New Year, New Outlook — New Events!
A fresh new year gives me a chance to review our progress and share our direction. This time, I'm thrilled to share an exciting batch of new events starting with a live chat program tomorrow!
After a long and restful break, I’m back. As I settle into year-end reflections and New Year’s resolutions, it seems time to share some of the new approaches and programs I have planned for 2025.
Thank you, members!
First, I want to thank all of you for what we’ve accomplished as a community since our launch on Substack a little over 13 months ago. You can probably tell from the activity level, comments, and support that things are hopping. What you might not realize is…
35% of our new members have joined based on your recommendations. Even more remarkable, that’s with just 7% of you recommending Projectkin.1 (Truly, thank you!) The art of recommendations is subtle. I’m touched that you took the time to figure it out and recommended us.
The
is now read across 48 US states and 29 countries. Even more remarkably, only 60% of you are here in the United States. In the last 30 days, nearly 50% of you subscribed outside the US.2 That tells me that our international growth continues to be robust. That’s exactly what I was hoping to achieve.3
The Projectkin Subscriber map is visible if you have a publication in your dashboard. It is under the Stats tab, then “Subscriber Report.” Nearly 30% of you are also members of
, my top site for “Audience Overlap,”4In the last year,
of and I have become good friends and now collaborate on a shared effort to help genealogists and family historians appreciate the magic we’re brewing here on Substack.⮕ We’ve called this collaboration
.56 Take a look and join us.If you need to convince another family historian or genealogist to join us on Substack, send them here or to
.
Events
In a way, Projectkin started with events at Ponga, my previous startup7. I noticed our members enjoyed connecting as much with each other as with the material our speakers presented. I’m indebted to
for graciously letting us continue her Kathy’s Corner series for Ponga even after we took the platform offline.Since then, we’ve grown and expanded with several new series. Each started as an idea or collaboration. Consider the six-part Forget-me-not series with
or our ongoing Emma Explores series with Emma Cox.Each of our programs is like a recording in front of a “live studio audience” in that many more people see (or skim through8) them as videos. You can see the complete list of coming events here or view it on a calendar here. All events are free. After registering, you’ll get a safe, personal link via email from Zoom.
So, what’s new?
In 2025, I plan to build on what’s working best. We start with speakers to ground us in the basics:
Handling our family archives: Kathy’s Corner
This popular monthly session focuses on a challenge for every family historian: Sorting and digitizing collections of inherited family photos and artifacts. Our speaker, Projectkin member Kathy Stone, has decades of experience as a professional photo organizer and is now working on her family history projects. You’ll find past episodes at Projectkin.org/kathys-corner. The recurring event is scheduled on Zoom.
Researching the stories: Emma Explores
As a professional genealogist, Emma Cox explores archives, churchyards, and online to compile histories, charts, tours, and books for clients. She also interviews experts on her podcast, Journeys into Genealogy, and a substack of the same name. For Projectkin, Emma shares her learnings in themes that inspire the rest of us to explore these angles with our own families. You’ll find the archive at Projectkin.org/emma-explores. You’ll find event dates and registration links here.
Creative projects and insightful approaches: Project Recipes
With a bit of Julia Child-like magic, you'll see how our special guests put a digital project together to capture a family story. Recordings, recipes, and resources are emailed to all members following the conclusion of each event. You’ll find the archive at Projectkin.org/recipes. Each event is scheduled individually as speakers become available. Interested in sharing a project? Email me!
As members come to me with ideas or unexpected bits of inspiration, I’ve found that they easily flow into special limited-run programs. For example, between January and March, we’ll enjoy the last three programs in
’s series:
Forget-me-not: How We Memorialize
This incredible series, with its fourth through sixth episodes scheduled in this first quarter, brings us into thoughtful discussions about loss, memory, and celebration. In each episode, interviews experts and ordinary people about the extraordinary process of remembering those who’ve passed. It’s both touching and inspiring.
