Hey there,

Welcome new members! Many of you joined in the last month after hearing about us from Dick Eastman's newsletter, Tami Mize's ConferenceKeeper, or Emma Cox's Journeys in Genealogy podcast. Join me in a hearty welcome to our new Projectkin 👋

I've been thrilled to watch as so many of you jumped in with two feet adding introductions and signing up for events. Your voice will enrich everyone in the conversation. If you haven't explored the forum and events, don't be shy. Take a moment to explore the forum, introduce yourself, and explore best practices.

The coming holiday season seems perfect for projects, doesn't it? Wednesday night, on an invitation from my new friends a the Oakland FamilySearch Center, I gave a talk on creating family history projects to use as gifts this season. I posted a recording of the talk and linked resources in our private Event Archive last night. I'm also giving the talk today to the Truckee Meadows Community College Genealogy Lab. (I love doing these, have a tip?)

Since my talks focused on the gift-giving season, I highlighted fun project ideas and recipe events we have coming that are perfect for family celebrations:

• November 30: "Playing for Ancestors" where Simon Davies, Projectkin member and founder of WeAre.xyz, joins us from the UK with a project that combines the stories of ancestors with ordinary playing cards. Timed to favor our Atlantic friends: (10 AM PT, 1 PM ET, 6 PM GMT, 19:00 CET, 🤫 AEST).

• December 7: "A Scavenger Hunt for Ancestors" Anna Scheutz, an experienced youth organizer and Projectkin member, circles back to a project that came up in a Project Clinic just in time for family gatherings during the holidays. Again, since Anna's joining us from Sweden, we've timed it to favor the east 🌍: (10 AM PT, 1 PM ET, 6 PM GMT, 19:00 CET, 🤫 AEST).

Getting started? Our community is here to help. We have a series of programs that offer you the encouragement and skillset for the journey. Join us for these last episodes of the year:

• November 15: Project Clinic: Brainstorming project ideas These free-wheeling brainstorming events let us compare notes and explore ideas, often with challenging questions and interesting twists — 🌍 Eastern & Atlantic Edition (10 AM PT, 1 PM ET, 6 PM GMT, 19:00 CET, 🤫 AEST).

• November 16: Digitizing at Kathy's Corner featuring the incomparable Kathy Stone, our first Projectkin and a well-respected professional photo organizer. This episode focuses on the last of the 8 steps to digitizing your collection she talked about in her blog post. We have fun plans for January too: 4 PM PT, 7 PM ET, (🤫 GMT/CET,) 10 AM AEST.

• November 28: Project Clinic: Brainstorming project ideas This is the "Western" edition 🤠 of this series to ensure we have convenient times around the globe. Join any group at any time — 🌎 Western & Pacific Edition (4 PM PT, 7 PM ET, (🤫 GMT/CET,) 10 AM AEST).

But wait, there's more! We have a very special program to wrap up the year and prepare for those New Year resolutions:

• December 5: Tutorial Tuesday: Metadata, Photos & Family History, We're thrilled to welcome Caroline Guntur, a Projectkin member and highly sought-after photo organizing and workflow coach. In our conversation, we'll demystify Metadata and give you the confidence to take on that new year resolution. (10 AM PT, 1 PM ET, 6 PM GMT, 19:00 CET, 🤫 AEST).

🧧🎊 And speaking of the new year... I'm already booking dates for new speakers covering an exciting range of projects. Do YOU have a project you'd like to talk about or a subject you think we should cover? I'm all ears!

👷‍♀️ Meanwhile, pardon my dust ⚠️ 🛠️: Follow any registration link now and you'll notice a dramatic update in the way I'm handling events. All events are now booked through Eventbrite. 🎉

Now, when you register, you should get…

• Confirmations and reminders.
• A special page at projectkin.eventbrite.com to explore upcoming events.
• A way to share events in convenient social-friendly links.
• Fewer missed events because of my operator error. 🤦‍♀️ See my Tips on using Eventbrite below the signature. I make the mistakes so you don't have to. 😉

AND... there's more! Making this change now lets me focus on the next big change to our community infrastructure: The Forum. I expect to spin up our forum using Substack by January.

This superb newsletter platform will be different, but I think it fits our objectives well and will strengthen the community by making it more discoverable. It also adds rich features for discussion with all the embedded media functionality of Podia.

I still expect to keep access to our articles, resources, and recordings free. The upgrade gives the community more operational room to grow and puts the infrastructure in place to accept supporting member donations at some future point. As a bonus, it doesn't add to my monthly expenses. 🎉 (Every other alternative does!)

Once it's in place, my big challenge in 2024 will be establishing US non-profit status so I can offer our donors an IRS tax deduction and take advantage of infrastructure discounts that will again keep our costs down even as we grow.

As always, I welcome your tips, insights, and advice. Your candor and guidance have been key to getting us this far.

Let me close with warmest wishes for you and your families in the coming holidays. Sincerely,

Barbara Tien Ringleader at ProjectKin.org A community of family historians hooked on stories. projectkin.org@gmail.com

—⚒︎—

4 Tips for Using Eventbrite

1. Use the Eventbrite mobile app: Or use the same email to register on the web and the app. This way, events will be collected together in the app.

2. After your FIRST registration with Eventbrite, promote the confirmation email to your main mailbox. In Gmail, for example, just click and drag like this:

3. Add the event to your calendar (if you use one) after each registration:

4. Look for the link to the "Online Event Page" in the Eventbrite app or the event description in your calendar app. (It's the link with the /x/ in the URL.):