April Podium 2013

–April 2013–

Congratulations to Sarah Wildhaber for

winning PlattForm’s March companywide

Employee of the Month award! The

winners of these awards receive a plaque

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.

Employee of the Month

Jerry Awardsrelationships

Interactive Senior Buyer

March 2013

Sarah Wildhaber

March 2013

Rachel GriffithJerry Award Winner for Valuing our SERVICE value “Relationships” MELISSA MODERSOHN

ASSOCIATE 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!

Rachel Griffith Executive Administrative Manager

Michelle Young Senior Billing Associate

Stephen Kent Managing Director of TransportationMarketing Group and Vertical Marketing Group

Drew Battleson Account Supervisor

Kaylee Douglas Account Executive

John Pfortmiller Account Executive

Andrew Dalbey Account Executive

Stefanie Jackson Account Executive

Laura Gooden Account Executive

Aaron SpornAgency Analyst

Natalie UhartAccount Coordinator

Anne HorrellAccount Coordinator

Josh VotawAccount Coordinator

Jessica SwanBilling Associate

Kristin TurnerSenior Collections Specialist

Sarah MoonAccount Executive

Ashanti SaboorProject Coordinator

Theresa RichAccount Executive

Joe LeonhardtDirector of New Business

Development

Jimmy CourticeWeb Designer

Michael NapolitanWeb Design Manager

Dustin StellerI drank a lot of Corona in the hopes of summer actually coming.

Ashley PierreLouisMy bracket was torn to shreds…in my distraught state, I ended my NCAA experience drowning my sorrows in red wine. I will wait for football season, which usually equates to less of an upset and disappointment.

Zach PlostUnfortunately, the Jayhawks came up short yet again and my bracket ended up looking

as bad as Caleb’s haircut.

Clay LarsonUnfortunately, my Jayhawks waited just until they managed to get everyone’s hopes up before managing to blow an entire season in about two minutes. I’m not upset about it or anything. By the time Louisville cut down the nets, my bracket was looking about as solid ad Kevin Ware’s leg.

BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES04-01 Miller, Tamela 04-02 Kuzma, Kevin 04-02 Sutherland, Lindsay04-04 Bowlen, Jennifer04-04 Murawski, Casey 04-06 Gibbs, Nickie 04-06 Walker, Jonna 04-09 Stille, Trevor 04-10 Seibert, David04-11 Kluemper, Matt 04-12 Dickinson, Sherri04-12 Harbaugh, Kyle 04-15 Whiteman, Peter04-16 Ayre, Alex04-18 Amerio, Pete 04-18 Barber, Lauren 04-18 Evans, Earle 04-18 Kessler, Keira 04-20 Pendlay, Stacy04-21 Holt, Victor 04-21 Neely, Beth04-21 Nichols, Christine04-22 Johnson, Marlee04-22 Tomlinson, Katy04-22 Toubia, Joseph 04-25 Plymire, Derek 04-27 Brown, Brittany 04-27 Collins, Charlie 04-28 Platt, Michael 04-28 Pratt, Austin 04-29 Swan, Jessica

05-01 Lori Turec 05-02 Kyle Regier 05-05 Brian Blancho 05-08 Melissa Cowan 05-08 Lindy Swatzell 05-07 Brian Turrel 05-10 Tracy Young 05-12 Courtney Kincaid 05-12 Lyle Kraft05-13 Brent Gill05-13 Adam Spencer05-18 Justin Wieners 05-19 Joe Mulvihill05-24 Erin Hueter05-27 Nick Admire05-30 Aaron Edwards05-30 Kris Little05-30 Brianna Papa 05-30 Brett Pikarsky05-30 Mackenzie Sheridan-Kautzi05-30 Prasad Soman 05-31 Tara Schmidt

4-3-06 Parker, Lindsay4-4-05 Bovee, Erin 4-4-11 Pierre-Louis, Ashley 4-5-10 Curry, Mallory 4-9-07 Super, Erica 4-10-12 Barnett, Matthew 4-12-10 Benson, Carolyn 4-12-10 George, Anish 4-12-10 Stewart, Morgan 4-16-07 Kluemper, Matt4-18-11 Ayre, Alex 4-18-05 Brackman, Erin 4-18-11 Orr, Robert 4-19-10 Legato, Josh 4-19-99 Reasoner, Dory 4-23-12 Collins, Charlie 4-23-12 Damaske, Dani 4-24-06 Plymire, Derek 4-25-11 Blodgett, Clifford 4-25-11 Prideaux, James

