Creative name tag stickers start conversations at Ignite Boulder 33

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 19, 2017

Ignite Boulder 33 goes live on Thursday at the Boulder Theater. Brave speakers get to teach the audience about their passion with 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. The result is a fast and fun presentation lasting just 5 minutes. Custom name tag stickers make it even more fun with whimsical phrases that serve as an instant ice-breaker for folks at the show.

We’ve been a long-time sponsor of this volunteer-run geek event that sells out the largest venues in town. Ignite Talk events are held in cities around the world, and we are proud of the Boulder Ignite community for making it to their thirty-third edition. With one mic, one presentation and room full of interested people, it’s an honest discussion about community, culture and the world.

Ignite Boulder is run by a small group of volunteer organizers, which is why we love supporting this event. If you’ve read about this event on our blog before and you would like speak at Ignite Boulder, check out their website to see when applications open for the next round. Apply with the geeky passion you would like to teach the community about and a group of past speakers will collaboratively pick the next batch of speakers. The rules for speaking at Ignite Boulder can be found on their website.

At Ignite Talks, sparks fly.

Details about the next Ignite Boulder

What: Ignite Boulder 33

When: Thursday, September 21, 2017 | Doors at 6 p.m. | Show at 7 p.m.

Where: Boulder Theater | 2032 14th Street | Boulder, Colorado

Tickets for Ignite Boulder 33 are on sale now!

Shoutout #ISawTheBeast and you might get on FOX31 Denver or Colorado’s Own Channel 2

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 18, 2017

“The Beast” is the Pinpoint Weather team’s state of the art severe weather tracking system, and FOX31 Denver & Colorado’s Own Channel 2 printed up a custom sticker to honor their mighty vehicle.

When you see the Pinpoint Weather Beast out on the road in the Denver or beyond, take a photo and share it with the hashtag #ISawTheBeast. They might even retweet it or show the post during a broadcast.

The Beast is a weather tracker with technology that brings Coloradans storm coverage they can’t get anywhere else. As a cool bonus for the Denver community, it’s a teaching tool that kids enjoy having at their school. When it’s on the go, The Beast and the mobile reporting unit are a rolling billboard for this sticker campaign. The Beast hopes to inspire the next generation of meteorologists and represent the news brands as it reports around town. As a mobile command center, it has a cockpit loaded with screens and radars and receivers so there are all types of signals that the truck can process.

More About the Pinpoint Weather Beast

The Pinpoint Weather Beast is a state-of-the-art weather vehicle that’s 20-feet long, with 36-inch tires on a custom off-road suspension. This build allows The Beast to plow through intense conditions, from snow and rain to muddy fields and gusty winds. The Beast is ready to chase all types of Colorado weather, including tornadoes, hail, lightning and floods.

The truck has gear festooned all over it, and there are three GoPros that give the weather team a 360-degree view of conditions, which helps deliver better coverage of drive times and weather events for Colorado residents. With satellite and microwave technology on board, the newscast can be delivered from anywhere in the state, from the Eastern plains to the mountain peaks with a real-time sync back to the newsroom.

Here’s a video about The Beast.

Peace, Love and WordPress at WordCamp Sacramento and WordCamp Tokyo

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 15, 2017

WordCamp Tokyo and WordCamp Sacramento will be gathering for a weekend full of WordPress and sticker love. With exquisitely designed sticker sheets, these WordCampers will have plenty of application options for their creative peel offs.

Designing a sticker sheet is no easy task: you’ve got to balance the space on the sheet with the amount of peels that you want to provide for folks to stick, plus of course being creative with your design elements. Lucky for the WordCamp folks, they always have a team of artists that incorporate some element of fun and local branding. In the case of WordCamp Tokyo, they went with an All Wapuu Sheet, which makes sense seeing as Matt Mullenweg directed the design of Wapuu to a team of Japanese WordPress users back in 2009.

Let’s break down each sticker sheet individually.

WordCamp Tokyo Sticker Sheet Brings All the Wapuus

The design team has seven total Wapuus on the sheet, and they are all in a different costume, whether Wapuu is a climbing a spire, in full samurai gear or wielding a mighty artist’s brush. The event peel has the Tokyo Skyline with the Tokyo Tower and other prominent features, plus a winged Wapuu holding a crystal ball. So many fun options for WordCampers to place wherever they please.

Peace, Love and WordPress at WordCamp Sacramento

Four tie-dyed circle peels, three of them WordPress logos, a Just Passin’ Through styled walking man with a WordPress logo rainbow behind him, the class VW bus with a WordPress logo car shield and license plate with their event hashtag and rounded out by an “All You Need Is Love” custom kiss cut heart shape. We’d have to agree with this Peace and Love message, with one addition: WordPress.

With that, we wish Peace, Love and WordPress to all of our organizing teams around the world, and big thanks to the Sacramento and Tokyo design teams for bringing these awesome sticker sheets through the factory. We can’t wait to see the sessions unfold on social media this weekend, and to hear all of the great stories from new and old WordCampers alike.

Colorado Jazz Group Presents the 7th Annual Jazz on 2nd Ave in Niwot, Colorado

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 14, 2017

Jazz on 2nd Ave is a world-class jazz event in Niwot, Colorado, a quaint little town tucked between Boulder and Longmont in Boulder County. We are a sponsor for this year’s event, and we are excited for jazz fans as they listen to internationally known jazz greats in genres including contemporary jazz, Latin, funk, fusion, traditional, and big band jazz.

