One of the most interesting events for me and my sister was to attend the Innovator Summit Challenge at RootsTech where four entrepreneurs presented their ideas for genealogy technology.  It was done kind of like “Shark Tank,” but in a more gentle manner!  All four of the ideas were so good that it was hard to vote for just one, but the audience was asked to do just that.  The panel also voted.  Each of the four participants was awarded a cash prize, but the grand prize winner was StoryWorth, a company based in San Francisco.  The premise of their website is simple – “Each week, we email your loved ones a question about their life.  All they have to do is reply with a story, by email or by phone.  We save their stories on your private site and email them to your family.”  It is a great way to get your family to write their stories and the first month is free.  After that the pricing depends on the length of the service and the number of storytellers involved.

If you don’t want to use their service, it is still a great idea that you might be able to handle on a smaller scale with your immediate family.  It would be more time consuming, but it could be done.  Or just let StoryWorth do it for you!

There is a great story behind this picture, but only two people in the picture are still alive to tell it.

There are so many great stories buried in our families, and probably many of them will stay buried unless we make a goal to do something about it.  StoryWorth is a great way to get started.