Tag Archive for: Janine Underhill

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All The World’s A Stage!

Spring roared in like a lion on so many levels this year!  The new season brought a fresh dusting of snow and marked the beginning of a global pandemic.  Our hearts and prayers are with all of you and your families at this difficult time and we hope you to stay safe and healthy as our world fights to overcome this pandemic.

This month, The Stasko Agency has been busy conducting business in a whole new way.  On March 8th we joined the Rebecca Saltman, the Founder of Root Weavers, who offered a unique tribute to International Women’s Day by hosting a virtual expo and a 7-hour live event featuring 24 expressions of purpose and passion videos from women around the world. It was a day where women were recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.  This was a free event offered worldwide.

This was the first virtual conference that The Stasko Agency has participated in.  The event was hosted on Women on Purpose’s new Digital Ecosystem, the Game-changing Platform, eZ-XPO. To get a taste of our day, click here and register to explore all videos and live footage of the day.

Businesses are being forced to reimagine a new normal and to innovate around a new paradigm, yet many do not have the framework or tools to do this work.  To help bridge that gap, the founders of The 3rd Place – myself, Janine Underhill and Myrna James Yoo – have created a workshop to teach businesses and communities how to proactively respond to crisis situations. We recently filmed a COVID-19 Scenario Planning Workshop called Reimagine the Response.  It is a workshop designed to provide a framework for business owners and to help them visualize and anticipate changes in their workflow and creatively problem solve to find new ways of doing business.

Our guest speakers were Leona Cohen, a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) with over 15 years of experience in Business Continuity and Emergency Planning at Fortune 500 organizations and Dr. Michael Schmidt, PhD, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Sovaris Aerospace, which is focused on assessment and solutions applied to humans in space and extreme environments on Earth. He spoke to the reality of the coronavirus from a medical perspective and how to best serve your customers and employees and keep them safe.

We will be offering this Workshop on-line in the upcoming weeks.  Stay tuned for the dates.

Stay safe, healthy, active, and look for all positive in being present!

 

 

 

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The 3rd Place Pop-Up Ignites!

When setting out to find an office space with two of my fellow Power Tribe members, I never envisioned that in just a few short months we would find ourselves creating a whole new space – a movement, called the 3rd Place Pop-Up! How did this all happen?

When searching for office space, we were determined to find a diamond in the rough, and that is what we did! One of The Stasko Agency’s clients called to say they had a space that has been a challenge for retail tenants and asked if we wanted to consider it for a temporary office space until we found a permanent place. The price and timing were right – so Myrna James Yoo (owner of Blueline Publishing and Publisher of Apogeo Spatial), Janine Underhill (owner of Idea-360 and The Epiphany Lab), and I jumped on the opportunity.

The first few days consisted of us sitting in a large open space on camp chairs trying to figure out what to do with the space – and then an idea struck – based on a concept we created several months earlier, which was orchestrating a Listening Pop-Up for one of Denver Mayoral Candidates, Jamie Giellis. That event helped capture the thoughts and concerns of the audience by giving them a vehicle to record their messages to Jamie.

This sparked the idea of hosting other Pop-Ups in this newly acquired space, which could serve as a place for other businesses to come experiment and experience – a place for other businesses to explore how and where to market their ideas, products, and services. It could be a way to IGNITE the space – a way to build revenue in a non-traditional retail way. Once this idea gelled, we never looked back.

Our first Pop-Up was created by Nancy Hopper of Set the Stage, which provides furniture and accessories to professionals who stage homes before a sale. Nancy’s business is run mostly out of a warehouse full of furniture – so by setting up a vignette in the 3rd Place Pop-Up, she created a satellite showroom where real estate agents, home sellers, and developers can visit and see what she offers. She also provided all the desks and office furniture for our new space, in essence, creating a co-working pop-up within a pop-up. The concept is catching on and expanding!

The 3rd Place is a Professional Pop-Up. It’s a new kind of workspace that is designed to foster creativity and interaction, where you can work alongside familiar faces and new colleagues. Like a home office away from home – but better! We are designing for conversation and collaboration. As we work together, we elevate all our respective businesses.

We now offer co-working opportunities and event space. We opened our doors at the end of August by inviting a few small businesses to “test” the pop-up concept. The first pop-up event we hosted featured Anya Thompson of Elie Mak (clothing/accessories), The Family Jones (whiskey), Helena Cappon of 45 Ivy (professional cakes and desserts), and Amy Norton of Better Wall (reclaimed museum and theatre banners).   The evening was a success!

Our journey has just begun. We are here to work, to ideate, to create, and to collaborate. Please come by for a visit any time at 2000 W. 30th Avenue, Denver, CO 80211 in the Little Man Ice Cream Plaza.

 

 

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Launching The Epiphany Lab Pop-Up

While I absolutely love being an entrepreneur, there’s no doubt that the life of a business owner can get lonely. To combat that isolation, I’ve built a network of colleagues who have valuable insight and can serve as great sounding boards when challenges arise. I also like to think that my perspective can prove helpful when my fellow entrepreneurs find themselves struggling with a public relations or marketing issue.

For example, a few months ago, a few of my colleagues were trying to figure out how to test an exciting new concept publicly. The duo – Janine Underhill and Dana Wasson – both graphic facilitators, were interested in piloting a new interactive event offering called a “Listening Lab Pop-Up.” The event provides a platform for attendees to share what’s meaningful to them, while their thoughts and ideas are captured on a Listening Wall that organizers can use to identify trends or themes.

When I heard about the idea, I instantly started thinking about all the different events where a Listening Pop-Up could prove useful – from community development forums where developers are trying to gauge reaction to a project from neighborhood residents to a focus group where a corporation might be trying to connect with consumers – the possibilities seemed endless.

Another obvious option was tapping the Listening Pop-Up for political candidates hoping to reach voters. So, I connected with Denver Mayoral Candidate Jamie Giellis, who I knew was going to be hosting a fundraiser to raise awareness about her campaign. I thought the event could serve as the perfect platform to launch the Listening Pop-Up.

Luckily, Jamie and her team jumped on the idea. Knowing that she would never be able to talk to each and every person who attended the event, Jamie viewed the Listening Pop-Up as a way to really “hear” what her constituents wanted to say even if she couldn’t interact with them all directly. She developed three questions for attendees and then Janine and Dana recorded their responses for Jamie’s future use. This approach allowed Jamie to gather so much more information than she could have done going door to door.

I’m excited to share that other mayoral candidates have expressed interest in hosting their own Listening Pop-Ups. I am also working with Janine and Dana to approach Governor Polis about using the format for his policy work. We see lots of opportunities on the horizon to share this special tool. For more information on the Listening Pop-Up, visit https://www.epiphanylabpopup.com

And remember, collaboration can be crucial in pushing new ideas from conception to implementation!

 

 

 

 

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