05-01 Morgan Gonzalez05-02 Pete Amerio05-02 Angela Ridpath05-09 Stephanie Sommer05-9 Justin Wieners 05-10 Lyle Kraft 05-10 Douglas Wickland 05-14 Mallory Ralston 05-16 Jessica Reed05-16 John Pfortmiller 05-17 Jason Kerschner05-18 Brittany Brown05-18 Mat Owens05-23 Tara Schmidt 05-27 Garrett Boal 05-29 Amanda Burns 05-29 Megan Porter05-30 Jai Shankar05-31 Jeremy Burns 05-31 Matthew Griffin 05-31 Kris Saim

?Random Questionof the Month

How did your team fare in this year’s NCAAmen’s basketball tournament and what did you bracket look like after the champion was crowned

PFU CLASSES5-2Mind Your Own Business Education IndustryAngie Keiser

5-8Quitting TobaccoSet Yourself Up for SuccessBlue Cross Blue Shield

5-930-second MakeoverPhotoshop/Photo-editingDustin Steller

5-15Keeping the Crazy at BayWorking ParentsNickie Gibbs

5-16Easy as 1, 2, 3…Presentation Skills Session 1 - Prezi/PPT Chris Williams, Dustin Steller

5-23Easy as 1, 2, 3…Presentation Skills Session 2 - SkillsTracy Kreikemeier

5-30Easy as 1, 2, 3…Presentation Skills Session 3 - DeliveryLindsay Lau

They sweat, they battled they swayed, they hipped, and they hopped ….they DANCED. Christina Martin and Stephanie Sommer fought long and fought hard, but ultimately it was Christina who was able to secure the victory in the Just Dance competition! Her moves like Jagger impressed the crowd as onlookers wondered how many hours per week she spent in the underground world of dance-offs a la Stomp the Yard and Step Up (1, 2 and 3).

But Stephanie’s smooth rhythm did not go unnoticed. A cross between Usher and Justin Timberlake (and a pinch of PSY’s Gangnam Style), it was clear that this wasn’t her first dance rodeo. During the competition, I overheard a crowd attendee say, “That Sommers can shake it like a salt shaker!”A compliment if I’ve ever heard one.

Congratulations Christina and Stephanie. The whole company is now officially jealous of your moves!

BY ERIN DONALDSON

JUST DANCE!

One March afternoon, Megan Whitesell & Britni Mapel decided to splurge on an afternoon snack after seeing another pod mate’s (Ashley McKenzie) freshly popped bag of popcorn. Once it was de-cided that popcorn would be the snack of choice, Ashley shared how to mimic her fresh bag, “Pop for 2 minutes – it’s the perfect time!” So, as anyone listening to friendly advice would do, the bags were put in for exactly 2 minutes.

While the popcorn was quickly popping, Megan and Britni were actively conversing and catching up. During mid-conversation (and with about 10 seconds left to go), Britni noticed smoke pouring out of the microwaves’ sides. As quickly as possible, they stopped the microwaves and took the bags out. The break room quickly filled with smoke, and the air was headed straight to the fire sen-sors.

Of ALL people, Dave Admire walks in as the smoke fills the room. Horrified, Megan quickly runs over to the president and says, “Dave, don’t come in here! You don’t want to see this!” It was so bad; the smoke detectors should have gone off. Through Dave’s many laughs, he asked what in the world we were doing! And as we were all trying to fan the smoke away he said, “Have you ever heard the joke ‘How many blondes does it take to pop a bag of popcorn?!’” We laughed until we cried and then quietly scurried out so no one would know we were “those” girls who made the whole 3rd floor smell like burnt popcorn.

