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MELISSA MODERSOHNASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF MEDIA SERVICES

D O N N I E C H A T M O NCREDIT & COLLECTIONS

SPECIALIST

J A M O N A B E R C R O M B I EWEB DESIGNER

M A N U E L A B E L L U O M I N IACCOUNTS PAYABLE

ASSOCIATE

introducing...

TAKE NOTE PEOPLE! THESE ARE THE EXAMPLES AMONG US WHO ROCK! IF YOU ALSO WISH TO ROCK, TAKE NOTE OF THE ROCKING OF THESE INDIVIDUALS!

J E F F R U S S E L LSEO SPECIALIST

M A R L O N G A L L E G OPRINCIPAL DEVELOPER

L A U R A D O S E N B A C HACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

H E R S T O N F A I L SDEVELOPER/DESIGNER

introducing continued...

HR Monthly Column

Mark your calendars!

Coventry is bringing a team of nurses to

PlattForm on Friday, Apri l 27th for our

annual health screenings. This is completely

voluntary, but it does give you some great

feedback on your overall health, and some

additional WIP points! 150 to be exact! The

screening is worth 50 points, and the online

Health Risk Assessment is worth 100!

What: Health Screenings

Where: PFU Conference Room

When: Friday, Apri l 27th

Cost: Free to al l Coventry members, $20

for nonmembers

The screening includes:

Total Cholesterol

LDLHDLTriglycerides

RatioGlucose (Blood Sugar)

Blood Pressure/Pulse

Height/Weight for BMI

Waist Circumference

Contact Jul ie Baker

with questions.

If you aren’t already a fan of author Suzanne Collins’ best-selling Hunger Games trilogy, you may be asking, “What’s all the buzz about?” –especially with the recent release of the big screen version of the first novel, The Hunger Games, which scored $155 million on its opening weekend.

Fan or not, it is quite simply a movie worth seeing. Not just for its theme, a futuristic cautionary tale with Or-wellian overtones. Or, its allegorical references to The-seus and the Minotaur of Greek mythology. Or even its cinematic exploration of disturbing issues about modern warfare within a Totalitarian government—this being Panem, a hard-hearted capitol surrounded by 12 sub-servient districts in the ruins of what was North America.

No, the grip of this movie, as it was in the novel, is in the hands of its heroine, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen. She volunteers to take her younger sister’s place in the annual Hunger Games. This event, in which one female and one male tribute between ages 12-18 are chosen by lottery from each of the 12 districts to fight to the death, is designed as a reminder to quell future uprisings. Only one victor can emerge from this bloody melee, which takes place in a government-controlled and technologi-cally alterable arena, and is televised live.

Jennifer Lawrence, best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as Ree in Winter’s Bone, brings Katniss to incandescent life, capturing her no-nonsense toughness and the spirit of a resourceful survivor in her soulful por-trayal of a post-modern Joan of Arc. Jennifer is Katniss--“the girl on fire.”

Lawrence is ably assisted by co-stars, The Kids are All Right’s Josh Hutcherson (gone blond for the role of Pee-ta) and the yummy Australian actor, Liam Hemsworth (Gale), as her star-crossed love interests from District 12—all of whom must make heart-rending choices.

The cast is superbly balanced by Elizabeth Banks as flamboyant but fearful, Effie Trinket, District 12’s escort; Donald Sutherland’s perfectly reptilian portrayal of Presi-dent Snow; Stanley Tucci as toothsome emcee, Caesar Flickerman; and the magnetic Lenny Kravitz as Katniss’ makeup artist, Cinna.

And then there’s Woody Harrelson, as the drunken for-mer District 12 victor, Haymitch. Despite near-constant inebriation, he proves his mettle as essential mentor to Katniss and Peeta, hiding his shrewdness behind a

disheveled callousness. Although his is a supporting role, Harrelson handily steals every scene he is in.

Kudos to director Gary Ross (co-writer of the screenplay with author Suzanne Collins) for creating fantastic but be-lievable contrasts between the wooded arena (shot in North Carolina), District 12’s bleak, depression-era mining zone (created from an abandoned company town, also in North Carolina) and the intrinsic cruelty of the capitol’s high-tech avant-garde, whose foolishness is portrayed by their fash-ionable foppishness.

