Chris is only the second person to be honored with the award. The first was given to Sioux Falls Synergy member Dave Duman in 2011 for his support and involvement in Synergy. The Executive Committee chooses the Member of the Year; to even be considered for the award, nominees must be long-term members who are committed to the organization and attend most events. Nominees must also promote and support the organization in the community. (We didn’t know it at the time, but we were campaigning for Chris with this blog post!)

Our award-winning thinker has always gone above and beyond that for Synergy. Chris has been actively involved in the organization since it began in 2006, he served as the civic chair on the Executive Committee in 2007-08 and he also maintained the Synergy website—in addition to participating in most of Synergy’s social, civic and professional development activities.

At HenkinSchultz, we’re very supportive of community involvement and we couldn’t be more proud that one of our own is being recognized for his involvement. Congrats, Chris, and keep up the good work!

We got a little giddy when Avera McKennan asked us to facilitate and help promote the April 21 event that allowed people to come test drive a robot—the hospital’s robotic surgery equipment, to be exact. Avera McKennan wanted people to experience for themselves how intricate and advanced the da Vinci S™ 3D HD is. Avera McKennan is the only hospital in Sioux Falls to have the technology, which is used for gall bladder surgery, prostatectomies, hysterectomies and more.

As people test drove the robots, they learned how the advanced robotic technology allows patients to have smaller incisions, less scarring and faster recovery times. When used by highly trained physicians in a hospital setting, instead of a 10-year-old in the mall, of course.

The hospital had let people test drive the equipment before at events at the surgery center, but they wanted to take it to a broader audience. We used our contacts at the mall to help plan and organize the event, and we placed advertisements to ensure that word spread about the event.

The result? The test drive was a smashing success. I mean, it’s robots. How could it not be?

Well, maybe not magical…but it sure was cool. And a whole bunch of us HenkinSchultz Thinkers were there to show our appreciation. (Okay, really we were looking forward to hanging out instead of just working together.)

On Thursday evening, we attended Chairity, a fundraiser at Icon Lounge to support the State Theatre (it raised $17,000). We enjoyed taking a look at all the awesome chairs that were created — and we even got to take one back to the office! (Thanks, Tom!)

In addition to the classy atmosphere, the delicious hors d’oeuvres, refreshing drinks and cool people supporting the State Theatre, we really enjoyed spending time with other HenkinSchultz Thinkers outside of work. Building camaraderie is something that has value beyond a Thursday evening. We’ve heard that it helps employees learn how to work together as a team, exercise their leadership skills and improve their problem-solving capabilities. We’re pretty awesome at those things…but we toast to any opportunity that enhances our camaraderie! Cheers!

Graphic Designers Cami Lovely, Tanya Johnson, Lindsey Rohlfsen (a former employee) and Melissa Carter

Designer Jason Jellis, Art Director Lynell Unruh and Graphic Designer Tammy Larson

How much do we like this fundraiser, you ask? Well, first HenkinSchultz volunteered to produce the creative materials for the event. Digital Creative Director Erik Rodne creating nifty posters, tickets, invitations and more. But creating hand-drawn typography wasn’t enough—we needed to get our hands dirty. So we built a chair that will be auctioned at the event.

The inspiration for HenkinSchultz’s functional work of art is The State Theatre itself. The State Theatre is the last jewel in the historic crown of downtown. And what is a crown without a throne? Designer Jason Jellis constructed this majestic seat for Chairity.

Still not convinced you want to come to Chairity? We have one more argument that will get you ready to mingle: this event is one of the first chances people have to check out the Events Hall at the new Icon Lounge. While you’re there, be sure to check out the interior design of the bar area of Icon Lounge. Our Partner Kirby Schultz created and carried out the concept.

Icon Lounge hired Kirby to do the artwork and interior design for the downtown Sioux Falls bar, which opened March 12. Kirby and Designer Jason Jellis had their hands in every aspect of the design—ordering furniture, producing the artwork, installing the pieces, creating the bar, designing the lighting and even arranging the seating areas. But the concept was crucial.

Kirby researched who people consider icons, and the results were eerily consistent: Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dali, Audrey Hepburn, Charlie Chaplin, and the Beatles, to name a few. Kirby designed the bar as an art gallery of icons, which included more than 50 pieces of art and several videos of iconic people.

“I didn’t want the walls to be People Magazine. People really needed to earn their stripes to be there,” Kirby says. “The icons create conversation, too. It keeps customers there longer by giving them a conversation piece. Servers are already talking about ways to makes games out of the icon videos. It’s a marketing concept done in an artful way.”

