Floricane

Blog

New Client: Facilitating History in the Making By John Sarvay | March 10, 2010

I'll be spending some time with the Board of Trustees and the staff of the Virginia Historical Society, facilitating a series of discussions about the strategic direction of the Commonwealth's preeminent center for history and genealogy. It's a bit of an interesting homecoming for me; in the early 1990s, when I was trying to make a living as a freelance writer, I spent my weekends manning the front desk at the VHS, greeting visitors to the archives and galleries.

Read more >

---

Four Steps Toward Building Your Brand By John Sarvay | March 7, 2010

 

 

This past Friday, Jonah Holland and I headed to the new Westin Hotel for the monthly Retail Merchants Association gathering. We were going primarily to hear Lisa Moroni-Hall and Cathy Ferris McPherson of Brandevotion speak; I was fortunate to spend a fair amount of time with Lisa and Patrick Ind when they were working on some massive branding activity at Luck Stone.

It was a packed house (and there was a pediatrics party going on right next door; Jonah and I managed to chat it up with my favorite pediatrician – the online and connected Dr. Gayle Smith).

But the bulk of the morning was spent wandering the brand maze with Lisa and Cathy. They kept it simple, but relevant. Your brand should do four things, very well:

1. Provide a clear definition of who you are.
2. Ensure that you are well-known for one thing.
3. Create a signature look.
4. Leave a personal mark with your clients.

They provided plenty of context in each area, which I capture below.

Read more >

---

Seeing Your Team As A City By John Sarvay | March 5, 2010

 

 

During a recent day with the marketing team from the Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Center (RMCVB), we explored team dynamics from a variety of perspectives –– starting with an energetic and revealing exercise involving dozens of balloons. After some conversation and activity about team climate and the role that our individual personalities and an organization's leadership play in shaping that climate, the RMCVB team began to identify their best attributes.

Because their primary role is to market and celebrate the Richmond region, we then invited them to begin thinking about those team attributes from an urban perspective. What cities around the world embody similar attributes as your team? If your team was a city, what design attributes -- infrastructure, architecture, etc. -- would be critical to its construction?

 

 

Once they'd nailed down their identity -- both as a team and as an urban area -- we took them into the printmaking room of the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, where education director Aimee Joyaux and I helped them turn all of the ideas and concepts into a team-generated map.

It was an exhausting day for everyone, but apparently an exhilarating one, as well -- I'll be facilitating a retreat for the entire RMCVB staff (marketing, sales and administration) later in March.

Time to get more balloons.

Read more >

---

The Wrap on the Steak Rap By John Sarvay | March 4, 2010

The first Evening at Morton's community conversation of 2010 went without a hitch and generated plenty of buzz. More importantly, it created a space for a diverse group of five engaged locals to come together and talk about Richmond as a destination for young professionals.

This year's series is a joint production of The Hodges Partnership, Morton's the Steakhouse, Richmond.com and Floricane. My primary role in the conversations is to act as the facilitator, keeping everyone on-track and awake. Fortunately, it takes very little work on my part.

You can revisit the online blogging and tweeting of the event at Richmond.com or read Trevor Dickerson's summary article, "Steak Wrap", excerpted below:

Two of the panelists, Julie Bondy and Joslyn Bedell, both hail from the city of Atlanta. Coming into town for college, they fell in love with the Capital City and decided to stick around after graduating.

Julie found herself unhappy amidst the hustle and bustle of the big city and opted for the "big small town" experience that Richmond offers. Two others, Eric Kim and John Sarvay, echoed their sentiments. Kim explained that the cost of living is low and standard of living is high.

"For every dollar I spend somewhere like Boston, for example, I can live for 60 cents in Richmond," Prenika said.

Sarvay brought up the point that many outsiders come to Richmond and think there’s nothing to do, but said that he feels that’s just not the case.

"Richmond’s a very ‘self-service’ kind of town," Sarvay said. "There are plenty of things to do, especially for the younger crowd; you just have to take the initiative to find them [as opposed to larger cities]."

Read more >

---

Blue Skies Ahead for Local Nonprofit By John Sarvay | February 28, 2010

I spent a Saturday in February with a small, active nonprofit board with a passion for the outdoors and children. Blue Sky Fund is focused on transforming the lives of urban youth through outdoor education and experiences, and it is run by one of my favorite Richmonders, Lawson Wijesooriya. Lawson and I met several years ago as teammates at a Greater Richmond Challenge event, and we've stayed connected since.

Lawson asked me to spend some time with the board of the Blue Sky Fund during their annual retreat, and between us we hammered out an ambitious three-hour agenda – part board building, part brainstorming and part planning, our objective was to provide the team with some real traction as they dove into 2010.

Funny thing – as I often find with organizations – is that they didn't actually need me in the room.

Read more >

---

Page 1 of 10 |  1 2 3 >  Last »