Tennyson Center Kids Strike it Big at Bowling

The sport of bowling has a long, rich history with its ancestral character linked to the Middle Ages and England’s King Edward III during the late 1300s. It gained considerable popularity in England during King Henry VIII’s reign in the early 1500s as the sport of the Court. “Well, if it’s good enough for Old Henry, it’ll do just fine for us!” Those were the words uttered by Amanda Brannum on a sunny winter Saturday in Denver when a rag-tag collection of GroundFloor Media staff joined forces with more than 22 kids from Tennyson Center for Children (www.childabuse.org <http://www.childabuse.org> ) to take on a few games of this old storied sport.

GroundFloor Media has had a five-year relationship with Tennyson Center for Children, the region’s oldest residential center for abused and neglected kids, that has taken the form of pro bono public relations and actively participating in social outings with the Center’s resident kids, ages 5 to 18.

Stepping up to play their first game, many of the kids were a little uncertain and timid at first. To help break the ice with the kids, we asked them to make up their own special “bowling names” that we could input for the electronic scorecards at each lane. Bowling alter-egos started to emerge in the form of such characters as Master P, Slewdog, Wicked X and Striker, to name a few.

We warmed up with a few practice rounds, and soon the kids were enthusiastically unstoppable – each finding their unique style and technique at throwing the ball down the lane. Underhand, overhand, shot-putt and the often-famous “between-the-legs” release were all throwing variations seen and heard (cer-thump!) in the alley that afternoon. Undeterred by the occasional gutter ball, the kids anxiously awaited their next frame and started jockeying to play not only their own turns but also fill in for the GroundFloor Media staff so they could get more practice.

The arrival of nachos, French fries, hot dogs and chicken nuggets was a temporary “refueling” distraction after our first game. Re-energized, and with sticky fingers, we tackled a second game sporting improved skills and somewhat reckless abandon. Some of us suspected that the greasy French fry hands helped put some useful spin on the balls. As their confidence grew, Master P and Striker claimed they’d each found their own magic bowling balls and encouraged their fellow bowlers to use them for good luck. A sense of good sportsmanship and shared learning was an underlying tone amongst the kids as they took pride in their final scores of the day and celebrated with high-fives.

Overall, it was an afternoon of unbridled fun that included a healthy balance of strikes, spares, gutter balls and smiles. While no one qualified for the Professional Bowlers Association, the Tennyson Center kids and GroundFloor Media’s big kids-at-heart left the bowling alley with plenty of terrific new memories, a few tall tales about the “pin that almost went down” and new bragging rights for the most elegant bowling technique. Although 500 years have since passed since the days of King Henry VIII’s Court, I know that Slewdog and Wicked X would have given any member of Old Henry’s bowling team a run for their money.

~Amy Claire

Half-day Social Media 101 seminars available free of charge to associations, nonprofits and government entities

The emergence of social media has had a dramatic impact on the public relations industry. According to a trend report from Netpop Research LLC, there are 40 million active social network users in the U.S., and social networking has grown 93 percent since 2006. And if you’re reading this blog, you’ve already changed these percentages.

We are excited to announce a new GroundFloor Social Media (GFsM) workshop series aimed at helping Colorado-based associations, nonprofits and government entities leverage social media in their marketing and fundraising campaigns. Called “Social Media: Getting in on the Ground Floor,” the series will offer personalized social media training and education at no cost. Yes, they are for free! Well, at least for the first 20 guests that register in their respective category.

Most nonprofits and government organizations know social media is one way to further boost their marketing and fundraising campaigns. However, as we all know, limited budgets often make it difficult to try nontraditional campaigns. These workshops will provide these organizations with the knowledge and know-how to increase their social media presence.

We developed our Social Media 101 workshop series to help educate organizations about the social media universe and provide them with a step-by-step guide on how to start and maintain their own social media campaigns. In these sessions, our team of social media junkies will help attendees gain a basic understanding of the different social media mediums and learn how to engage customers, employees and supporters through social media.

These half-day seminars will be taught by our GFsM team and will cover everything from Twitter to Facebook to Blogs.

Here’s the scoop. Organizations interested in participating must submit an online application which is available at http://www.groundfloormedia.com/. The workshops will be held at GroundFloor Media and are limited to 20 guests. Dates can be found on our site.

And if you don’t walk away with some new social media superpowers, then you should demand your money back… or not.

GFM Cooks Up a Good Time at Cook Street

In the heart of Denver’s historic LoDo district, sits a cutting edge 3,000-square foot kitchen where we all gathered Monday night to try our hand whipping up a Tuscan dinner. After a few glasses of wine, we all gathered around a custom, white maple butcher block bench, and the lessons are executed on commercial-grade gas cook-tops, in a professional Combi oven and a granite demonstration island equipped with halogen burners. A small team gathered to learn the art of creating a delicious red pepper risotto with Frico. Frico? Yes, the formation of these beautiful parmesan cheese crisps became second nature to our own Kristina Reilly. She ended up taking over the lesson and showing all of us how to throw cheese in a pan, heat it up and pour it over a small glass to create a beautiful cheese cup. I could be wrong, but I think she may have been auditioning for Top Chef and hoping for the next open spot in the cooking school. My team was busy learning the fine art of grilling by practicing our hand with a Grilled T-Bone slathered with garlic, lemon and olive oil. Anyone care to know what Dry-Aged beef actually means? Don’t ask Ramonna. She will throw her hands up over her ears and run screaming back to the Risotto team. S-C-A-B.

