The Launch of the Salon Event Series

Held in room 247 at 985 Comm. Ave., we hosted a live AMA (Ask Me Anything), which we’re calling the Salon. Gemma graciously agreed to be the first host and helped organize and set up the food and event with Carol and Janet (thanks, Janet!).

The idea for the Salon arose from the needs heard around External Affairs for more ways to connect and get to know each other.

We want to know more about who we work with every day. What’s a busy day like for someone in Print or Interactive Design? How does so-and-so spend their free time? Who’s this person I say “hi” to every morning but never really have the chance to sit down and chat with?

This event is a way to highlight members of our community who feel up to sharing, engaging, and even just listening in and joining the fun.

We hope this series can be a place to gather and promote conversation, connection, and community.

If you’re curious about why we called it the Salon, you can check out this article about the brief history of salons. The TL;DR is that the goals of traditional salons are identical to ours: connecting people in a simple gathering.

The turnout was better than we imagined, and the feedback was incredibly positive. The next Salon will be hybrid. We got a lot of feedback on people wanting to join but being unable to come in person. After seeing how the first event flowed, we decided the only thing people would miss would be the free food!

We’re open to any and all feedback while we figure this out as we go.

For anyone interested in hosting, you can fill out this form, and we’ll schedule you for whatever day is most convenient for you. The hope is to have the Salon once or twice a month, depending on everyone’s schedules and other events happening around similar times.

Thanks, everyone. We hope to see you at the next one!