Educate, Inspire & Transform

Past Speakers

• 2016
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    Chris Guzman

    Punching my Way Forward: When Hobbies Attack!!
    
    Learn how I have become known as “The Boxing Glove Artist”. A cool hobby that has fulfill my need to make unique items and have them autographed by Hollywood's elite and now a profitable business.
    
    

  • 

    Diego Gonazalez

    The Power of Ego and the Internet:
    
    How to game both to crush it
    
    

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    Dr. Gina Bartucci

    Starting Down a Mindful Path
    
    Learn what mindfulness is, how it can positively impact our experiences, and do a brief minute meditation.
    
    

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    Jenah Pfeiffer

    The Vulnerable Creative: Exposed
    
    At times the creative path can be a lonely one. And while we strive for originality and ingenuity in our creative fields, along the way, we meet up with isolation and vulnerability. Learn how to deal with the overwhelm in expository creativity and how inspiration can be the key motivator in the creative process.
    
    

  • 

    Katelynn Jansma

    Hold the Vision, Trust the Journey
    
    

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    Kristine White

    I am Adaptive:
    
    Overcoming and Changing the Perspective of Disability
    
    

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    Mark Anderson

    Breaking the Mold
    
    I plan on discussing an approach to design solutions and image building by breaking away from formulaic design approaches in order to achieve an effective impact that stands out to an intended audience.
    
    

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    Melissa Washburn

    The Secret of My (Kickstarter) Success
    
    How to research, plan, and execute a successful crowdfunding campaign to make YOUR creative project happen.
    
    

  • 

    Phil Krygsheld

    All in
    
    Dealing with ourselves allows us to bet on ourselves and that’s a win for everyone.
    
    

  • 

    Phillip Herrold

    Ordinary vs. successful
    
    The truth is, any successful artwork, design, or individual is an attainable feat. They are not created perfect or born miracles, but what’s makes them stand out...
    
    

  • 

    Shawn Stuckey

    Herbie is on to somethin'
    
    This alludes to a Herb Brooks quote. “You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone.” It sounds all dramatic and finger pointy, but I'd like to talk the importance of emotional intelligence.
    
    

  • 

    Tyler Lennox Bush

    Talk = Sandboxing:
    
    The Importance Cooperative Capital in a Mediated World
    
    

  • 

    Vinnie Adams

    Art & Autism
    
    From personal stories to viral phenomenons, we'll look at the what, why, and how of art being uniquely expressed through people with autism.
    
    

• 2015
  • 

    Angie Drach

    10 Dos & Don'ts for Creatives on the Hunt
    
    With experience recruiting and interviewing over 100 people in her career, Angie will cover some down and dirty tips to land that job you have been after.
    
    

  • 

    Chris Mahlmann

    Making a Digital Impact with Design
    
    Chris's presentation will be based around the lessons he has learned about how small businesses and individuals can communicate their mission and talents effectively online and via social media in a way that allows their creativity to flow and be apparent to all. He wants to help designers and those in the graphic and visual arts best understand how to utilize online and social media tools to gain a very high impact return on the time put into each outlet. Chris's very straight to the point, high energy strategies work well for him and he is excited to share them with others.
    
    

  • 

    Eric Verbich

    File Preparation for Large Format Printing
    
    Eric will cover the in’s and out’s of sending your file to print on large format output.
    
    

  • 

    Joe Dascenzo

    So You Think You Can Fly?
    
    What do you do when you hit a creative wall? We all want to break through the wall and create things that inspire people—so what are the critical decision points in the creative process that lead to true innovation?
    
    

  • 

    Julia Huisman

    Don't Settle for Status Quo
    
    Northwest Indiana is known for its blue collar industry but it also thrives with creativity and artistry! There is so much talent here waiting to be discovered. I’ll share how to find such talent locally, how to build and nurture a creative team, and the importance of telling the stories of NWI’s creatives.
    
    

  • 

    Liz Mares

    It's Okay To Be A Quiet Artist
    
    In this fast paced world of social media and the constant extroverted urgency to "Get out there and mingle! Push Push Push!" The quieter people tend to get lost in the noise. Learn how to use your quiet nature to be seen and gain recognition with a softer approach.
    