2nd Annual Ground Hog Day Bash

Our team celebrated our 2nd Annual Ground Hog Day Bash at Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash, Colorado. If you have the opportunity to spend a weekend there, you should definitely take advantage of it.(http://www.devilsthumbranch.com/). They are located in the Colorado Rocky Mountains – just ten minutes from Winter Park. If you love the outdoors, know that the Ranch encompasses 5000 acres at the foot of the Continental Divide. Without coming off sounding like an ad for the Ranch, it has a world-renowned cross-country ski center, 5,000 acres of meadow, forest, fishing streams and ponds and has a barn full of not-so-wild horses, mules and cattle for the kids. The new lodge had just opened a few weeks before our arrival. Although there were some new construction kinks that were yet to be ironed out, it was beautiful. There is a three-story, six-sided fireplace in the new restaurant that was created entirely from stones found at a nearby rockslide. Much of the interior trim finish wood is reclaimed beetle kill pine. The kids loved the game room and miniature bowling alley.

The adults liked the hot tub and the food. You can tell that the Men of GFM loved their new hoodies!

Thanks to everyone who spent the weekend celebrating our 6th year in business!

What do a magician, a palm reader and an elf have in common? GroundFloor Media of course!

Yep, you read that right. Last Thursday we officially unveiled our new office to friends, family and clients with a Holiday Open House that included a magician, a pair of face-painting elves, a palm reader and, of course, plenty of fabulous food and drink (thank you Whirled Peas catering). While it might sound a bit more like a carnival than a holiday party, no one can say they didn’t have a great time!

The appropriately named magician, Magic Rob, was by far the favorite of the kids – providing them an endless supply of balloon animals, flowers and weaponry (I’m still waiting for my sword). For the adult guests, the palm reader kept everyone entertained with fortunes that were a mixture of eerily spot-on and downright hilarious. Whether the fortunes were right or wrong - and I guess we’ll have to wait a while longer before we know for sure - they were definitely entertaining and offered guests a great way to break the ice and get to know each other a little better.


Thanks to everyone who helped make our open house a success (shout out to Carrie and Kristina) and to all our friends, family, clients and business partners who took the time to come share a cup of eggnog with us all. We are truly blessed.

Happy Holidays!!!

Thanksgiving is in the air…

There is a great a deal to give thanks for this holiday season so today we celebrated with an early Thanksgiving lunch. I personally give thanks for my great group of co-workers who collectively survived a reality competition, an Ancho Chile Barbeque Sauce launch, a massive hospital move, a client product launch that was rescheduled twice, several pancake pitches “on the fly,” and an office move in 48 hours – all within 30 days. Now we can move into the holiday season and celebrate new arrivals, new engagements, new clients and a new office that is starting to feel a lot like home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone - Laura

GroundHog Day at Gold Lake

If Punxsutawney Phil spotted his shadow this year in the annual Groundhog Day ritual, the news didn’t make it to Gold Lake Spa & Resort, where GroundFloor Media staffers celebrated GroundHog Day with revelry and camaraderie on Feb. 3rd. Although the mood was warm, the wine inviting and the company, well…fabulous, the weather was decidedly un-spring like. Arctic gusts topping 40 mph kept everyone on their toes (barely) as they scuttled their way from the parking lot to the resort’s dining room and bar as the night began – and a few hardy GFM-ers even arrived early to take advantage of the OUTDOOR hot pools (hello, Linda, Phil, Stephen and Laura – what were you thinking?).

Once safely ensconced in the warm glow and embrace of the lodge and their fellow teammates, the GroundFloor team did what PR people do best: talked, laughed, shared secrets, laughed, gossiped and mingled. Oh, and did I mention that we laughed?

Laura and Ramonna took to center stage during a break in dinner to hand out statuettes to each team member signifying a “contribution” they had made during the past year. The good-natured ribbing (mine referenced Carl Lewis because I always seem to be racing to get to meetings on time) drew cajoles from the crowd – but perhaps that was mainly because the wine glasses had been happily clinking for some time prior to dinner. We even learned a few things over the course of the evening, too. For example:

**Regan needs a little more practice following the birth of her baby boy to get back up to speed on the party circuit (here’s to spring training)
**Ramonna has her sign language skills down pat (can you say, “read between the lines?”)
**Stephen looks dashing in a bathrobe (not that there’s anything wrong with that)
**The bar closing at 1 a.m. is a very, very good thing (did I say VERY good thing?)

In the morning, we awoke to a healthy continental breakfast – most of which was consumed by Stephen – and enjoyed a hearty wrap-up with each other of the previous night’s events (again, another trait of the PR crowd – we LOVE to re-cap, review and re-evaluate!). Here’s to next year’s GroundHog Day event – and let’s hope that there is a spring in between now and then sometime.

The GFM Rock n' Rollers Limped Home...

The Rock "N" Roll Arizona Marathon - TEAM GFM!!

Well, we survived below freezing temperatures, delayed flights, blisters and Band-Aids placed in strategic locations, Stephen carrying around P.F. Chang’s leftovers for three days, Kristina and Carissa’s intruder, Jim ‘Tools’ with his leopard hat in the hot tub, SJ, well, just being SJ (most of which I could never put in an email), Rebecca as the new hotel IT director, Ro running with bronchitis, Carissa claiming I abandoned her at the last minute, Jim Reilly for just managing to put up with us (always with a smile on his face) and Jen ‘smiling’ as she made it through the finish line! Did I mention Stephen qualified for Boston with a 3:03 time? He even made it on the local news! The rest of us, well, we were just happy to drink a beer at the end of the day. Thanks to this amazing group of troopers. I am so happy to work – and run (hobble) -- with each and every one of you!

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Laura

PS – Best of luck to Shawn Wills this week as he tries to make the cut for the golf tournament. You are my hero for offering to run the stadium stairs with Kirby immediately after we crossed the finish line. I thought I would literally pass out the minute she suggested it.