Catalyst Ranch’s
Creative Juice Blog
Catalyst Ranch is more than just a meeting space. It’s the result of bringing together the myriad elements that make your meetings their most magical (Read: productive and satisfying). And one of the biggest of those elements is CREATIVITY. Like our RanchHand-facilitated Energizers, and Pogo’s Activity Arcade (our on-site collection of self-led games [...]
Previously on The Digital Adventures of Pogo... Pogo and Eva teamed up to break out of their cubicle blues and into the world of creativity. We learned what an impact a creative environment can have on a person and the potential it can unlock in a meeting. Having escaped Mr.Whitewalls, Eva and Pogo founded Catalyst Ranch [...]
Levi is an innovator and entrepreneur who is bringing together other innovators and entrepreneurs in a spirit of collaboration in a no-pressure environment. He brings this spirit to the West Loop when Coffee & Conversation comes to Catalyst Ranch in February. Name: Levi Baer Name of Your Company: Second Shift, teacher at DePaul University, and leader [...]
Catalyst Ranch is celebrating its 14th anniversary, and for all that time, we have understood the importance of environment. We have colorful fuzzy pipe cleaners on the tables to bend into fun shapes. Ethnic and contemporary art decorates every wall. We have coffee brewing and elaborate snack services to satisfy smell and taste, and lively conversation [...]
We sat down with Holly Birnbaum, one of the founders of Thoughtly Crew, to ask about Creative Thinking Agents, consumer market research groups, and partnering with Catalyst Ranch. Here's what she said! Who is Thoughtly Crew? Thoughtly Crew, the world's first independent pool of creative consumers, was launched in 2005 by Holly Birnbaum, Scott Cheney [...]
Using Puzzles to Build Your Team If you are looking to capitalize on the Pokemon Go craze but don't want to fall off a cliff while on your phone, a great place to look is The Mystery League. #Crain's Chicago Business just highlighted Sandor Weisz and his brainchild company, touting the benefits of people working together [...]
Welcome guest blogger and Catalyst Ranch Art-Work Program Facilitator, Troy Cicero! Diversity and Inclusion are indeed my passion, and what I have discovered is that as organizations attempt to embark on a diversity and inclusion journey, one of the biggest challenges faced is executive level commitment. Executives often view their role as approving the diversity and [...]
The global event Social Media Week hit Chicago for the first time from 9/19 - 9/23/2011 and Catalyst Ranch was in on the action! With such great local events like "Journalism in the Age of the Tweet" and "The Power of Social Media for Social Activism", we wondered where we might fit in. But with our passion for innovation and creativity, as well as invoking conversations no one else was having, we came up with the perfect event.
We all are innovators in our own ways. We know how creative you can be, we have seen it over and over again from focus groups to ideation sessions, you all bring the “sky is the limit” to the ranch. Now here is a chance to gather with like minded friends both new and old [...]
Almost all of us have at one time or another had a crazy idea for a new product. Forbes.com has compiled a list for the 15 Kookiest Inventions: “Even in a lackluster economy, patent lawyers keep busy. Between 1996 and 2008, the annual number of patent filings jumped 130%, to 485,000. But what some consider innovation [...]
