This course is not open for enrollment

z-2022 - Professional oral history interviewing (Professional track)

This is the May, 2022 cohort

Course Summary

This discussion-filled live course will prepare you to conduct professional life story interviews. In this small mentoring group, I open our books to share the formula that took us years to fine-tune, so you can quickly create a thriving oral history business. Learn how you can have success in your own community and earn a livelihood doing this powerful work. This class sold out the last 3 times.

Sessions will run Thursdays from 5:00 to 6:30 PM Mountain Daylight Time, with an optional 30 minutes with the recording off for informal Q&A
Dates:
Thursday, May 5
Thursday May 12
Thursday May 19
Thursday May 26
Thursday June 2


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is a live 5 -week class.  The prepared instruction will run for 90 minutes with the recording on, and there will be another 30 minutes of discussion afterward.

No, this is meant to be a cohort-style live class. Each class will offer a prepared instruction plus group coaching.

There will be: 5-weeks of live instruction/group coaching; a closed FaceBook group so class members can network; the self-paced online course entitled "How to do oral history;" and the self-paced online course entitled "Sensitive subjects/writing about the hard stuff." This is an incredible value that would take you tremendous time and experimentation to figure out the hard way. 

We hope you can join us live, but the sessions will be recorded. If you miss a class or want a refresh, you can go back and watch the replay.

It is great if you have already done some interviewing or family history writing, but we assume you are just starting out in the business. We'll walk you through what it takes, even if you have never done interviews before. This course will help you decide if you want to start this rewarding line of work.

We have established a professional mentoring group which you may join following this class. As part of that membership, you will be able to access all the professional courses we teach this year. 

We plan to open our methods and model, including pricing, marketing strategies, and plans for the future.

This 5-weeks will cover an introductory level to help you get started. There will be no official certification offered, but our current members have requested a certification, so we may create that in the future for our members. 

Course Curriculum

This course will give you confidence to conduct professional interviews!

TESTIMONIALS

"Loved this class and I am so excited. I can see Oral History work as a way to bring together all my interests & everything that I love—family, other people & cultures, writing, photography - everything. Also, I love the energy you bring to your work— you bring so much light and enthusiasm!"
Lynette, Philippines

Type something
“Rhonda, Thank you so much for the inspiration, education and encouragement you have so generously given through the weekly course. I feel very lucky to have found you.”
Andrew, Australia
I have thoroughly enjoyed this professional class!!! I've learned so much and all of the resources have been awesome! I appreciate the processes and the tools you've found to work best. Thank you again for offering this course. I’ve just loved it.  
Tera, United States
“Your class was a delightful learning experience. It was nice to realize that a few well-told stories of the most impactful lessons of your life are enough to pass on to posterity. Thanks again for your inspiration.”
Nina, Unites States
“Thank you for your informative class and the wonderful follow-up emails! Each person in the class enriched my life. Thank you for doing this."
Mary, United States
“Thank you so much for this class, Rhonda. I'm now so excited for the future and being able to be a part of your network.  This is going to be terrific!"
Shirley, United States
“I started searching for someone who could teach me to write with passion and something more powerful. Then Google led me to Rhonda's website and she has been that person for me. I did my research, read a lot of helpful information on her website, and I watched the previews.”   
Bruce, Australia
"Using what you taught us, I posted photos and short stories about my husband who died thirty years ago. I transferred his voice from cassette to flash drive. I uploaded his voice to FamilySearch. I am amazed at the reticent relatives and friends that appreciate these stories! The process showed me all I've lived through already. I can do this, too. Thank you"
Kelly, U.S.A.
"I finished your course this morning!!! It was SO WONDERFUL! The course AND the feeling of finishing. My review is a glowing one and well deserved."
Nancy, U.S.A.

Rhonda Lauritzen

Rhonda Lauritzen is a professional biographer with multiple published books. She specializes in life stories, collecting oral history, and historical storytelling. She earned an MBA from the University of Utah and was selected as the Outstanding Graduate in her undergrad major. Before she founded Evalogue.Life in 2016, she served as a college marketing director, Vice President, and a corporate CEO. In 2007, her writing journey began with her parents’ family business saga, which became her first book. Since then, she has been hired to help tell the stories of families, cities, and nonprofits. She believes that when you tell your story, it changes the ending. This is why her passion is teaching, coaching, and presenting at conferences.

Rachel Trotter

Rachel J. Trotter is a senior writer/editor at Evalogue.Life – Tell Your Story. She tells people’s stories and shares hers to encourage others. She loves family storytelling. A graduate of Weber State University, she has had articles featured on LDSLiving.com, lds.org, FamilySearch.org and Meridian Magazine. She has been a speaker at RootsTech, Weber State University Family History Conference, Conference on Family History at BYU and the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree. She helps people tell and write their life stories and has written six life stories with several more in production. She has also helped several others write their own stories. She and her husband Mat have six children and she recently became a grandma! She and her family live on the East Bench in Ogden, Utah.

TEACHING AND PRESENTATION EXPERIENCE

A few of the organizations that have hired us

© 2025 evalogue