Although some critics and parents have asked, “Should teens killing each other be entertainment?,” Director Ross answers by very deftly portraying the reality of the arena without dwelling one millisecond longer than necessary on violence. What is shown is not gratuitous; in fact, it is un-derplayed, compared to the book, which can be horrific to read at times. Overall, it’s a winner. Scenes from the movie keep springing to mind—it is that well done.

Go see this movie—you will understand why the first movie of this series, which began as a Scholastic book offering for Tween readers, has caught the imagination of all ages of viewers.

LINDA SMITH

WILL LEAvE yOu WANTING MORE!

to Mindy Phillips for winning the Wii Championship in the 2012 PlattForm Advertising Tournament of Champions.

Shaun Hughes took 2nd. Well done! Garrett Boal and Kyle Regier still have to battle it out for 3rd place and good luck to both of them.

Thanks to everyone who came out to watch the match and a quick reminder that the Ping Pong Tourney will be coming up soon, s o s t a r t w o r k i n g o n t h o s e forehands.

THE NEW SEAL LIFE AQUARIUM IS SCHEDULED TO OPEN IN APRIL AT CROWN CENTER. HOW STOKED ARE YOU?

VERY. I can't wait to get tickets and check out all the sweet sea creatures! 20%Maybe 60% stoked? It sounds kind of cool, but I'll wait out the mad rush after it opens. 60%

Decidedly un-stoked. Fish swimming around in tanks just doesn't do it for me. 21%

THE WELLNESS TEAM IS LAUNCHING A NEW WIP NEWSLETTER THIS MONTH. YOU'D MOST LIKE TO READ:Articles on fitness tips & different exercises to try 34%Nutrition knowledge and healthy recipe advice 52% Wellness articles that focus on mental & emotional health 5% Scientific studies & research about health risks & research 9%

IT'S A DESSERT SHOWDOWN. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.MAKE YOUR CHOICE:

THE NFL CRACKED DOWN HARD ON BOUNTY PAYOUTS LAST WEEK. WHAT DID YOU THINK?

cakes and cupcakes 26%ice cream 28%pies 11%cookies 14%candy (includng chocolate) 7%pudding 1%you can’t be serious with this 13%

WARM(ER) WEATHER IS OFFICIALLY HERE BY ALL ACCOUNTS. IT'S TIME TO

BE SLIGHTLY LESS HIBERNATION-Y THAN WE WERE THIS WINTER! WHAT

ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT?

Outdoor dining! Save me a seat on the McCoy's patio - I'll be chilling out and enjoying the evening. 31%Events! Outdoor, indoor ... it's just going to be nice to go out to a concert or the P&L without a winter coat. 17%Gardening! I love planting flowers and being outdoors, working in the yard. 7%Grilling! You can keep the restaurants downtown - I'll be on my back porch with burgers on the barbecue. 45%

27%

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I’m glad they did. Rewarding performance is one thing, but encouraging harm to

opponents needs to be shut down.I know almost nothing about this.

Can I phone a friend?They’re just making an example out of the Saints, but

the truth is this kind of thing happens on every team. It’s not exactly the scandal they want it to be.

Whether it be on an airplane, in a back alley or at a funeral – we’ve all experienced a Brush with Greatness. Maestro of IMS Brent Gill was lucky enough to meet Dave Coulier … who is now engrained in our pop culture fabric thanks to a little show called “Full House”.

M2: How the heck did you get to meet Dave Coulier … enquiring minds want to know?

BG: We went to see his show at Stanford’s Comedy Club. When he was leaving I got in his way and asked for a photo. I was nice about it, though!

M2: Rumor has it that Alanis Morissette wrote “You Oughta Know” about him. They broke up about five months before her album came out. Has anyone ever written a song about you? Uh, break-up or otherwise?

BG: CUT…IT…OUT.

M2: Dave hasn’t found much success on television after “Full House” was canceled. But he does do a lot of voice-overs for cartoons. You do a mean Chewbacca … are there any other impersonations we should know about?