Produced by the Colorado Jazz Group, a 501(c)3 non-profit, all proceeds from this event go back into outreach and & inspiration for the next generation of jazz musicians. It’s run by Front Range residents for Front Range residents. The mission of the Colorado Jazz Group is to reach new generations and inspire them to love one of the greatest of American musical traditions. Concert goers will be able to get food and drink from Cocktail Caravan, McDevitt Taco Supply, Sweet Cow, Umami Mobile Eatery and Steuben’s Food Truck, and there will be live art from local artists. It’s a truly community oriented event, and we are proud to be listed with the other great sponsors in the local area.

Partnering with local & international artists, the Colorado Jazz Group serves Front Range schools and offers jazz education free of charge. In 2017 a partnership with the Vail Jazz Goes to School program brought a successful 19-year curriculum to three area elementary schools (Niwot Elementary, Sacred Heart of Boulder and Ryan Elementary). For us, sponsoring the Colorado Jazz Group puts us in the hearts & minds of the thousands of Front Range citizens, and we get to experience something we love: live music.

If you’re in the area, this weekend, swing through Niwot, just off the Diagonal Highway in Boulder County.

Here’s a video from last year to check out.

Nederland Film Festival Welcomes Colorado Filmmakers and Film Fans

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 13, 2017

For this last weekend before the autumn solstice, the Nederland Film Festival will celebrate local filmmakers and films over two days in the mountain town west of Boulder. The film entries are as unique as their custom rectangle sticker, which features a tie-dyed theme complete with branding and tagline taking center stage above an embedded photo strip.

There will be 12 local films with five features and 21 short films, two of which won Audience-favorite awards at previous festivals, and there will be nine International shorts. Nederland is a small mountain town on Denver’s Front Range, with a backdrop of the beautiful Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Continental Divide.

It’s a quirky spot, famous for the Annual Frozen Dead Guy Days Festival and Eldora, the local ski resort for Boulder County residents. Another plus is that it’s just down the Peak to Peak Highway from Rocky Mountain National Park, a Crown Jewel in our National Park System. There’s always something to do in Nederland, and fall colors will welcome this gathering of film fans with a naturally cinematic backdrop.

Attendees can take in the award-winning short “Happy F’ing Valentine’s Day” filmed at Black Forest restaurant. Then there’s “Ex- pedition” filmed in the surrounding Indian Peaks. Catch “The Cove,” an Oscar-winner with footage from local filmmaker, Eric Abramson. Another highlight will be the journey in “The Trail of Kezbegi,” where some Boulder mountain bikers careen through the Caucasus Mountains of Russia. There’s something for everyone, and those that make the trip will find something that strikes their fancy.

The Nederland Film Festival is one of seven others that are organized by Colorado Festival Productions, a full-service production and equipment rental company committed to building the film industry in Colorado. They also have a streaming platform and other production offerings. Check out their site.

Starting on Friday night, The Clockwork Collective hosts the Kickoff Party that will offer a sneak preview of the shorts screening at the festival. Then Salto Coffee Works/Tin Shed Sports will have beverages and desserts and more of the Film Festival program and ticket sales. Saturday is Italian Night with music and dinner pairing with Mt Midlife. Folks will be heading to the After Party at Very Nice Brewing House. Sunday is all films, all day until after dark, wrapping up a glorious weekend of entertainment under Rocky Mountain skies.

We wish everyone a wonderful weekend of inspiring films and captivating mountains views.

Meet Al: The Bluebird of Happiness

Written by Andrew Matranga on September 12, 2017

Meet one of the Press Operators for us here at StickerGiant. Al is an expert in printing all our stickers and labels coming through the shop and he inspires happiness in us all.

Hey Al!

My name is Allen LaFollette, and this is my sticker story.

What Do You Do?

My name is Allen LaFollette, and this is my sticker story. I’m the press operator for the 4500 and the 6800 Indigo presses, and my job is to keep those things running, full tilt boogie. I’ve got a extensive background in printing. I started out as a contractor for IBM running the high-speed Hitachi machines. Then their color program, which was a Zikon machine. About thirteen years worth there, and I’ve been here about six years, running the Indigos, which I have to say I like the machine much better.

What’s Your Story?

I’m a tile setter, and I also drive a bus. And I’m an artist and I’ve got an art show coming up in November. So gotta buckle down and get some painting stuff. When I’m not working or doing any of that, I get a long ways away. Usually try to get up above 10,000 feet with the Jeep. I’m either fishin’ or camping.

What Your Favorite Part About StickerGiant?

The fact they give us a chance to grow. They sent me to class, and now I’m now I’m certified level two for both presses, which is nice. So if you want learn or take classes or have an opportunity, they really stand behind that and that I admire very much.

What Else?

I started this line item on the board that’s titled the “Bluebird of Happiness, so my job is to go around and ask a question that pertains to happiness or you know, research some scientific data and come up with quotes or just something goofy and as a result, I really got to know people here. And they’ve gotten to know me and some of the responses are definitely entertaining and then some are real-eye opening. I guess it helped me in a lot of ways because you always think you’re happy. You think I got a pretty good line on my life, but something could happen. You could lose someone or you could encounter something devastating and you start to take a look at your happiness, a little closer and in doing this, it’s help me in many ways so one hand washes the other, I guess.