Jane has just announced the details for episodes 4, 5, and 6.9 Learn more below:
Episode 4: January 21/22: Rhonda Lauritzen
Episode 5: February 18/19: James R. (Bob) Hagerty
Episode 6: March 18/19: Ailsa Piper
The series archive is at Projectkin.org/forget-me-not. The events are scheduled in our calendar.
We first met Jane as a member of Projectkin. By May 2024, she had volunteered to present a special program, “Beginning, Middle & End,” which served as a “taster” for her series of workshops for her newsletter,
. Projectkin has been smitten with her work since.New Programs
In Q1 2025, I’ll be introducing more special new programs. If we find a fit, they may become part of new programs for topics like Platforms and One-Place Studies. Initially, recordings for these programs will be archived with our past special programs in Projectkin.org/specials.
January
January 9/10 (Pacific): Push & Pull of Platforms with
and . Family history is a team sport. A routine day might include coaxing elders' stories, transcribing ancestors' letters, and sharing stories with nephews and nieces. We’ll speak with two members managing their own way through a changing marketplace for platforms where we can share our stories. (See footnote 9, this is “Pacific” time.)
February
February 6th (Atlantic): One-Place Studies: Part 1 of 2 | Getting Up and Running with Janet Barrie of the Society for One-Place Studies. When Projectkin joined the All About That Place series in September 2024, many members were new to One-Place Studies. While it intuitively fits in a project-based exploration of family history, the discipline is new to many of us. This two-part series will ground us in best practices following the principles developed by Janet Few over a decade ago in her groundbreaking guide to one-place studies, “Putting Your Ancestors in their Place.”
February 13th (Atlantic): Howard & Elvira: Love and the German Chocolate Cake Family myths and lore can live right under your nose. In this delightful program, one of the Projectkin community's most talented writers, dives into a story to take you into the library, through the kitchen, and onto the plate. It's the perfect story to put you in the mood for Valentine's Day. Be sure to register to get in on this special event.
February 15th (special time, 8/11 AM PT/ET): Riding a Cabinet Card into Indiana’s Historic Past. I am giving this talk as part of a regular meeting of the NWIGS or the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society.
March
March 6th (Atlantic): One-Place Studies: Part 2 of 2 | Taking It Further with Janet Barrie of the Society for One-Place Studies. As a follow-up to part 1 (which you may watch live or as a recording), we will look at what to do with the material you collected in part 1.
In addition to these Projectkin events, I’m also co-hosting Gatherings with
for . Starting in 2025, these two monthly events will combine the separate functions of our 2024 Roundtable and Office Hours programs. Our events are held on the first and second week of each month in the Americas. Roundtables allowed us to share our genealogical work and gain insights into techniques, while Office Hours allowed us to trade tips for using Substack for family history. Combined each program will run about 90 minutes and be timed for the convenience of our members in the Atlantic and Pacific regions:Tuesday/Wednesday, January 7th/8th (Pacific) at 4/7 PM PT/ET in the Americas and across the International Date Line, on Wednesday from 8 AM in Hong Kong to 1 PM in New Zealand.
Tuesday, January 14th (Atlantic.) at 10 AM / 1 PM PT/ET in the Americas and 6 PM GMT/1900 CET.
Learn more about these events and register at MissionGenealogy.org/events.
Can I get YOUR feedback?
I know, it’s a lot. Am I hosting the right kinds of events? Is it helpful to you? Do you have ideas about programs you would like to share or that you would like to see? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Add them in the comments or drop me a message directly:
Transparency: How is this still free?
When I founded Projectkin, I decided it should be a community, not a revenue source. As a technologist and product person, I have other means to make money. I wanted participation to be genuine and voluntary. To make that work, this space had to be platform-independent and transparent. You should not see any ads, affiliate links, or platform pitches. That independence allows us all to be both objective and creative.
In the spirit of transparency and with over a year of experience, let me expand on the explanation I started on my Projectkin About page.
The key is the Substack business model. Combining web and video hosting, email, and membership functions, their model saves me $50-70/month. Other tools I need to deliver this Projectkin community include a Pro account for Zoom and the Tockify calendar tool.10 In 2024, members generously shared enough “tips” in the Buy Me a Coffee platform to perfectly11 cover my Zoom expenses during 2024. I’m frankly astonished and deeply grateful. Your contributions are always appreciated but never required.
