Do You Have Someone Who Does Research in … ? Yes!

I just spent a week in Salt Lake City, working at Genlighten’s exhibit hall booth at RootsTech 2016. Starting when the doors opened on Thursday morning and continuing through late Saturday afternoon, I had conversation after conversation with visitors, trying to introduce as many people as possible to what Genlighten is all about.

I’m someone who would likely be an 11 on a 1-10 scale of introversion, so the conference scene can be a challenge, but as I talked to booth visitors, I realized there was one thing that I was really enjoying–telling attendees about our research providers.

I tend to be enthusiastic about things I’m passionate about and I found myself saying things like this:

“Oh, yes! We have some really talented researchers in the Maryland area.”

“Yes. She is very good at Chicago research.”

“Yes! This provider translated a hard-to-read German church record for me a few years ago and I thought she did a great job with it.”

“Yes! Getting in touch with her is one of the best ways to get a record from a Family History Library film.”

I’m the one who handles site user support for Genlighten and I’ve come to know many of the providers through phone conversations, by email, and even in person. No doubt about it. We’ve got some great people offering services through Genlighten and it’s a pleasure to work with them.

While I was chatting at the booth, I often showed visitors what the provider profiles will look like on the new Genlighten (it’ll go live around the time of the National Genealogical Society conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) and I have to say, those pages do a good job of introducing professionals to potential clients. There’s enough detail there for clients to be able to make a comfortable decision about who to reach out to with the possibility of setting up a project. The pages have space for the usual information–education and training, research services and specialities, localities and repositories covered–but they also include sections for previous-client comments, client/colleague references, sample document and report uploads, and policy statements.

My focus at the moment is helping providers use the templates to create comprehensive profiles on the new site so they’ll be ready to go in May. If you’ve already done that, thank you. If you haven’t, email me so we can get to work on it!

Often times at RootTech, when someone asked, “Do you have someone who can do research in … ?” my answer was, “Yes!” but sometimes I had to answer, “Not yet.” If you offer genealogy research for Japan, Switzerland, or Luxembourg, for example, there are people out there who need your help. Consider creating a profile on Genlighten so we can send them your way.

Cyndy
Genlighten Co-founder
support@genlighten.com