One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: My Final Webinar and a Fond Farewell (almost)

One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: As I sit here looking at my calendar for December 2025, it feels a bit surreal. The dates are filled with the usual color-coded blocks of genealogy webinar times, tech checks, and handout deadlines. But there is one date that stands out, glowing a bit brighter than the rest: Saturday, December 20th, 2025.

That Saturday will mark the end of an era for me—and hopefully, the beginning of a wonderful new chapter. It will be the day I deliver my final, regularly scheduled live genealogy webinar presentation.

If you’ve been following my journey, you know I’ve been hinting at this for a while. In my official retirement announcement, I talked about saying goodbye to the “grind” but not the fun. And what a grind it has been—in the best possible way!

By the time the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve 2025, I will have delivered over 200 genealogy webinars in 2025 alone. Looking back even further, we are talking about nearly 1,000 in-person and virtual lectures over the course of my professional career in the genealogy sphere.

That is a lot of PowerPoints. That is a lot of microphone checks. And that is a whole lot of me asking, “Can everyone see my screen?”

One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: The Final Bow: Creating an Ancestor Sketch

It seems poetic that for my final scheduled live genealogy webinar, I’ll be presenting “Creating an Ancestor Sketch” for the Jefferson County (Washington) Genealogical Society.

Why is this topic so fitting? Because at its heart, genealogy isn’t just about names, dates, and places. It isn’t just about the “hunt” or the thrill of the shaky leaf on Ancestry. It is about storytelling. It is about taking those dry facts and weaving them into something that breathes—a sketch that allows our ancestors to be seen and remembered by future generations.

In a way, I am creating my own “sketch” right now. I am looking back at the timeline of my career—from that Baby Boomer guy who loved punk rock and art history, to the IT professional who left a lucrative career to chase dead people, to the “genealogy guy” wearing a Hawaiian shirt and teaching you how to backup your data.

This genealogy webinar on December 20th isn’t just another lecture for me; it is a celebration of what we all do. We rescue memories. We sketch out lives that would otherwise be forgotten. I hope you can join me and the good folks in Jefferson County for this one last ride.

Not an Ending, But a Pivot

I want to be crystal clear: I am not leaving the genealogy field.

I’m just getting off the hamster wheel.

For years, my life has been dictated by a calendar that requires me to be “on” at all hours of the day and night to reach audiences from London to Los Angeles. I love the interaction, and I love the “aha!” moments I see in the chat box during a live genealogy webinar. But I also love the idea of waking up without an alarm clock. I love the idea of spending a Tuesday morning actually doing my own research—breaking down my own brick walls instead of just teaching others how to break theirs.

This is a positive move forward. It is about reclaiming my time so I can pour my energy into projects that have been simmering on the back burner for years.

One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: What 2026 Holds: GenSocSoup and More

So, if I’m not live on Zoom every other day, where will I be?

First and foremost, I’ll be writing. I have books in my head that are screaming to get out—guides and stories that require the kind of deep focus a hectic genealogy webinar schedule just doesn’t allow.

I am also incredibly excited to officially launch GenSocSoup in 2026. This is a project near and dear to my heart. It’s an on-demand genealogy webinar subscription channel designed specifically to help genealogical societies provide top-tier education to their members. It’s my way of ensuring that “tech people” like me can still guide you through the maze of options, but on a timeline that works for everyone.

And yes, I plan to spend some serious quality time with my own family tree. They say the cobbler’s children have no shoes; well, this genealogist’s ancestors have been waiting patiently for their turn in the spotlight.

One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: An Open Hand, Palm Up

I have always believed in abundance. I believe that you get back tenfold what you give freely to your community. I believe knowledge is to be shared, not hoarded.

As I step away from the live webinar speaking circuit, I do so with an open hand, palm up, ready to receive whatever the next adventure brings. I am so grateful to every single one of you—society members, librarians, relentless researchers, and friends—who have attended a genealogy webinar, bought a book, or just sent a kind email over the years.

You allowed a guy who fell into the tech industry 40 years ago to turn his passion for history into a career. You accepted my “Genealogy Do-Overs,” laughed at my tech mishaps, and trusted me to help you preserve your family history.

For me, December 20th will be a celebration. And after that? I’ll see you in the library, in the archives, and in the pages of my next book.

— Thomas

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Author’s Note: I want to be transparent that this article – One Last Live Genealogy Webinar: My Final Webinar and a Fond Farewell (almost) – was created in part with the help of an artificial intelligence (AI) language model – Gemini Pro 3. The AI assisted in generating an early draft of the article, but every paragraph was subsequently reviewed, edited, and refined by me. The final content is the result of extensive human curation and creativity. I am proud to present this work and assure readers that while AI was a tool in the process, the story, style, and substance have been carefully shaped by the author.