out. In exchange, I try to be as transparent as possible about what I’ve discovered so that you can apply what I’ve learned to your own Substack publications and communities.1
Since this was our first one, here’s what I learned:
Substack LIVE as a feature is limited to the mobile app both for creating live broadcast streams and for viewing them live. You currently cannot see it on the desktop browser:
Starting a live session is “stupid easy.” You just tap the prominent red “+” button in the app's “Home” interface.
This is where you would be creating a post or note from the mobile interface, but instead, select “Live.” I don’t know if this is an option for you if you don’t have a publication… but there’s much to learn from here.
I’ve planned to do these each week, as I said I would in my New Year’s post here. You have my events calendar, but this gives you a super-short preview and commentary on the coming week. I’m working on a global time calculator for the site, by the way.
As I have special guests or new programs we’ve never done before, I’ll invite the guests to say a few words.
of and my collaborator on joined me today.
Now, THAT conveniently brings me to the two events we talked about in our 12 minutes this week: We have two entirely new and fun events this week, both timed for our Pacific cohort. It just worked out that way. 🤫, Europe, you should be asleep. But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered the following week.
On Tuesday/Wednesday, Robin and I will host the first of our Pacific Edition Gatherings for MissionGenealogy. As we discussed in the video, we’re still working out topics for:
Focus of the Office Hours segment (I usually demonstrate something)
Break out room topics. How about a poll since “❤️” taps didn’t do it:
On Thursday/Friday I will host the first of what I expect will be a new series about using Substack and other platforms for your family history. I’m calling this series the “Push & Pull of Platforms,” for Projectkin. This one has two special guest members:
- of Tracking Down the Family on Substack and Jones Family History on WordPress.
- , you may know as @bjnlsgenealogy and of The Dual Genealogist, a blog on her WeAre.xyz archive.
See why this is going to be interesting?
You have the full transcript of what we said up above <gulp> and I’ll plan to do this each week with recordings appearing on the top of the fold on my publication at
.
Since you’ve cared enough to read this far… another question for you. I don’t want to exhaust my Projectkin email list, so…:
I did NOT opt for the “email subscribers” button when starting the LIVE video. I sent one to announce that it was coming about 15 minutes before the hour. Sending another one seemed annoying.
I won’t email THIS post to everyone (I have another one coming after the “Push & Pull” event on Thursday/Friday).
NEXT WEEK, I’m currently planning to change that. Since I’ve now announced it starting next week, I’ll…
Add it to the calendar.
Trigger the email announcement when I start the video on the hour.
Post the video to the top page of my publication but remove past episodes.
What do YOU think? Can you tell me why in the comments?
This sort of feedback is invaluable. This Live Video feature is a terrific example of a feature we’re all trying to figure out. I’m more than happy to share what I’m doing and why. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hopefully, I'll be, I'm sparing you the egg I’ve had to wipe off MY face occasionally.
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