Much thought went into creating comfortable seating areas that can be separated easily by curtains, almost as if each area is a living room. “It was interesting to watch how people used the furniture in the first few nights of business,” Kirby says. “They sat on the couch, they sat on the arm rests, they sat on the backs. That was exactly how we designed it. People want to be able to sit and converse comfortably, just the way they would in their homes.”

While most of the interior design is complete, more plans are under way to further integrate the icon theme. Check out the Icon Lounge for yourself at 402 N. Main Ave., across from the historic clock tower at Sixth and Main.

Write informally.
Even people with huge vocabularies want to understand your copy immediately. Be conversational, even when you’re working on forms or policies.

Keep it simple.
People want to find what they need and get off the page. Avoid repetition and cut unnecessary words. However, make sure the words you use optimize your website for search engines.

Talk directly to your readers.
Use “you.” This is different than in most print materials. Anticipate what your readers want to know.

Use headings and make bulleted lists.
If you can say it in a list, do it. People often don’t want to read solid paragraphs of text.

Check your spelling and grammar.
Just like in print publications, proper use of the language lends credibility to your writing and your organization.

Avera Heart Hospital has begun a campaign at The Empire Mall in Sioux Falls to raise awareness about the symptoms of heart attacks. And what better way to do that than to cover the mall’s food court and windows with enormous signs? We worked with Avera Heart Hospital to create banners, window clings and floor clings that talk about heart disease.

Why The Empire Mall? The mall draws people from a four-state area, and Avera serves people in all four of those states. And even though Avera Heart Hospital has a warm and welcoming environment, many people are intimidated about going to a hospital. Even if it’s for Avera Heart Hospital’s great screening program, Planet Heart, which detects and helps prevent heart disease.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, which may be why people are so uncomfortable talking about it. That’s why Avera Heart Hospital put the message about heart disease in a place many people are very comfortable—the mall.

If you haven’t seen them yet, check them out! They’ll be up for the rest of February in conjunction with Heart Month.

Two of our thinkers — Frank Fradella and Joey Schultz — recently joined with a group of other such passionate people whose careers and hobbies meet in the middle, and participated in the 2011 National Film Challenge (a 48-hour film festival). Frank, Joey and the rest of the team had 48 hours to produce a film from start to finish — but they had a few parameters to follow: genre (Film de Femme — they were told to think Erin Brockovich and Juno), prop (bag of potatoes), line of dialogue (“Are you sure you should be doing that?”), character (Cameron Murphy) and the character’s profession (pizza delivery person). Now you try coming up with a script, filming and finalizing a film in 48 hours with those details! You’ve really gotta have some passion if you want to devote your entire weekend to this.

Needless to say. They got it done. And enjoyed themselves. And still enjoy working together. (It’s weird, I know.) They did such a great job that the film even won an award for Best Titles and Graphics — something Joey’s mad graphic skillz get (partial) credit for (props to the rest of the graphics team!). You may have even seen some of Joey’s work recently, in a Power Brokers commercial that ran during the SuperBowl on Sunday. Yeah, we’re that good.

Now, grab some popcorn and see what can be done in 48 hours. Without further ado, A Spud’s Life.

Now, before you pull out your light sabers to defend his honor, know that Alex is a self-proclaimed nerd. He’s more than happy to talk about new web stylings, cool fonts, great new independent music or classic sports uniforms. And if you’re really, really lucky, he’ll do his Gollum impression for you.

Fortunately, Alex’s nerd cred goes beyond being a fan of Lord of the Rings. He’s definitely got the smarts to qualify. While earning degrees in marketing and interactive web development from Creighton University in Omaha, Alex interned at several marketing and design firms. He also studied for five months at the Florence University of the Arts in Florence, Italy, and traveled all over Europe at the same time.

Now if you’ll excuse us … we need to get back to debating with Alex what would be better: running a record label or owning a vineyard in Tuscany. Jinkies! Even Alex’s fantasy careers are creative, nerdy and awesome. Just like him.

Avera McKennan began as a small seed planted in the mind of Helen McKennan, who donated the money to open McKennan Hospital in 1911. Since then, Avera McKennan has grown to be a 545-bed tertiary hospital that employs 550 physicians in 60 distinct specialties. According to Regional President and CEO David Kapaska, the hospital’s first 100 years has been a journey of faith.

So, too, was the planning of such an ambitious event, which appropriately honored the hospital’s donors, sisters, doctors, nurses, employees, volunteers, innovative leaders and patients. Congratulations to Avera McKennan on 100 incredible years.