BG: I do an ab-fab M2.

M2: Who doesn’t? Now … was he funny on demand? Or was he crabby? What was his overall mood when you met him?

BG: He seemed kind of grumpy and tired. His show was really funny, though!

M2: Admit it, you were a HUGE “Full House” fan. Are you humming the theme song right now? I can honestly say I’ve never seen one episode.

BG: I watched it a lot, but I can’t remember a lick of the theme song. The only theme song coming to mind right now is “Growing Pains”.

M2: Crap – now THAT song is in my head. And finally – what does Dave Coulier smell like? I’m guessing some sort of weird Japanese cologne mixed with Red Bull and gardenias.

BG: It was so cold out that night my nose was frozen, so I have no clue.

M2: Congrats on your brush with greatness! Peace out, boy scout.

Whether it be on an airplane, in a back alley or at a funeral – we’ve all experienced a Brush with Great-ness. Maestro of IMS Brent Gill was lucky enough to meet Dave Coulier … who is now engrained in our pop culture fabric thanks to a little show called “Full House”.

M2: How the heck did you get to meet Dave Cou-lier … enquiring minds want to know?

BG: We went to see his show at Stanford’s Comedy Club. When he was leaving I got in his way and asked for a photo. I was nice about it, though!

M2: Rumor has it that Alanis Morrisette wrote “You Oughta Know” about him. They broke up about five months before her album came out. Has anyone ever written a song about you? Uh, break-up or otherwise?

BG: CUT…IT…OUT.

M2: Dave hasn’t found much success on televi-sion after “Full House” was canceled. But he does do a lot of voice-overs for cartoons. You do a mean Chewbacca … are there any other impersonations we should know about?

BG: I do an ab-fab M2.

M2: Who doesn’t? Now … was he funny on de-mand? Or was he crabby? What was his overall mood when you met him?

BG: He seemed kind of grumpy and tired. His show was really funny, though!

M2: Admit it, you were a HUGE “Full House” fan. Are you humming the theme song right now? I can honestly say I’ve never seen one episode.

BG: I watched it a lot, but I can’t remember a lick of the theme song. The only theme song coming to mind right now is “Growing Pains”.

M2: Crap – now THAT song is in my head. And final-ly – what does Dave Coulier smell like? I’m guessing some sort of weird Japanese cologne mixed with Red Bull and gardenias.

BG: It was so cold out that night my nose was frozen, so I have no clue.

M2: Congrats on your brush with greatness! Peace out, boy scout.

6th Annual

Think Pink Day Another Huge Success!

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 6th Annual Think Pink Day here at PlattForm. Once again, we helped raise awareness in the ongoing fight against breast cancer. And congrats to Julie Spielhagen who won 1st place in our pink cupcake decorating contest. Julie scores a dozen cupcakes courtesy of Smallcakes.

michael mackie ’s

What is one weird or unique fact about you?

“I have never lived alone in my entire life. Always had a roommate / spouse, etc. So maybe I have a secret or unconscious fear of being alone.” – Kris Saim

“I have a completely irrational, but chronic fear of horses. Straight-up, full-on equinophobia.” – M2, Esq.

“Weird fact? Nothing says

weird like Weird Al. Some

people already know this

about me – it is in my bio, and

yes it is true: I was a back up

dancer for Weird Al when he

came to Kansas City.”

– Melissa Cowan

“I am terrified of gel hand sanitiz-ers. People at PlattForm have used this against me by spread-ing it all over my keyboard.” – Elizabeth Tower

lacey... Phone Home!

“I once kidnapped a lawn gnome and

took him on an adventure to Chicago. I

grew quite fond of him and never gave

him back to my neighbors – Gus has now

been to Cancun, Chicago (again), a

Chiefs game and various other places.”

– Steve Bennaka

“I loathe the use of any word that begins with SCA. Words like Scallops, Scallion, or Scamper are like nails on a chalkboard to me. It has to be something with the pronunciation.” – Will Buntin

“My weird, random fact Is sure to surprise a few.My quirky fact is poetry,That is what I do!

