Congratulations to Ashley Chitwood for winning

PlattForm’s companywide Employee of the Month

award and Becky Siegel 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

5 nominees – so keep up the great work, everyone!

Chris Williams

Senior Digital Media Buyer

Senior Marketing Coordinator

innovator of the monthAugust 2012

August 2012employee of the month

Josh Stanze

Daniel VachalekDigital Media Buyer

Kylie KlenkeProofreader

Jayna GreeneDirect Marketing Manager

Mandy WhiteProofreader

Victor HoltSenior Web Developer

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!

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!

Innovation is about a lot more than coming up with the next earth-shattering invention or technology. Innovation often happens when we are simply looking for a way to improve something; just ask Chris Williams, our most recent PlattForm Innovator of the Month.

BP: So Chris, what won you the title of PlattForm Innovator of the Month?

CW: I revamped the process for developing new business cards.

BP: I bet you get a lot of requests for new business cards, with all the trades shows and client visits we PlattFormers attend, not to mention every time someone is promoted!

CW: I receive 1-2 new business card requests each week. The old process was cumbersome and time consuming. For a while I’d been thinking that there must be a more efficient way to develop business cards. Enter MOO.com. They have a business solution that’s template based, quick and easy to use, and it’s cheaper than what we were doing before. Plus, the cards are really cool!

BP: Wow, so an easier solution that is faster and less expen-sive; sounds like a win to me! How did you find out about this new MOO.com business solution?

CW: Shout out to Laura Jackson! She brought back samples of the MOO cards from a conference. That’s how I first found out about them.

BP: It sounds like this change has made your life a little easier around here. Who else is reaping the benefits of your wonder-ful innovative solution?

CW: A few teams. Now that we are using this new solution, we’ve seen a significant time savings for print, marketing and proofing and overall a streamlined process for business card development. We’re really excited about the cards and how easy it is now to order them!

BP: Now that we’ve told the world how much easier it is to order new business cards, I bet the requests are really going to pick up! Before you run off to come up with your next big idea, how about a few words of wisdom for those aspiring innova-tors out there?

CW: There’s always a better way to do things. Find it!

Well, you’ve heard it from a true innovator herself; Chris was looking for efficiency and found it, earning her respect and props as a PlattForm Innovator of the Month! What solutions are you going to find?

MONTHby Bailee Platt

INNOVATOR

Teamwork Oct. 99:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Instructor: Dustin GipsonThis course is designed to identify your role on a team and how you can best apply your strengths to be a productive team player. Through both exercised and open discussion, we’ll spend the morning learning more about teamwork dynamics and personal development.

BrandingOct. 119:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.Instructors: Laura Jackson, Jennifer BowlenWhat makes advertising more unique, more valuable, and more visible in any market? Learn all about the concept of archetypal personalities that serve as tools to develop a company’s/product’s identity with a “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP) that separates them from their competition and positions them as the best choice. We’ll view some visual examples and some branding case studies and whether there’s a place for brand advertising in direct response advertising and marketing.

Excel WorkshopOct. 179:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Instructor: Becky SiegelExcel is used daily and extensively at PlattForm, and working with it efficiently can improve your day-to-day work. This workshop will explore several commonly used functions, formulas, and actions used here at PlattForm. The format will include planned direction, open discussion, and practical applications for Excel. Please bring questions and/or examples of Excel files and functions you would like to explore.

Book Club: The Go-GiverOct. 1712:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.Instructors: Nickie Gibbs, Nici Krehbiel In this session of Book Club, Nici and Nickie will take you through the Go-Giver, a customer service book that tells the story of an ambitious young man named Joe who yearns for success.

Time ManagementOct. 189:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.Instructor: LeighAnne GrayThe objective of this class is to provide means to prioritize what needs to get done in an 8-hour work day to enable a balance between work and personal life and reduce stress. In this class, you will learn useful tools such as the First Things First planning grid, email efficiency tips, conquering procrastination, learning to say “no,” preventing interruptions, and more.

The Art of BalanceOct. 199:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Instructors: Nickie Gibbs and Joe MulvihillJust in time for the hectic holidays! Balance is an extremely integral part of life. If you don’t feel your life is balanced, your health, happiness, and success can and will be negatively affected. Joe Mulvihill and Nickie Gibbs will facilitate this class to help you achieve balance in all aspects of your life by sharing valuable techniques, knowledge and stories geared around the Art of Balance.

Managing Workplace NegativityOct. 259:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.Instructor: Steve BoothWhy does everyone have to be so damn negative all the time? I hate that. Actually, I hate everyone. People just annoy me. You can’t count on them, they never do anything right, and they’re generally just plain lazy. And don’t get me started about PlattForm. Leadership needs to get their heads out of …

OThEr COUrSES SChEdULEd IN OCTOBEr:Project ManagementOct. 49:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Instructor: Sarah Martin

OcTObEr cLASS PrEVIEW

1. Best part of September?

•NFLseasonkickoff30% •iPhone5release3% •Coolerweather38% •New/returningTVshows29%

2.SpeakingofTVshows,whichonesareyoumost looking forward to returning this fall? (Choose 3)

•30Rock5% •TheBigBangTheory25% •Dexter24% •Fringe6% •Glee12% •Grey’sAnatomy20% •HappyEndings6% •HowIMetYourMother26% •ModernFamily42% •NewGirl20% •TheOffice29% •ParksandRecreation14% •PrivatePractice8% •TheWalkingDead21%

3.Youcanchoosetobanishoneofthefollowingcelebrities from pop culture relevance forever. Make your pick:

