November 16-20 is the blackout period for the transition.
You will not be able to access the site during this time.
It’s difficult to believe, but 2023 marks TEN years for the Prospect Research Institute! And you might know that when I founded the Institute, I made a commitment to maintaining free, valuable content, as well as content at various price points. The new website being launched in November will do a better job of accommodating these intentions and is easier to operate.
What’s New
- The Free Resource Collections will be fully accessible at the click of your mouse – no account creation required.
- The Institute’s workbooks will be available in PDF format, both for sale and fully downloadable in the matching course. You asked for this (repeatedly) and we will now deliver.
- The Slack community will be moving to a new website, too. This new platform will allow many different ways to participate and will allow the Institute to better integrate educational activities with the forum.
- Solid Intel debuts as our newest course – and it is 100% free. No matter how long you’ve been in prospect research, you need to be able to evaluate information sources critically and not fall for a lot of C.R.A.A.P. We’ve got you!
- We have restructured our educational offerings. Click here for our current plan. Comments or feedback? I’d love to hear from you in Slack or email jen@prospectresearchinstitute.org
Timeline for Implementation
OCTOBER
- 11 Oct: 2-3pm ET | This Group Coaching Call is opened to ALL members with questions about the transition. You will receive reminder emails with login info.
Look for other key emails…
- reminding you when things will happen
- directing you to details, and
- at least one email specifically addressing what will happen to your membership level and what other, new choices have become available
It is going to take time to move all the Master Classes over, but we are committed to getting all 2022 classes available before the old website goes dark. Master Classes from previous years will be added over time during 2023.
NOVEMBER
- 9 Nov: 3-4pm ET | This Group Coaching Call is opened to ALL members with questions about the transition. You will receive reminder emails with login info.
- 16-20 Nov is the blackout period for the transition. You will not be able to access the site during that time.
- 16 Nov: 3-4pm ET is also the Master Class, which gives you another opportunity to ask questions.
- 20 Nov the new website goes live. Please send good vibes for a smooth switchover!
DECEMBER
- The new site will have the Free Resource Collections and the new, free Solid Intel course.
- All existing paid members will have access to content.
- BUT we may need to suspend all new sales for a period of time this month while we work out the kinks.
- The new forum will be up and running at the same time, but we might leave Slack operational throughout December to ensure people have an easy, existing way to contact us.
Primary Reasons for the Changes
For those of you who have had to live through or manage a database migration, you know how much fun it is and how everything stays exactly on schedule (NOT)! Following are the key reasons I decided the Institute should endure the pain of migrating to a new platform:
- Our existing course platform made it difficult for us to sell different types of educational content. We want you to be able to purchase just one course or one master class or bundles or, well, whatever takes shape in response to your needs.
- We needed better control over the data we collect from you, which requires centralized storage and automation, so we can send you what you want to receive with fewer communication errors.
- Slack moved from measuring access by the amount of message storage, to time – which means we currently lose all messages past 90 days. Premium would cost $17K+ at our current size. That’s just not going to work if we’re serious about building community.
Thank you for your interest in the Institute!
If you have questions or want to talk through your situation you can contact me on Slack, via email jen@prospectresearchinstitute.org, or call 727 202 3405. You can also reach Brandy, Membership Coordinator, on Slack or at brandy@prospectresearchinstitute.org.
It has been a pleasure serving you all these years and I look forward to what the future holds for the Institute and for our profession.
Cheers!
-Jen Filla
CEO, Aspire Research Group LLC
President, Prospect Research Institute