I write poems in the morning, I write poems at night. When it comes to rhyming words,My skills are out of sight!

PlattForm is my place,And Media is my game. Poem writing is my hobby,And I don’t have any shame!” -- Megan Quillin

“This Isn’t That Unique, But I’m

Totally Afraid And Freaked Out

By Et. Cannot Watch That Movie.” – Lacey Hargrave

Aaron and Jeri exhibited for the first time at the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) conference in Chicago, IL March 30-April 2.

Congrats to Jeremy and family on their 2nd baby girl Camden. March Madness brought on a tournament bracket challenge against Client Services.

BSMG officially welcomes Shari Good to the team! Casey Cook and Jennifer Moody will attend the Spring Convention for the AACS in Las Vegas on April 20-23rd. Jennifer Moody is also visiting Empire Beauty School Corporate in Pottsville, PA.

SALES

INTERNAL SITES

Remember how we mentioned in February that if you always wished you had more weddings to go to, start hanging out with the Internal Sites Team? Yeah, we’re at it again. Sarah Sapenaro went and got engaged on top of a mountain. That makes 4 engagements and 5 wed-dings coming up on our team. (We like weddings so much that some of us have two weddings.) While love is always in the air with the Internal Sites team, Hell hath no fury like a web marketing team scorned. We found and effectively squished two Beauty Schools Directory com-petitors who were lifting our copyrighted material, as well as one Find a Trucking Job competitor. You know what they say, “Don’t mess with Site Managers.” And stuff. The dev/design teams across the company are teaming up on “Responsive Web Design” to stay on the cutting edge with the latest web technologies, discussing topics like jQuery plugin development, Github, and other assorted high tech words PlattForm pays them to know so we don’t have to. START Team is still neck-deep in work on the Guider sites, and yet still they manage to find the time to pursue new ASR and social media revenue-generating ideas for the team. Internal Sites Team sure knows how to party.

Remember how we mentioned in February that if you always wished you had more weddings to go to, start hanging out with the Internal Sites Team? Yeah, we’re at it again. Sarah Sapenaro went and got engaged on top of a mountain. That makes 4 engagements and 5 weddings coming up on our team. (We like weddings so much that some of us have two weddings.) While love is always in the air with the Internal Sites team, Hell hath no fury like a web marketing team scorned. We found and effective-ly squished two Beauty Schools Directory competitors who were lifting our copyrighted material, as well as one Find a Trucking Job competitor. You know what they say, “Don’t mess with Site Managers.” And stuff. The dev/de-sign teams across the company are teaming up on “Re-sponsive Web Design” to stay on the cutting edge with the latest web technologies, discussing topics like jQuery plugin development, Github, and other assorted high tech words PlattForm pays them to know so we don’t have to. START Team is still neck-deep in work on the Guider sites, and yet still they manage to find the time to pursue new ASR and social media revenue-generating ideas for the team. Internal Sites Team sure knows how to party.

INTERNAL SITES

SALESConference Recap:Aaron and Jeri exhibited for the first time at the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) conference in Chicago, IL March 30-April 2.

SalesCongrats to Jeremy and family on their 2nd baby girl Camden. March Madness brought on a tournament bracket challenge against Client Services.

BSMGBSMG officially welcomes Shari Good to the team! Casey Cook and Jennifer Moody will attend the Spring Conven-tion for the AACS in Las Vegas on April 20-23rd. Jennifer Moody is also visiting Empire Beauty School Corporate in Pottsville, PA.

The MarCom team welcomed a new member last month: former proofer extraordinaire, Melissa Cowan. To fully initiate her, we asked Melissa to respond to a few questions about her experience to this point. You might learn something new about her, like we have. Here are the questions and her studious replies:

So, what do you do in your new position as Commu-nications Specialist? I update our social media accounts for PlattForm Ad and PlattForm Higher Ed. I also write marketing materials: one sheets, over-view books, press releases, internal emails, etc. – all things PF. Plus, I get to think creatively and take around coffee and listen to Kevin break out into song randomly.

