how to design a warm-up that doesn't suck

an interactive virtual workshop on May 30th @ 9am Pacific

with Olivia Vagelos and The Design for Feelings Studio

👯‍♀️ save my seat! 👯‍♀️

 

warm-ups set the tone for your experience

make them count, not cringe

How many meetings, Zooms, gatherings, or convenings have you been to that have kicked off with a moment that felt awkward, forced, like a garbage waste of time, or better suited for a 7-year-old’s birthday than for this moment? 

Even I, card-carrying extrovert, rarely want to shout my favorite ice cream flavor across the void.

So let’s not do that. 

In this live, interactive workshop...

I’ll guide you through the art of designing warm-ups that actually serve your people and your purpose—whether you’re working with a team, a class, a creative ensemble, or a room full of strangers.
By the end, you’ll walk away with a custom warm-up framework you can use immediately, and a pocket full of tricks to pull out whenever you need.

Let’s get warm, shall we? 

🤸 sign me up for the training! 🤸

what you'll learn

 ✨ The key elements that make for a successful warm-up

✨ How to tailor your warm-ups to your group’s needs, energy, and goals

✨ Why certain warm-ups fail—and how to avoid the common mistakes

✨ A plug-and-play structure to design warm-ups that make a positive impact (on more than the extroverts)

 

we’re not just talking theory

you’ll walk away with practical tools and a bevy of new warm-ups you can put to use immediately

how folks leave feeling...

this is for you if…

✔ You’ve ever started a session with a warm-up that fell flat 😬

✔ You hear the words ‘warm-up’ and immediately experience social panic, but know you need something to ease your people into your experience

✔ You want to create opening moments that feel purposeful, engaging, and real, rather than crappy and forced

✔ You lead groups and hold space, and want better energy, participation, and flow

✔ You’re bored of the warm-ups you have, and need a refresh

✔ You’re hungry for design tools to inspire human connection

  why join live?

 

🛠 Hands-on design: Workshop a warm-up for your own experience 
 

🔥 Collective inspiration: Leave with a quiver of fresh ideas from other participants
 

📢 Live Q&A: Ask questions and receive direct feedback on what you're dreaming up
 

🎁 Exclusive resources: Get a bonus guide with my go-to warm-up structure, and a handful of my favorite openers

 

🩲 i'm in there like swimwear 👙

about Olivia Vagelos and the Studio

Hi, I'm Olivia.

I'm an experience designer, facilitator, and the founder of The Design for Feelings Studio. Previous to studio life, I was a long time IDEO’er and Stanford d.school’er. 

I create spaces for people to find the strange-beautiful parts of themselves that have been left behind, to imagine and move differently, and to meet one another in new ways — all through immersive workshops, interactive events, and multi-sensory experiences.

My work blends story, behavioral psychology, architecture, learning, and play to design interactions and experiences that change us. 

I love helping people make whatever they’re making more memorable, more meaningful, more beautiful, and more chaotically and curiously weird. 

The robots may be here, but that means we need wild-wild-humaning more than ever. 

"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. 

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." 

Mitch Carter Jafery

Co-Founder of Friday Gallery & Design Fellow at IDEO, former Chief Creative Officer at IDEO

 

save your seat for 

how to design a warm-up that doesn't suck

May 30th @ 9am Pacific

💌 sign me up! 💌

Join us in putting an end to awkward ice breakers once and for all! 

"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. 

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. 

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

have questions?

Drop us an email at [email protected]