Blog

Great news for our neighborhood. We mentioned a number of months ago that Old Town was named a GAMSA semifinalist. The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced today that Old Town Lansing Main Street and its 1,300 volunteers are the recipients of the 2011 Great American Main Street Award® (GAMSA).

Recognized as a leader following the Main Street Four-Point Approach®, embracing sound historic preservation ethics and building strategic partnerships, Old Town [Lansing] Main Street was honored today at the Main Street Awards Ceremony during the National Main Streets Conference in Des Moines, Iowa (streaming live starting at 10:30am EST).

MessageMakers is glad to support Old Town's betterment efforts, from festivals to clean-ups, from performances to community meetings.

We're glad to welcome Pat McNerney to the MessageMakers team as our newest project manager.

Pat has worked with MessageMakers as a contractor on a number of high-profile event production jobs and shared the fruits of his considerable experience. He's been a talented addition to our team, and we're glad to make that addition permanent.

What's the worst meeting experience you can remember having? What made it so bad?

In our experience, there are six factors that combine to make a meeting a good one... or a bad one. Some of these sound like common sense—but you'd be surprised how often these items aren't addressed by meeting and event planners.

Over the past year, MessageMakers has redesigned this website and been at work to expand the useful content we provide. Today, we received word that the redesign has been recognized with a bronze award from the 2011 Summit Creative Award competition.

"Many people put many hours into this redesign, and now we're seeing the results," says Matt Penniman, one of the lead developers on the MessageMakers website redesign.

The staff of MessageMakers had a great time at the seventh annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business event, held April 28 at the Lansing Center. At the event, MessageMakers was honored as one of the 2011 “Michigan 50 Companies to Watch,” an awards program sponsored by the Edward Lowe Foundation and presented by Michigan Celebrates Small Business.

During a recent business trip, I ended up with a few hours free to escape to the pool with a book. I eventually settled upon Arnold Bennett's productivity short How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, published in 1908. (You can get a free copy for the device of your choice.

What are you doing this weekend? Have you considered attending the Capital City Film Festival?

Ever heard of the Sophists? Even if you haven't, you may have some ideas as to their character based on our modern words sophistry or sophisticated. They don't have the best of reputations.

The Sophists were a group of Greek traveling teachers. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle looked down on them because they tended to focus more on teaching people to win debates than on searching for truth.

Do you need a summer internship?

MessageMakers has openings for interns in finance, graphic design, learning design, marketing, video production and writing at our headquarters in "Old Town" Lansing, Michigan.

Do real work for real clients. Get experience and references you can show off.