What has been the biggest surprise in your time with the team (if any)? Please explain. Listen, this team is crazy – especially Kevin. I had no idea. Before moving over, I wondered how my uh… quirkiness… would fit in here, but I definitely didn’t have to worry about that.

In your new role, you help create the organizational – and very public – “voices” of PlattForm and Platt-Form Higher Ed via social media and in other materi-als. How do the identities differ? How do you develop the tone for each? They are COMPLETELY different. For PFAd, I try to always incorporate our culture in some way. We’re a great company, and a big part of what makes us so great is the people that work here. Generally, the tone is a little more fun, upbeat and casual. We target everyone from prospective employees to career college professionals; when writing, I ask myself, “Who will be reading this?” and “How would they want to be talked to?” Then I develop the message based on those answers.

PFHE is really a completely separate entity. Most of what we do, including social media, is for higher ed administrators, so the tone is tailored to that: profes-sional, industry and marketing focused.

Rank the members of the MarCom team in the order that you like them. Easy. 1) His name is Dunkin. Dunkin Donuts Coffee. 2) Everyone else.

Congratulations are in order to the two newest mem-bers of the Senior team, media buyers Toni Griffin and Brianna Papa (Spot Pro Media)! In addition, Melissa Modersohn has been promoted to Associate Director of Media Services! With their continued contributions to the department and their client groups, these promotions are certainly in order. Please help us in celebrating these superb ladies’ accomplishments.

In other Media news, the annual added value contest is still underway with a few weeks left to go to the April 13th end date. Folks are wheeling and dealing to rake in that moolah. Additionally, the department held their own “12 Hour Video Contest” with an infomercial theme. If Creep Away Rocks, a Handy Job Chair, or Tebow Juice sound like your kind of product, please see the department to make your purchase today!

MARCOM

MEDIA

Congratulations are in order to the two newest mem-bers of the Senior team, media buyers Toni Griffin and Brianna Papa (Spot Pro Media)! In addition, Melissa Modersohn has been promoted to Associate Director of Media Services! With their continued contributions to the department and their client groups, these pro-motions are certainly in order. Please help us in cel-ebrating these superb ladies’ accomplishments.

In other Media news, the annual added value contest is still underway with a few weeks left to go to the April 13th end date. Folks are wheeling and dealing to rake in that moolah. Additionally, the department held their own “12 Hour Video Contest” with an in-fomercial theme. If Creep Away Rocks, a Handy Job Chair, or Tebow Juice sound like your kind of product, please see the department to make your purchase to-day!

The MarCom team welcomed a new member last month: former proofer extraordinaire, Melissa Cow-an. To fully initiate her, we asked Melissa to respond to a few questions about her experience to this point. You might learn something new about her, like we have. Here are the questions and her studious replies:

So, what do you do in your new position as Communications Specialist?

I update our social media accounts for PlattForm Ad and PlattForm Higher Ed. I also write marketing ma-terials: one sheets, overview books, press releases, internal emails, etc. – all things PF. Plus, I get to think creatively and take around coffee and listen to Kevin break out into song randomly.

What has been the biggest surprise in your time with the team (if any)? Please explain.

Listen, this team is crazy – especially Kevin. I had no idea. Before moving over, I wondered how my uh... quirkiness... would fit in here, but I definitely didn’t have to worry about that.

In your new role, you help create the organizational – and very public – “voices” of PlattForm and PlattForm Higher Ed via social media and in other materials. How do the identities differ? How do you develop the tone for each?

They are COMPLETELY different. For PFAd, I try to always incorporate our culture in some way. We’re a great company, and a big part of what makes us so great is the people that work here. Generally, the tone is a little more fun, upbeat and casual. We target everyone from prospective employees to career college professionals; when writing, I ask myself, “Who will be reading this?” and “How would they want to be talked to?” Then I develop the message based on those answers.

PFHE is really a completely separate entity. Most of what we do, including social media, is for higher ed administrators, so the tone is tailored to that: profes-sional, industry and marketing focused.

Rank the members of the MarCom team in the order that you like them. Easy. 1) His name is Dunkin. Dunkin Donuts Coffee. 2) Everyone else.

