Dry Erase Boards

The dry erase boards are in and installed outside just about everyone's door. It took a while to figure out how to mount them so they are removable so people can take them down to write on them or change their picture but they also need to stay up. We're in that middle area where if they get bumped too hard or if someone pulls it off the wall too hard they will come down so we'll see how they hold up. If too many fall we'll use stronger mounting tape which will keep them up but will also make the backing more permanent on the wall. It's nice though we already have a few of our kid pictures up and people are already using them to write messages.

Audio Progress, Bay 4 & Previous Clients

We continue moving forward with the design of our new audio mixing suite. While we have certainly hit bumps in the road we think the makings are there for a really great room. As was the case with the original part of the build out, we get to a point where we have everything we could possibly want in the room and then the financial realities set in and we need to regroup. That's where we are right now. We have our initial budget numbers and we are over where we need to be. The next phase of the process is determining how to value engineer the room while NOT altering the acoustics at all. Aesthetics and "wants" will be addressed so the "needs" of the room are not sacrificed. The great thing we have realized since we've been here is our Audio B room can do a lot more audio work than we originally thought so we really haven't skipped a beat in audio.

This week Dennis mounted one of our plasma screens in Bay 4, our Final Cut Pro edit suite. Now we have the LCDs in Bay 1 & 2 and the Lobby and a plasma in the Machine Room and Bay 4. We're still figuring out the best allocation for the two DLPs and the remaining two plasmas.

And finally, we thoroughly enjoy having clients in that spent time at the old place and are now seeing our new home. It's nice to get the client's perspective when it comes to how much more welcoming our new home is. We've been here for 2 1/2 months now so we're pretty used to it so we like seeing the reactions of people who are seeing our new home for the first time.

Way Finding, Lobby LCD & Parking

Today was a very productive day. In between watching the final round of the US Open in HD on a 46" LCD screen in Bay 2, we put up all of our new way finding signage. Now there's no excuse if you can't find a bathroom on either side of the building. The signage looks good, the colors fit well and we'll see how well people find their way around.

Dennis also hung up the LCD screen in the lobby. Showing samples of our work as guests & clients come in the building is always a nice way to welcome people. Having cable TV, something we didn't have at the old place, will also be nice to catch up on the hurricane coverage starting in about a month. Hopefully we won't use it for that too much.

Unfortunately, we came to the realization today that there is one thing some of us really miss from the old building, parking in a covered parking garage. Getting in to a car parked in direct sun light after 8 hours of sitting in 110 degree heat index is not a fun thing. Oh well, we'll survive.

Parking Sign & Bay 4

As I have mentioned before, we have a problem with clients & guests coming to our building, parking and then walking to our back door instead of our front door. So we had to get a sign made directing people to the front door rather than the back (locked) doors. The sign was installed today so hopefully that will cut down on people banging on our back doors. Pictures of the sign are on our new home website www.ideasorlando.com/ideasnewhome. Click on the photos tab then look on 6-19-09.

We also finished the redesign of Bay 4 today so the three edit suites we were redesigning, Bay 1, Bay 2 & Bay 4 are completed. The rooms look great and they will be much more client friendly.

Bay 2 & Dry Erase Boards

We received the remaining piece of furniture for the redesign of Bay 2 yesterday so the room is completed and feels great, just like Bay 1 when we finished it last week. Speaking of Bay 1, yesterday we had our first outside client in the room since we did the redesign. The great thing about this is that the client was also in the room before the redesign so they could do the comparison. I walked in during their session and asked how they liked it and both of the clients said it was very comfortable and user friendly. One client was sitting up next to Sam and the other was at the back client desk. Both had papers all over and had plenty of room to work. Mission accomplished in Bay 1 and we think the same for Bay 2. We have the furinture for Bay 4 also so we'll be changing that out today or Monday as well.