•LindsayLohan18% •Snooki29% •JustinBieber9% •ParisHilton11% •TheKardashians.Allofthem.33%

4. September25isNationalOne-HitWonderDay.What’sthemostridiculous(butsecretlyawe-some) one-hit wonder of all time?

•“I’mTooSexy”—RightSaidFred15% •“IceIceBaby”—VanillaIce44% •“WhoLettheDogsOut?”—BahaMen

10% •“Macarena”—LosDelRio7% •“AchyBreakyHeart”—BillyRayCyrus

5% •“Tubthumping—Chumbawumba19%

5.YourreputationdependsonyourMarioKartfinish.Chooseyourdriver:

•Mario21% •Luigi8% •Peach14% •Yoshi25% •Toad12% •KoopaTroopa3% •Wario2% •Waluigi1% •DonkeyKong7% •Bowser7%

By Jaquelyn Koehler

Despite some scheduling blips (building a house to a by the day schedule is no easy task when con-tending with weather and building code changes), three teams of PlattFormers helped on 2 Heartland Habitat for Humanity home builds in August!

Here’s what PlattFormers had to say about it:

“When we arrived at the site, the crew leader seemed pretty skeptical about the work 4 girls could do – but by the time we left we painted about 50% of the exterior of the home. We all had a great time and I encourage everyone to spend a work day with Habitat. The crew workers were really nice and very appreciative that we had come out.” – Lorena Gregory

“My favorite part was getting on the roof and chan-neling my inner Tim the Tool Man Taylor.” – Aaron Edwards

“It was very challenging, required teamwork, and

you could really see the progress we had made once it was complete.” – Kyle Regier

“My habitat experience was great! It was nice to get to work with some coworkers outside of the of-fice and we were able to help a family out.” – Britni Mapel

“You should sign up and try it out. You don’t have to know much about building houses or even how to do certain projects. They will teach you and mainly just need more hands to get things done efficiently.” – Drew Battleson

“This was such a great experience! It was so rewarding to physically see the amount of work we put in and to know that this house will change someone’s life.” – Melissa Cowan

“I really enjoyed getting a bicep workout whilst pulling nails. Also, we all looked pretty sweet in hard hats.” – Ashley Regier

accomplishments

By Jaquelyn Koehler

accomplishmentspainted exterior of houseframed exterior walls

caulked interior wallsmounted roof trusses completing house frame

PlattForm’s premier, invite-only event for leaders in higher education

By Chris Williams

You may have heard rumors about a ‘PlattForm conference’ occurring later this year. Here’s the inside scoop.

This fall, we are hosting the first annual edu Marketing Summit at the InterContinental Kansas City on the Plaza. We are expecting 40 of our most valued clients and prospects – both for-profit and non-profit – to participate in this exclusive event. During the 3-day summit for in-dustry leaders, we will be discussing best practic-es and how education marketers can adapt their strategies to the constantly evolving marketplace in order to more effectively drive the vision and marketing direction for their school.

The event will begin Wednesday, October 24th with a tour of the PlattForm offices followed by an on-site happy hour. Sessions will take begin-ning Thursday, October 25th and the next day with lunch. We are really excited about the speakers we’ve lined up for the event. Our key-note speaker will be APSCU’s President and CEO, Steve Gunderson. Other speakers include educa-tion experts from Google, The Parthenon Group, Imagine American Foundation and Triumph Higher Education Group.

You’ll be hearing more in the few weeks, so stay tuned.

1 Eva Malley3 Laura Jackson5 Chris Williams6 Mike Schulte7 Kyla Booth7 Ellie Quinter7 Jen Carpenter10 Jason Baumgart 11 Micha Johnson11 Jennifer Kiblinger12 Emily Blackmer17 Dawn Billinger17 Jeremy Booth17 Joe Wilk19 Jacquelyn Koehler

22 Tim Kirchoff25 Morgan Stewart26 Jason Markel26 Elizabeth Tower27 Mike Athey28 Tom Anguiano28 Nate McGinnis29 Raj Shankar30 Carol Gomez

1-2010 Adam Spencer5-2006 Shana Kreikemeier6-2011 Zach Janky7-1998 Ellie Quinter7-2004 Laura Jackson7-2004 Erin Sutton7-2010 Jennifer Bowlen10-2007 Shaun Hughes12-2011 Chris Dziurawiec 12-2011 Lydia Koehler12-2011 David Schnackenberg13-2004 Ryan Irwin13-2010 Kristy DeHerrera13-2010 Angie Jones13-2010 Elizabeth Weishar16-2009 Christina Martin

18-2006 Lee White20-2010 Steven Franklin20-2010 Jennifer Pine21-2009 Jonna Walker21-2011 Caleb Finley22-2008 Tiffany Bidne24-2007 Earle Evans26-2011 Brett Jankord27-2010 Dustin Steller28-2010 Lindsay Ballweg

18-2006 Lee White20-2010 Steven Franklin20-2010 Jennifer Pine21-2009 Jonna Walker21-2011 Caleb Finley22-2008 Tiffany Bidne24-2007 Earle Evans26-2011 Brett Jankord27-2010 Dustin Steller28-2010 Lindsay Ballweg

Behind the Scenes:EDITORIAL BOARDDanielle HendricksonBrendon O’NeillMegan Schulte Melissa CowanChris WilliamsJacquelyn Koehler

DESIGN/LAYOUTDanielle Hendrickson

EDITORSteve Bennaka

PUBLISHERDave Admire /PlattFormAd

STAY CONNECTED!