A few weeks later, and after the fog died down, the EOM/IOM meeting happened. Megan was back in Pennsylvania and Britni was finishing a report at her desk, so neither made the announcement. Ashley (the expert popcorn popper) ran up to Britni’s desk and told her Dave had been calling Britni’s name, and she needed to come downstairs. Confused, Britni walked downstairs with Ashley, trying to figure out why he needed her. Ashley said he had been talk-ing about small things: the weather, tornadoes, etc. Britni tried to put the pieces together but still could not figure out why Dave needed her. When she finally made it downstairs and was standing next to Dave, he said, “Does everyone know Britni Mapel? Well as the President of the company, it is my job to make sure the people here feel safe…” Still at this point, nothing was clicking. Then the magic words came out of his mouth. “I walked into the break room one day…” and Britni’s face immediately turned red -she knew exactly where this was going.

Dave explained the story to everyone and presented Britni with a 30 gallon bag of popcorn, just to make sure she would never burn any again! After this story was told to Megan, she laughed a sigh of relief thinking they forgotten about her being an accomplice. Of course, Dave didn’t forget about Megan! A week later, she received the same box of popcorn on her doorstep. The box hardly fit through her doorway.This popcorn fiasco has to be one of the best jokes ever played at PlattForm! Although Megan wasn’t there to be embarrassed in front of everyone with Britni, they both appre-ciated it and enjoyed a laugh! Take their advice, don’t pop popcorn at work!

“How many blondes does it take to burn popcorn?” – Dave Admire

BY BRITNI MAPEL AND MEGAN WHITESELL

POPcornCatastrophe

…is that they are evil. I’m a lover, not a hater, but when it comes to geese you can’t deny the facts: they are the spawn of some greater evil and they give me the willies.

If you don’t think geese are evil you’re probably confused and thinking of ducks, the hilarious and lovable cousins of geese. I’m talking about the mean, long necked, self-loathing, negative, children-chasing, snarky, needy and greedy winged snakes of Satan that stroll around the outside of our building like they’re all that and a bag of chips. Did I mention that they are evil and I hate them?

This hatred of geese is well deserved, I assure you. As a child I was constantly harassed and assaulted by these beasts and experienced what I am told is an “acute stress reaction”. When I learned that you could legally hunt them, I instantly became interested in hunting and haven’t looked back since. There is a lot of misinformation about geese floating around the internet- probably written by liberal goose supporting ex-tremists- and I want to set the record straight about these devil birds. I would hate for someone to lose an eye- or worse a lunch- because they didn’t know exactly how deep and dark the goose soul goes. I’ve been told I’m a modern day GI Joe- now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

Here is what you need to know about geese, and what you really need to know about geese. Truth: Geese mate for life. Truth Truth: Geese are socially inept at dating.

Truth: Geese produce 1-2 lbs. of waste every day.Truth Truth: This statistic? Greatly understated. Walk around the lake once if you disagree.

Truth: Geese could fly around the world in 40 days if they wanted to.Truth Truth: Geese never try anything too ambitious. But if they knew it would tick you off they would consider trying it.

Truth: Geese use sentry’s to guard their gaggle.Truth Truth: Remind you of anyone? Like the Soviets?

Truth: Geese have an attitude problem.Truth Truth: They also hate small children. They are the bul-lies of the waterfowl world.

Truth: The only time I felt bad when a goose died was in Top Gun.Truth Truth: I was more of an Iceman fan anyway.

So be careful, my friends. Don’t mess with the geese around the lakes unless you have backup. Don’t let them near your eyes. Warn your children about the dangers these monsters pose to an unarmed suburban child. Arm your children with nets. I dream of a day when all geese are regulated and re-stricted from interaction with human society, but I fear that we are still years away from that. Until the decision makers of this country start recognizing these waterfowl as they truly are- a Canadian Invasion- we must do our part to protect this house. For your protection I have created a diagram of the goose kill zone. See below. I cannot stress how important it is to strike first.

BY ALEX EDWARDS

T h e T h i n g A b o u t G e e s e . . .Continue

The Tournament of Honor and Glory continues! In this round, the best tennis players stepped up to compete in an epic dis-play of agility. Well, table tennis players anyway. From all around the office sprang these athletes, ready to show their skill and compete for the greatest prize of all: eternal glory. The tournament started with many an anxious competitor, ready to fight til the death. And how valiantly they fought! They fell one by one until only four remained.