The long await for our clear dry erase boards is now over. They arrived yesterday, 40 of them. We are doing a couple tests to see what the best way to mount them is. We want to have them removable from the wall if people want to change a picture, put something else up, or if it's just easier for them to write on them. But, we also need them to be stable enough hanging so they don't fall down with a stiff breeze and we also don't want them tearing up the walls. We think we may have found a way to achieve all those goals, we should know by the end of the day. If that's the case, we'll start putting them up Monday.

Another Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. The second of our LCD screens was mounted in Bay 2. Now Bay 1 & Bay 2 have matching Samsung LCD screens. We already have one of our plasma screens mounted in the machine room so we have mounting to do in the lobby, lounge and Bay 4 left. While Dennis was mounting in Bay 2 yesterday he also did a massive clean up of the cables for the edit suite so the room looks really polished now. All we need is the last piece of furniture and that room is totally completed.

Our interior way finding signage also also arrived yesterday. It's currently flattening on our pool table, then Millo wants to do some trimming of a few of them then they'll be ready for install. Hopefully Monday we'll start putting them up. But they look cool and in a company full of creative people with lots of opinions, it's great that everyone was very complimentary about all of the signs.

We also had another good day of people seeing the building for the first time. Hearing people talk about how much they like the building when they see it for the first time never gets old.

Final Cut Pro & Fabric Panels

Since the move, our Final Cut Pro system has been, we'll call it temperamental. Dennis has been working almost daily for the last 2 weeks figuring out what the problems was. First was determining whether it was the Mac or whether it was Final Cut. Considering Final Cut wouldn't even load for a bit Dennis started with the computer. After finding a couple things out of whack the computer overall seemed to be working right so it was on to dealing with Final Cut. After seeing issues with the software we went back & fourth whether the problem was the computer or the software. It appears, and I emphasize appears until we see it for sure, that the problem may be the mother board. A new one will be in Thursday and we'll see what happens.


Duncan, bless his heart, put up 6 gray fabric panels in the edit suites yesterday. The acoustics in the new edit suites are surprisingly good already so the panels should only improve it more. And with the precision needed to do the job, Duncan was pretty much the only person for it. The first one is always the hardest but once it got up the rest went up much quicker and in the end, only a little touch up paint is necessary.

Way Finding

Last week our way finding was ordered and it is scheduled to be delivered to us this Wednesday. In addition to the inside way finding we used the same design to make the sign that will go on the side of the building directing guests to the front entrance instead of the back. The goal of the way finding was two fold: 1. Make sure it works. No matter what it is, if people get lost or can't find their way to where they want to go, the way finding failed. 2. Make it cool. The last thing we wanted to do is have signage that is boring, it's just not us. I think you'll find that we definitely achieved goal #2, it remains to be seen if #1 was achieved. We posted samples of the way finding on the new home website www.ideasorlando.com/ideasnewhome. Click on the pictures tab and look for 06-12-2009.

Audio Progress & Parking Signage

The build out of the new Audio A mix room has been challenging. There's not enough space on this blog to tell you all the stories but trust me when I say as easy as the main building build out went, the audio build out has been that difficult, and we haven't even broken ground on the 6-8 week construction yet. However, we got the next set of prints this week and have a meeting scheduled with our contractor and architect for Monday. Based on the input of our contractor (Scott Greer, Greer Contracting Company), we can move to the next stage with our architect and him. What that means is that we can start narrowing in on total cost and make the necessary value engineering decisions as necessary. Our goal would obviously be to make any aesthetic alterations before we will modify the structural portion which could effect the soundness of the acoustics. Hopefully more progress next week.

The next thing we are making progress with is with the design, order and install of a sign on the side of our building that directs our guests/visitors/clients towards the front of the building to enter. It has been shocking how many people park on the side of the building and then walk towards the back of the building to get in. It has lead to a lot of awkward moments with clients knocking on the back door because it's locked unless you have a key card. Sign should be installed in about a week.

