we're here to save your meetings, your pride, and your team's time
How many meetings, Zooms, gatherings, or convenings have you sat through that kicked off with a horrendously awkward, forced icebreaker better suited for a 7-year-old's birthday party?
Even us, card-carrying extroverts, rarely want to shout our favorite ice cream flavors across the void.
But opening moments are critical. Because a great warm-up is not a nice-to-have, it is the most high-leverage tool for setting your session up for success — but only when you know how to wield the right one, at the right time.
So whether you usually find yourself skipping an opener to save everyone the discomfort, or scraping the bottom of the barrel (or the internet) for anything that might rescue the vibe, you've come to the right place.
"Olivia is a phenomenal experience designer at the top of her craft — she has created a process around the chaos of creating both the emotional and the transformational. Run, don't walk, to whatever she makes."
— Jenny Gottstein, Creative Director & Founder, Playscapades Studio
hear it from the humans
here's what's inside
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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
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4 warm-ups for convergent moments
for when you need people to narrow options, make difficult decisions, and align on a way forward
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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
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hot tips
for reading the room, going digital, and picking the right warm-up for your session
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reference sheet
all 8 warm-ups in one place — your trusty guide for every creative meeting you’re in this month
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 started with "let's quickly go around and introduce ourselves" and lost 20 minutes of an important client meeting (and your life) to rambling, disjointed stories
✔ 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
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guaranteed to make your meetings not a waste-of-time
"Olivia's warm-ups changed how my team shows up. We went from stiff and guarded to building on each other's ideas."
Jenny Gottstein
Creative Director and Founder of Playscapades Studio, Creator of the Climate Action Game Show
"I always thought warm-ups were for the fun part of meetings. Olivia showed me they're just as critical when you're trying to get a team to decide something."
Isis Arias
Executive Experiential Producer & Brand Marketer, Former Marketing Lead of Global Live Experiences @ Netflix
"I've texted Olivia 'help, I have a meeting in an hour and no idea how to open it' more times than I'll admit. She's never once given me a bad answer."
Keely Adler
Cultural Futurist at RADAR & Dentsu Creative
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
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instant access to all the resources
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watch all five short, snappy videos in less than 20 minutes
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pull up the reference sheet before your next meeting and pick your warm-up
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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 8 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?
catch a sneak peek
"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
"Olivia is a world-weaver, spinning together meaning, myth, ritual, language, and the full spectrum of the sensorial into spaces and experiences that unlock new possibilities.Â
When we speak of “magic,” we mean delight in the unexpected, the joy of wonder, emotional care, and a full-bodied sensorial immersion we are happy to surrender to.
Quite simply, Olivia is a magician."Â
Mitch Carter Jafery
Co-Founder of Friday Gallery, former Chief Creative Officer at IDEO
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instant access · use it 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]