Joseph Toubia had trained for years just for this event. His daily practice included folding a ping pong table in half and hitting four balls with two paddles. Forrest Gump’s got noth-ing on this guy.

Michael Vickery used the Interns to his advantage, playing them all at the same time during practice, right-handed. He would switch mid-game to his left hand, and they “would never see the southpaw coming!” He is the Inigo Montoya of ping pong.

Sadly these two competitors fell short of the ping pong final and eternal glory. They did, however, get participation rib-bons. Silver lining, right?

In the final matchup there was Jonathon, the reigning champ, versus Anish, who was hungry for blood. Well, ping pong blood. I mean, he was excited to win. The game began. These two were friends, but now were foes! They held no strikes, and certainly did not hold their tongues. Seriously, the language between these two was so severe that I cannot repeat here. Their hits had as much force behind them, and the curve of the ball was so strong that it literally travelled backward on several occasions.

As the battle waged, their battle axes sliced through the air. The crowd heard small booms as the ball broke the sound bar-rier on its way over the net. Back and forth they fought, lost in the game, oblivious to the crowds chanting their names. The game wore on, as Jonathon wore down his opponent. In the end it was too much for Anish to handle, and the match went to the legendary Mr. Gaikwad!

After the bout, I made it through the crowd and managed to get a comment from Anish. I asked him where his strategy had fallen short. “I have never played in front of such a crowd and I could not implement all of my tactics,” he said. The crowd was loosely estimated to be in the thousands. “Just try and try until you succeed.” Wise words from a wise man. And hopefully a patient man, as he’ll have to wait until next year to try again.

I then attempted to get a word in with the victor, but the crowd proved too thick. As they carried him away on their shoulders all I could hear him say was, “My parents will be so proud!”

Since then I have not been able to reach him for comment. Something about being on a boat. His arch nemesis, on the other hand, has no such luck. “I’ve been waking up to the sound of my own screams since losing to that [person],” Tou-bia said. There’s always a dark side to these things.

Stay tuned! The third, and arguably most difficult, round of the Tournament is yet to come!

TheGames

BY DREW MORRIS

Behind the Scenes:EDITORIAL BOARDDani DamaskeMelissa CowanAngie Keiser

DESIGN/LAYOUTJennifer BakerJulie Spielhagen

EDITORErin Donaldson

PUBLISHERDave Admire

/PlattFormAd

STAY CONNECTED!

1. We’re now 10% of the way through the Major League Baseball season. How many wins will the Royals have at season’s end?

•60 - 69: Same old Royals. 10%•70 - 79: We might see a slight improvement over last year. 27%•80 - 89: Maybe we can snag a Wild Card berth. 52%•90 - 99: AL Central champs, baby! 9%•100+: See you in the World Series! 2%

2. Who do you root for in the Hot Dog Derby?•Ketchup 41%•Mustard 35%•Relish 24%

3.WhoisyourfavoriteRoyalsPositionplayer?•Alex Gordon 18%•Alcides Escobar 8%•Eric Hosmer 10%•Billy Butler 27%•Salvador Perez 11%•Mike Moustakas 14%

•JeffFrancoeur9%•Lorenzo Cain 3%•Chris Getz 1%

4. How about your favorite pitcher?•Ervin Santana 12%•Jeremy Guthrie 15%•Wade Davis 8%•Luis Mendoza 14%•Bruce Chen 10%•Tim Collins 7%•Aaron Crow 8%•Kelvin Herrera 8%•Greg Holland 3%

5.WhatareyourthoughtsontheKauffmanStadiumtraditionofsingingGarthBrooks’“FriendsinLowPlaces” each game?

•It’s awesome. Who doesn’t love Garth? 30%•It’s OK. It’s kind of fun to sing along. 38%•Ihatethatsong,andtheRoyalsstaffmemberwho thought of this idea should be disciplined immediately. 23%

STEVE’S

Have an awesome idea for an article

in our upcoming edition? We want

your submissions! Contact Erin Donaldson at

[email protected].