Edit Suite Redesign

We decided last week that the layout of our edit suites just wasn't working. So we worked the last week to redesign them on paper so they would work for the editor and clients. A couple days ago we started with Bay 1 and today we finished. We still have some finishing touches to do but the big part is done and the room works great. We can fit 7 people comfortably in the room and it just feels right. We've always said that we did not ever want to be the type of place that just puts down an edit system on a table in a room and says "here's our edit suite". Just because you have an edit system in a room that doesn't make it an edit suite. We have edit suites. Next up will be Bay 2. We started today and it's coming together nicely. The room is a little smaller than Bay 1 but I think the end that room is going to have a great feel also.

LCD & Plasma Screens

Yesterday the first of our plasma screens was mounted on the wall in the Machine Room and today the first LCD was mounted in Bay 1. It's amazing how much that adds to a room. Having the ability to see a large image of something you're working on really gives you a sense of how it looks. It makes me wonder how we ever survived without 42 or 46 inch monitors in the past. Next up will be the lobby, lounge, Bay 2 & Bay 4. Pictures are on the new home website: www.ideasorlando.com/ideasnewhome


In addition, tomorrow will be a big day or furniture assembly. We'll finish the redesign of Bay 1 then move on to Bays 2, 3 and 4. We'll also have the desk for our guest office on the Studio side of the building. One thing we really tried hard to do is have space for clients/guests when they come in the building to get some privacy. There's nothing worse than being a guest somewhere and feeling like the only place you can go to make a phone call is outside. So we went to great lengths to have a couple spaces that could be used for that purpose. Up until now though, the guest office on the Studio was empty so it will be good to be able to put a desk and chair in there tomorrow.

Biomorph Desks For Sale

As a result of our redesigning the layout of the edit suites, we find ourselves with a couple extra high end biomorph desks. Ours are an older model but the link to the current model of ours is here: http://www.biomorphdesk.com/1-888-302-DESK/pro/overview.html. If anyone is interested, contact John Lux at 407-601-7882 or jlux@ideasorlando.com.

Edit Suite Layout Part 2

Yesterday we made about 80% of the changes to the workspace in Bay 1. We didn't have the middle piece of the desk but we put the 2 ends together and we can tell it's going to work. It allows for much better collaboration between client and editor. We also finalized our thinking for Bay 2 and Bay 4 so next week we'll do a little shopping and be able to make the rooms better. More details and photos to come.

Edit Suite Layout

We've been in the new building for about 2 months and the edit suites have been functional for about a month. So we have a decent amount of information regarding how the rooms feel for the editor and clients. We've come to the decision that the original set up probably isn't going to work. It's just not user friendly enough for the clients which makes it uncomfortable for the editor. So yesterday we started redesigning the rooms on paper. Today we took the first temporary step in Bay 1 and while it's not pretty and is not the way it's going to stay, we liked how it worked. Over the next couple days & weeks we're going to work with our designs and make sure they will work for the editor, clients and engineering. When we're done with the redesign I think the rooms are really going to work. And best of all, we'll be able to do it without ever taking the rooms down.

New Webisodes & Photos

Today Sam finished the next webisode: "Moving Day". This video focuses on the the events of April 3, 2009, the main moving day from the old place to the new place. It actually came together nicely. I was worried that making an episode about a single day would be tough since the other episodes were about a topic/subject, but we had plenty of material.

Then Millo came back from his 11 day excursion in France so we made lots of updates to the entire ideasorlando.com website as well as adding new photos to the new home website. It's good to have him back.

Dry Erase Boards & Webisodes

Don't you love it when you place an order for something, you get an e-mail saying it's on back order for 3 weeks so you cancel the order. Then you order the same thing from another place, you get the confirmation that the order was accepted and shipped only to have 1/4 of the order arrive because the rest is on back order for, you guessed it, 3 weeks. That's what happened to our clear dry erase boards that we're going to use outside our offices for messages, names and our baby pictures.


Sam worked on the next webisode today, "Moving Day". It should be up later this week so I'll post when it's there. We're also going to edit down the event with the Mayor from May 21 so a short clip with be on line as well. Millo's been out on vacation so we haven't updated the photos on the website in the last week but he's back Wednesday so they should be up by the end of the day Wednesday.