SinC Colorado Quarterly Meeting

## Details

9:00 AM Meet and Greet

9:30 AM Informal Introductions

10:00 AM - 12 PM -Create. Connect. Grow. Book Brush Tools for Author Success.

Being an author can be overwhelming—juggling drafts, engaging readers, and staying visible on social media can take a toll. At Book Brush, they understand how much your readers matter, and they’re here to help you connect with them.

Kathleen Sweeney from Book Brush will share practical social media tips, fresh content ideas, and real-world examples to help you craft posts that feel like a warm, virtual hug for your audience.

In this webinar, we’ll explore the power of Book Brush through start-to-finish projects like graphics to post on social media, printable swag items like bookmarks, and DIY book cover creation. We'll show how to get the most out of our ready-to-go Community Templates and Instant Mockups. Enjoy a hands-on walkthrough of how to create polished, professional graphics—even if design isn’t your thing!

Whether you're looking to save time, reduce stress, or build a stronger connection with your readers, this session will give you the tools and confidence to grow.

The format for this session will be a bit different in that Kathleen is hosting the webinar, so those of us in person at the Smoky Hill Library will watch the projection on the big screen, and our remote members will zoom in like normal.

Book Brush is a paid subscription service, but Kathleen will be offering attendees a discount. (There are many things Becky likes about her subscription, not the least of which are the regular tutorials Kathleen gives about individual tools and design ideas so she can master one thing at a time and not get overwhelmed!)

12:00 - 1:00 PM Lunch (brown bag or visit nearby restaurants)

1:00 - 3:00 PM - Murder in Westminster.

MURDER IN WESTMINSTER. A young woman was raped, murdered, and left in a field in 1975. Despite an extensive investigation, her case went cold. Decades later CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) got a hit on another murder victim in Nevada. Would they finally be able to solve Teree Becker’s case? The short answer was no. Investigators now had more questions and no answers. Come and find out how Teree’s case was solved almost 50 years after her brutal murder.

BIOS

Kathleen Sweeney is the Chief Operating Officer at Book Brush, where she combines her love of technology and storytelling to help authors with book marketing. She has presented to over 300 author groups and thrives on making design and promotion easier (and more fun!) for writers of all genres. She lives in central Illinois with her husband, three active boys and the two most handsome cats on the planet. Her hobbies include eating tacos and turning socks right side out.

Michele Kennedy is a Crime Analysis Supervisor and Investigative Genetic Genealogist with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office where she has worked since 1994. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology/criminal justice and a master’s certificate in forensic criminology. She is also a Certified Law Enforcement Analyst with the International Association of Crime Analysts (IACA). Michele has worked on many of her agency’s cold cases in an analytical role, and in 2019 she participated in her agency’s first investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) investigation on a 1980 sexual assault and homicide. She then became a volunteer search angel helping adoptees and other searchers identify their birth parents using genetic genealogy. She has identified over 100 birth parents since 2019, and in 2020 she was assigned to her agency’s Cold Case Unit to help solve other cold cases with IGG. She currently splits her time between crime analysis and cold cases. Michele co-founded an IGG working group for law enforcement in 2021, hosting training sessions and case presentations. She also started her own IGG company in 2021 to assist other agencies in Colorado and across the country. She’s a member of CBI’s Cold Case Review Team and is a board member for the newly established Investigative Genetic Genealogy Accreditation Board helping develop standards and an accreditation process for IGGs.