Tom Tom is here

Tom Tom is Here and So Are We!

April 9th has finally arrived and the Tom Tom Founders Festival is in full swing. From now until April 15th, Charlottesville, Virginia will be celebrating Thomas Jefferson’s birth week with an outpouring of music, art, workshops, and summits. Downtown Cville will be a hub for artists, innovators, and visionaries all week-long and we are so here for it.

Easily the city’s busiest week of the year, Tom Tom is Charlottesville’s own version of arts festival meets innovation conference, where everyone from intellectuals to chefs to creatives to politicians mingle on the downtown mall. With all that’s happening this week, you’ll want to check out the current schedule and learn more about the festival on their website. If you’re on the go, we’ve made sure the site is super mobile-friendly, so you can sign up wherever you are, whenever you want.

While you’re checking out the schedule, look out for some of Storyware’s own can’t-miss events:

Community Workshop: Gutenberg: The Future of WordPress, Wed 4/11 (3-4:30pm), Studio IX 

Page and Todd will walk attendees through Gutenberg, the code name for the longest-running WordPress feature release. We’ll be demonstrating how this update will fundamentally change WordPress as we know it, granting users greater flexibility to add and manage content using content blocks (aka digital legos).

More Info


Master Class: Discovering Your Positioning DNA and Dominate Your Competition, Thurs 4/12 (10:30-11:40am), Old Metropolitan Hall

Many business leaders fail to ask the most basic questions about their company―Who are we? And why do we matter? ― before they leap into branding. Henry Hwong takes you through the process of performing “genetic testing” on your company―a branding and marketing strategy that will build market momentum and crush the competition.

More Info


Designing Products with Purpose, Fri 4/13 (10:30-11:40am), Welcome Gallery

Can design transform objects and systems into vessels for social impact? Learn how these designers responded to crises in the world around them, from police brutality to hunger and homelessness.

More Info


Founders Luncheon: Brands in the Age of Distraction, Fri 4/3 (12-1:40pm), Downtown Grille

What makes some brands soar in our multi-channel, user-generated world, while others crash and burn? Branding veterans trade insights – and horror stories – from the front lines.

More Info


Solving Design Problems with Prototyping, Fri 4/13 (2-2:50pm), Welcome Gallery

UX and UI designers work with many other professionals from marketers to C-level executives to front and back-end engineers. Kate and Todd will explicate how to successfully solve design problems and efficiently collaborate with others to produce the best designs for your product or your client.

More Info


A Universal Language: Inclusive Design, Fri 4/13 (3-3:50pm), Welcome Gallery

Industry leaders and designers discuss techniques for keeping design culturally-relevant, inclusive, and accessible through basic design principles, maintaining reliable user-experience, ultimately working to create better user-experiences.

More Info


Case Study: Citizen-Centered Design in Gainesville, FL, Fri 4/13 (4-4:50pm), Welcome Gallery

Get inspired by the story of how some determined city administrators in Gainesville partnered up with IDEO to reorient their entire local government around citizens.

More Info


Tech Mixer, Fri 4/13 (5-8pm), Emancipation Park

At the annual Friday Block Party, tech firms get the chance to enjoy craft beer, a food truck roundup, and great lineup of music. You can definitely expect us there. Come grab a beer with Storyware at the bi-annual mixer in Emancipation Park.

More Info