    

  • 

    Matt Fiocca

    Design for Development
    
    There may come a time in your life when that well researched, beautifully crafted website design will be sent off to someone else for development. In this short talk, I will illustrate 5 ways that will help make that hand-off become a creative and technical success.
    
    

  • 

    Michelle Nikitaras

    What does a wedding planner do anyway? From Vision to reality.
    
    How we accidentally drove ourselves into the creative industry, and why our clients love us for it.
    
    

  • 

    Mylinda Cane

    Life Lessons Learned Through Photography
    
    How Creativity Shaped and Saved Me
    
    

  • 

    Natalie Leaman

    The NavAids in designing for Engineers
    
    Curious about the challenges presented when working as a designer in an engineering environment?  Find out how I navigated my way around the aviation industry by  plugging into the world of Geographic Information Systems and AutoCAD.
    
    

  • 

    Rahsaan Taylor

    The Worst Best Advice
    
    Life is all about learning the rules and then learning how to break those rules. In 5 short minutes I'll try to supply you with the tools to trick yourself to happiness by looking at the things that we have been told not to do.
    
    

  • 

    Wayne Osenkarski

    Taking Your Shots
    
    You've got to take some risks. You have nothing to lose except the chance to win.
    
    

  • 

    WoodenJacket

    Justin & Evvie Tillich: The Little Things
    
    People often ignore their small, or what they may see as insignificant talents. With the society of "more" we live in, most people miss them all together. It has been ever present in our lives to hold tight to these "little things" and to nurture them, because there in lies the magic.
    
    

• 2014
  • 

    Amy Schwartz

    Collaboration in Practice
    
    How working collaboratively and across disciplines leads to personal breakthroughs.
    
    

  • 

    Charlie Roberts

    Who knows you
    
    It's not always who you know that matters, it's more about who knows you. Listen to how relationships and image can make a difference in your career.
    
    

  • 

    Chase Talon

    Hand Drawn Typography Goodness
    
    Sketching type has always been a passion of mine. From pencil to paint, food and hair, I would like to share with you the who's what’s and why’s I have recently devoted my free time to mastering this beautifully inspiring scrumtrulescentness of a craft.
    
    

  • 

    Corrie Vos

    Sleeping with a Designer
    
    Design affects where we shop, the products we buy, the restaurants we eat at, how we decorate our house, from the biggest to the smallest of details. While it can easily become overwhelmingly irritating at times, we're working on how to laugh at each other in the tension and how to find places to restore both his need for creativity and my need to have a voice in the design of our life.
    
    

  • 

    Jamie Wayne

    How to Design a Logo in 5 Steps
    
    Learn the basics of logo design ranging from research, to mind-mapping, sketching, narrowing and rendering in a 5 minute, 5 step presentation.
    
    

  • 

    Jane Cooperman

    Persistence and Patience
    
    The talk will focus on taking a large public art project from a conception to reality.
    
    

  • 

    Melissa Washburn

    I Don't Know What I'm Doing: Confidence & the Female Creative
    
    A number of articles and books have come out recently on the differences between men and women when it comes to confidence, taking on new challenges in the workplace, and how we cope with both successes and failures in our work. In this talk I will reflect upon my own experience with "Impostor Syndrome" and talk about some strategies that we can use to build confidence, balance confidence with competence, and start taking the kinds of risks that can result in great work and great careers.
    
    

  • 

    Michael Roller

    Making your Bones
    
    Optimizing Entry-level Opportunities
    
    

  • 

    Nichole Baiel

    Let's Talk Mental Illness
    
    Because by talking, we can erase the stigma. This is story about how friends, strangers, and the tech community helped save my life.
    
    

  • 

    Phil Krygsheld

    I'll Drink to That
    
    Why and how you do what you do matters just as much as what you do to me and other consumers.
    
    

  • 

    Ron Delhaye

    You’'re Awesome! (But your art sucks) Take it Personally.
    
    Art is interpretive - some will love it, and others will hate it. Learn how the attention has shifted from the art to the artist, and why having a great personality is imperative. Creative talents aren't enough to speak for you, it's how people perceive you as a person and as a brand.