MARCOM

MEDIA

An inside look at

Steve Bennaka

As you’ve probably realized by now, PlattForm Advertising isn’t your typical workplace.

You won’t find a Family Guy pinball machine, a soda fountain or a Tourna-ment of Champions at most work-places. You also won’t find a group that works harder to promote a fun, ener-getic culture at work than our own Culture Club.

Culture Club – the unofficial version – was founded about 10 years ago by Michael Platt, who sought to ensure that PlattFormers were having fun at work. Five years ago, Culture Club took on more of an official, Student Council feel, complete with elections and one-year terms for representatives, as well as a group of officers to advise the new recruits.

As you may know, these elections tend to get a little crazy – in a fun, creative way, that is. You’ll see plenty of hilari-ous, inspired campaign posters. You might find yourself the subject of a little bribery, usually in the form of food. You might even see a little mudslinging.

Once the candidates are elected, though, you can be sure they’ll get down to business. Culture Club has a hand in just about all of the awesome perks and events around here, like the new Company Kitchen, Office Olym-pics, the Flex Friday treat cart, monthly appreciation breakfasts, the ice machine, and the aforementioned soda fountain and Tournament of Champi-ons. These fine folks also help plan a variety of events, like the all-company meeting, the company picnic, the 12-hour video competition.

These initiatives take time, though. You might be surprised to find out just how much time and effort Culture Club representatives put into their roles. “It’s almost like a second job,” says Culture Club officer Brett Suddreth. “It’s not something you can walk into lightly. You need to step in and own the role and be able to manage your time well. But it’s really rewarding – we get a ton of stuff done behind the scenes.”

What’s ahead for the next batch of Culture Club representatives? That’s really up to them, Suddreth says. While many events from the past year will return – don’t worry, the soda fountain isn’t going anywhere – new

representatives will have a chance to suggest new initiatives. “It’s really up to them to make their own imprint,” Suddreth says.

So the next time you have a swig of soda on Friday afternoon or step away from your desk to participate in a fun event, thank a Culture Club representa-tive. They’re working hard to help keep your job fun.

Have a great idea you’d like to see implemented around the office? Visit the

suggestion boxes in the second - or third-floor break rooms, or email

the Culture Club DL.

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Find more events at: www.visitkc.com & www.eventkc.com

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Concert Jazz BandOlson Arts Center