Substack also offers robust paid options, including a top-tier “supporter” level for one-time donations above $50. One of you described this as “PBS model,” which is apt — and a good fit for us. I’m now exploring ideas for valuable elements I might offer as that gift. I’ll hold off until I have something worthy. In the meantime, I’d love your thoughts.
To get started in 2025
Finally, as many of you know, I call myself the “ringleader” here at Projectkin. Unlike a company or service, this is a community. The way I see it, my job is to spark ideas and help you inspire each other. I’m here to spin plates. In that spirit…
Let’s dazzle each other with something new: LIVE
Starting on Sunday, January 5th, at 2 PM Pacific, (See WorldTimeBuddy to calculate your local time,) I’ve planned a short weekly video broadcast of ~15-20 minutes) about coming events in the week.
This is a Live broadcast, so there’s no Zoom registration.
You’ll watch the live video on our YouTube channel at YouTube.com/@projectkin or, conveniently, Projectkin.org/youtube 😉, where a link to the live session should appear. 🤞
I’ll take your questions in our member chat section at Projectkin.org/chat.
I’ll post the recording in both member chat as well as on YouTube12.
This week
will join me as a special guest to talk (among other things,) about our new programs starting on January 7th/8th. 🎉UPDATE: It worked! Watch the recording here. And YES, we’re doing THIS again next week. Soon it’ll be on the Projectkin Calendar. 🎉:
I can only put three of your written recommendations in a rotation at a time on my Welcome page, but I value every one of them. Thank you! I also try to return the favor as I read your remarkable publications.
As some of you will know, I’m incredibly proud of this point. Here’s why: As an American, I know my ancestors, and those of most of my compatriots, came from outside this country. As family historians, connecting and collaborating with fellow travelers from my ancestors’ homelands has led to new, compelling insights and perspectives.
Though I touch on this in my lengthy About page, I’ll have to expand on this idea in another post. I was thrilled by our strong growth in the Asia/Pac area following the support of the UK-based Society of Genealogists support for our “Pacific Edition” of their All About That Place series this year. Learn more at Projectkin.org/AATP24.
We may discuss this during ’s Office Hours, but if you have a Substack, I’d highly recommend you keep an eye on it. It tells you who your people by profiling their reading habits in aggregate. When you see sites on the lists you’ve never heard of… you’ve probably just found a research list.
You may have noticed that I’ve withdrawn my posts about “Substack+Family History.” Frankly, that’s because I wanted to keep educational posts about how to use Substack outside the scope of Projectkin. For MissionGenealogy, I now host two monthly office hours sessions as part of our “Gatherings,” each timed for the Atlantic and Pacific regions. Learn more at MissionGenealogy.org/events (calendar hosted by Projectkin 😉)
Oddly, I only see an 18% audience overlap with
, but I’m not letting that make me crazy, lol.More about that in the About page. RIP Ponga. We hardly knew ya. 🥺
The transcripts are there for you so you can skim and review any bits you might find helpful. Feel free to use clips to share what you learn with others. Introducing Projectkin to others is one of the nicest ways to thank our speakers. 👉👈
Each program is held during our Pacific Rim time window at 4/7 PM PT/ET in the Americas and across the International Date Line, from 8 AM in Hong Kong to 1 PM in New Zealand. The Projectkin events calendar and Zoom should show you the correct time in your location.
I don’t include tools I use, such as Dropbox, 1Password, or GoogleOne, because I might have used those anyway in my consulting practice or for personal use.
That’s with 4¢ to spare!
One last footnote: In case you missed it, I’ve also been experimenting with YouTube by automatically posting event recordings to our YouTube.com/@Projectkin channel. This has helped me introduce Projectkin to new members and makes it easy to share our programs with people not yet ready to explore Substack. Feel free to share posts from there. Note that comments, resources, and recipes will continue to only be available at the .
So much genealogy goodness in store for 2025!!
This looks like a very busy and interesting year ahead for Projectkin.