SYNTHESIS SPOTLIGHT | Fostering Community at Ballinger, LMN, and Shive-Hattery

Office Hours
Written by Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Christine Larsen, Director of Marketing at Ballinger
Kristen Riley, Employee Experience Manager at LMN Architects
Amy Anderson, Marketing Information Systems at Shive-Hattery

Webinar Summary

In this Synthesis Spotlight, you’ll hear from intranet champions who are using their Synthesis intranet to foster community in a variety of ways.

Webinar Timeline

00:09 Introductions

00:51 Christine Larsen - B-Engaged at Ballinger
01:40 About Ballinger
02:29 Main Programs: SPARK, Community Design Collaborative, Habitat for Humanity
05:46 How it Works
06:47 Promoting In-Person Events
07:41 Promoting Virtual Events
08:53 2020 Thanksgiving Cookbook
10:02 Social Responsibility + Professional Growth

11:22 Kristen Riley - DEI at LMN Architects
12:24 About LMN
13:09 DEI as a Community
14:53 Adjusting to Work from Home
16:25 Staff Engagement on Current Events
17:13 DEI Resources on the Intranet
18:24 #CommunityCaresSeries
20:21 Posts from Multiple Authors

20:56 Amy Anderson - Growth Summit at Shive-Hattery
21:47 About Shive-Hattery
22:00 Growth Summit Introduced
22:51 Shifting + Expanding into a Virtual Summit
24:14 Selecting Your Session
25:47 Session Agendas Using the Strategic Choice Cascade format
26:35 Ground Rules for Sessions
27:24 The Session Experience + Feedback
28:42 Looking Forward

29:52 Q+A
30:14 Are employees being paid for their time participating in B:Engaged events? (Christine)
31:36 How does the DEI group vet communications? (Kristen)
32:24 Was your entire event setup and conducted in Synthesis? (Amy)
32:58 Was there resistance on grounds of ‘Zoom Fatigue’? (Amy)
33:40 How large is Ballinger? (Christine)
34:02 Concern over having not enough or too many people participating in sessions? (Amy)
34:48 How was the event promoted on the intranet? (Amy)
35:26 What DEI conversations have gained the most traction? (Kristen)
36:38 How are new employees introduced to B-Engaged? (Christine)
37:13 Are there talks of evolving your ‘swarming’ events with practice groups? (Amy)
39:04 How do you mentor younger staff interested in the Community Design Collaborative? (Christine)
39:57 Is formal DEI training still happening? (Kristen)
41:03 Have you changed the way your intranet supports future events + goals based on what you’ve learned? (All)
42:49 What are your thoughts on confirmation emails w/.ics files vs. downloading an .ics file for selecting + joining events? (Amy)
45:06 Where do you see your intranets + these initiatives in 5 years time? (All)
47:15 Does your staff use the Synthesis Mobile app? (All)
48:26 What’s your advice for someone starting community building today? (All)
50:16 What’s the most fun part of community work? (All)
51:21 What did you learn about community work during the pandemic that you didn’t know coming in? (All)


About Office Hours

Office Hours is 60 minutes of news, stories, and Q+A with Susan, Sarah, Chris, and special guests from the KA Advance community. You can watch recordings of past Office Hours webinars here.

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