your meetings suck.
here's how to fix them:Â
🤸 8 ready-to-run warm-ups 🤸
matched to the specific type of meeting you're leading —
so you stop winging the most important five minutes of your session.Â
From a designer who spent 10+ years at the design firm IDEO and Stanford's design school studying why certain rooms are brilliant and others feel like trash.
a good warm-up will save you,
and a shitty one will make everything worse.
The right warm-up is not a nice-to-have,
it's the most high leverage tool
for setting your people and the work
up for success.
why googling "good warm-ups,"
or asking your robot,
isn't going to cut it:Â
You don't just need any "good" warm-up,
you need one specifically tailored
to the type of meeting you're running,
your objectives, and your group's chemistry.Â
**Plus, robots are still absolute sh*t at humor,
and play is a critical part of unlocking your humans' creativity.
match the wrong energyÂ
to the wrong moment,
and you've made your job harder,
not easier.Â
A warm-up that gets people generating wild ideas
is the wrong warm-up
for a meeting where you need to kill your darlings.
You don't need a warm-up, you need the right warm-up.
don't worry, we've got youÂ
This guide will teach you how to choose
the right warm-up for the moment,
and give you 8 warm-ups
that are tuned to the specific mindset
your meeting might need.Â
here's what's inside
đź§
4 warm-ups for divergent moments
for when you need people to generate new ideas, get to the innovative and the unexpected, and build collective momentum
🤝
4 warm-ups for convergent moments
for when you need people to narrow options, make difficult decisions, and align on a way forward
đź“ą
5 quick videos
where I’ll walk you through picking the right warm-up for your session, and how and why each warm-up works
🔥
hot tips
for reading the room, going digital, and picking the right warm-up for your session
đź“ť
go-to reference sheet
all 8 warm-ups in one place — your trusty guide for every creative meeting you’re in this month
do they work? hear it from the humans
this is for you if...
✔ you've ever Googled "good icebreakers," SOS'ed your robot, or sent an 11 pm text to that one colleague who’s good at managing the energy
âś” you've lost 20 minutes of an important client meeting (and your life) to rambling, disjointed stories about everyone's weekends
✔ you've been using the same 3 warm-ups, and they are feeling like stale, soggy crackers
✔ you, and your people, dread the words “Let’s do a warm-up!” because you’ve experienced so many shitty ones
✔ you’ve ever had one person’s energy totally wreck your agenda
✔ you’re done winging the most important five minutes of your session
$17
 🥗 less than a bad salad at the airport 🥗
guaranteed to make your meetings not a waste-of-time
what you'll walk away with
8 warm-ups you can use this week
the ability to look at any meeting and understand which opening will best serve your session’s goals
the confidence to kick off a gathering without the impending sense of dread
a reference sheet you'll return to for every important moment this month
what happens after you buy
⚡️
instant access to all the resources
đź“ą
watch all five short, snappy videos in less than 30 minutes
đź“ť
pull up the reference sheet before your next meeting and pick your warm-up
🦩
walk in ready to rock and roll
I want your meetings to not suck
I'm Olivia Vagelos — experience designer, former IDEO’er and Stanford d.school’er, founder of The Design for Feelings Studio.
Over the years I've received 100’s of "SOS I need a warm-up" texts.
These are the eight I'd send you right before your next big, important meeting.
Because the beginning shapes everything. So let’s make it good.
questions, answered
Who is this for?
Do I need a design background to use these?
How is this different from just Googling "icebreakers"?
What do I get exactly?
"Olivia is a phenomenal experience designer at the top of her craft, who is taking the rigor of the design thinking processes that she rocked at IDEO and combining it with the intangible art of experience design. She has created a process around the chaos of creating both the emotional and the transformational.Â
Run, don’t walk, to whatever she makes, or whatever she invites you to experience."
Jenny Gottstein
Creative Director and Founder of Playscapades Studio, Creator of the Climate Action Game Show
"As an executive producer of experiential marketing, I find Olivia’s approach to designing with emotions super aligned with how we should all approach creating experiences. Her ability to create safe space with intention is unique, and I find her strategies and tactics incredibly valuable and useful.Â
If you get a chance to spend some time in her welcoming space, definitely take it!"
Isis Arias
Executive Experiential Producer & Brand Marketer, Former Marketing Lead of Global Live Experiences @ Netflix
"Olivia challenges your existing perspectives with tenderness; brings depth, texture, and emotion to every topic, and takes participants on a gentle and provocative journey into what's next in truly beautiful ways.
Work with her! You might cry? You'll definitely feel warm and fuzzy. And maybe a little upset by the world as it is.
But that's ok, because you'll already be on your way to building what could be, instead."
Keely Adler
Cultural Futurist at RADAR & Dentsu Creative
instant access · use them this week
8 warm-ups to save your monday morning meeting
• your meetings, and your people, deserve better •
⚡️get instant access for $17⚡️have questions?
Drop us an email at [email protected]