11 O’Clock Jazz Band UMKCJazz Series OPKC

Brass ChamberEnsembles UMKC

Grand Opening Party The Dubliner

First Fridays Crossroads

Breakfast and Egg Hunt Powell Gardens

KC Easter Parade Zona Rosa

Easter Family Fun Day The Legends

Sporting KC vs. LA Galaxy

Easter Brunch Buffet The Elms Resort

Benny Kim Easter Concert UMKC

Saxophone Quartets UMKC

Royals vs. IndiansDvorák’s New World

Symphony Kauffman Center

Royals vs. IndiansDvorák’s New World

Symphony Kauffman Center

Community Yard Sale Kick-OffCity Market

Jonathan Bliss Folly Theater Children’s Art Event

Weinberger Fine ArtElectronics Recycling Event

City MarketJohn Pizzarelli Quartet

Folly Theater

Percussion Ensemble UMKCRoyals vs. Tigers Royals vs. Tigers Royals vs. Tigers

Chamber Orchestra UMKCBenefit for Operation Breakthrough KCMO

Royals vs. Blue JaysMusica Nova UMKC

Royals vs. Blue Jays

Royals vs. Blue JaysEarth Day Celebration

Powell GardensGiuseppe Filianoti

Folly TheaterMicrobrew Fest ParkvilleGarmin Marathon Olathe

Royals vs. Blue JaysJim Cosgrove Live Kauffman Center

Ricky Nelson RememberedJCCC Wind Symphony UMKC

Murder Mystery Weekend The Elms Resort

Songs from a Greek Slave Nelson-Atkins

Murder Mystery Weekend The Elms Resort

Grand Finale Concert Kauffman Center

Murder Mystery Weekend The Elms Resort

Composers’ Guild UMKC

David Seibert,

Valerie Smith

Matthew Kluemper

Kyle Harbaugh

Amy Brown,

Alex Ayre

Peter-Michael Amerio,

Lauren Barber

Earle Evans

Stacy Pendlay

Lindsay Parker

Erin Bovee,

Ashley Pierre-Louis,

Mallory Curry, ,

Erin Hueter,

Yvonne Lawer,

Erica Super,

Jonathan McDonald,

Michael Greeno,

Benson, Carolyn

Anish George,

Matthew Kluemper,

Erin Brackman,

Alex Ayre, ,

Dorcas Reasoner,

Joshua Legato,

,Sasha Lee Roe

Plymire, Derek

Clifford Blodgett,

Thomas Morgan III,

James Prideaux,

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Victor Holt

Beth Neely

Christine Nichols

Kathrine Tomlinson

Joseph Toubia,

Derek Plymire

Brittany Brown

Aaron Sporn

Michael Platt

Shilpa Shanbhag

b i r t h d a y s anniversaries

So tell about the project that led to you being recognized as Innovator of the Month.I’ve been working on a project with my team mates called Bamboo. It’s an initiative to take all of our independent projects on our internal websites andorganize them into one project for efficiency and reusability.

Bamboo…I like the buzz wordiness of that. Why did you see a need to develop this?As we acquire more and more sites organization be-tween the site managers and developers can get a bit difficult. To help alleviate this issue and stay organize with the large number of websites that we maintain it became necessary to find a way to centralize our development work as much as possible. The solution for this was Bamboo; a central place for developers to work and deploy many features across multiple web-sites quickly.

Sounds like it has been a helpful solution. In what ways has it changed how the team works?I think the most significant result of this project that has affected everyone is how it has changed our outlook on what we can do with Wordpress. Wordpress has been a great framework for the Site Managers although recently only limited to the blogs on our sites. It has been questioned whether or not we could implement our Enterprise forms or BSMG forms into Wordpress. With the help of Bamboo we have been able to successfully prove that we can make these forms work in Wordpress and slowly transition our websites over.

Were there any roadblocks you had to overcome?As with everything there will always be challenges, but that only makes the project more fun to work on! I believe our toughest challenge that the Site Manager Developers have come across has been implementing

our Bamboo Wordpress plugin. Initially this was a new area not explored by us and so it definitely delivered a bit of a challenge. However, what we have taken from these challenges is a wealth of knowledge on Wordpress plugin development, something that has proven quite useful for the new Guider sites we have acquired.

Any shout outs to anyone who helped collaborate on your project?Plenty, although there are so many I can’t really name them all! First, to Mat Owens who has been the first to successfully implement Bamboo on one of our live Guider sites. Michael Greeno, who has worked closely with me on some of the initial websites we tested the Bamboo plugin on. He has been a great help and his training of the Site Managers on Wordpress has been invaluable. Jeremy, who will soon have an awesome new logo completed for the Bamboo project along with a few other design initiatives for Bamboo. Brian Turrel, an amazing member of our team that has helped with the technical support and being a resource for questions concerning Enterprise forms and web services. Finally the “START” team for their extensive

Thanks, Victor and congratulations on a well-earned distinction.

Danny Pumpelly

If you are interested in learning more about the Innovation committee or would like to join an Innovation team, please email the Innovationeers at Innovationeers-DL@plattformad.com.

VICTOR HOLT

Congratulations to Amy Brown for winning

PlattForm’s companywide Employee of the Month

award and Victor Holt for winning Innovator of the

Month! The winners of these awards receive a plaque

and the employee of the month receives the coveted

reserved parking space. EOM nominations are

submitted by director-level employees and above*

and the winners are determined by PlattForm’s

internal board. This month there were 6 nominees –

so keep up the great work, everyone!

Victor Holt

Account Supervisor

Web Developer

innovator of the monthapril 2012

april 2012employee of the month

Amy Brown

/PlattFormAd

STAY CONNECTED!

EDITORIAL BOARDRebecca CoffindafferDanielle Hendrickson

Steve BennakaLinda Smith

PUBLISHERDave Admire

EDITORSteve Bennaka

DESIGN/LAYOUTKatie McCoy