Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

Our next installment of Behind the Stationery takes us to Cleveland, Ohio to chat with Lora of Free Period Press. Bringing a different perspective to the stationery business, Lora works with different designers to make her creative ideas come to life while running the business and fulfillment side of things in her spare time. Here to share about how she ideates and works with designers, here’s Lora! —Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

From Lora: Hi there! I’m Lora, the founder of Free Period Press, based in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio. We make nice paper things for a thoughtful and creative life, and I’m honored to share our story on Oh So Beautiful Paper today! The name “Free Period Press” comes from the free periods you get when you’re in school — those times when you can choose whatever you’d like to do. We want to create more space for adulthood free periods — and make them as fulfilling as possible.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

I started Free Period Press a few years after graduating college, when I realized that I had a bunch of creative product ideas that I wanted to see in the world. I’m not a designer, so instead of going back to school for design, I asked my artist-friends to collaborate with me in the creation of Free Period Press’s product line. It’s been so fun to see how my buddies take my initial ideas to the next level, making them better than I could have ever imagined. Katie Daugherty is my most frequent collaborator and has illustrated our Self Care Zine, stickers, and postcards for writing elected officials.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

Our first product was one of the first coloring books for adults. Adult coloring books may sound like a cliche now, but at the time it felt like a major innovation! Since then, we’ve evolved into making products that are more self-improvement focused. I love thinking about the aspects that make up a fulfilling life (nature, relationships, play…) and creating products that help you make those a priority. I’m constantly getting inspiration from authors like Gretchen Rubin, Cal Newport, and Adam Grant.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

For example, in Gretchen Rubin’s Better than Before, she talks about the power of tracking habits, which was a major inspiration for our Habit Calendar. And since I pride myself in being a master list-maker, I turned the way I prioritize my own to-do list into our Schedule Magic notebook and notepad.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

Our most recent product is Come Over All the Time: A Creative Guest Book, which is all about capturing everyday moments with the people you love.

My favorite part of the creative process is that initial moment of inspiration when a new idea strikes. I keep track of new product ideas in a pocket notebook that I take everywhere. I don’t just write down my idea, I also note where I was and what I was doing when I thought of it. I’m a creativity dork like that – I try to see patterns in where I am when I have these moments of inspiration. In case you’re curious, most of my ideas come when I’m in the shower, washing dishes, listening to a podcast or audiobook, or in that right-before-I-wake-up dream state. I even keep a notepad next to my bed for those middle-of-the-night ideas that I don’t want to lose (most of those don’t make ANY sense in the morning!).

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

I often let my new product ideas marinate for year or more before I act on them. I pay attention to what ideas I can’t stop thinking about, but I also give myself room to see the idea from different perspectives and let it evolve. At the end of every year, I go through and rank these ideas on a bunch of factors: how much energy I have around the idea, profit margin estimates, ease-of-execution, and informal feedback from friends and followers.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

This process helps me identify the products I want to develop the following year. By this point, I usually have an idea of the designer that would be the best fit for each product, so I’ll approach them and ask if they want to collaborate. Once we’re on the same page, I like to outline every little task that will go into bringing the product into the world. This makes the process seem a little less daunting and gives us a clear game plan of where to start. Then we just start chipping away! I try to spread out our product releases so that we’re releasing something new every quarter, but inevitably there’s a mad dash to get things released before the holidays.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

We partner with a few different printers in Cleveland depending on the complexity of the project. When looking for a manufacturing partner, we have to find someone that has the capabilities we need (binding, finishes, etc.) but we try to stick with smaller companies where we can have a face-to-face contact. We’re lucky enough to have Jakprints in Cleveland, and have developed a great relationship with their team. We still use a couple of mom-and-pop printers for smaller projects like postcards and marketing materials.

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

Free Period is still my side hustle at this point. While there are days that I daydream about taking Free Period full-time, I love the freedom that my full-time job gives me – it allows me to experiment in ways that would be harder to do if I were relying on it to pay my bills.

Of course, this also means I’m living that side-hustle life, squeezing Free Period tasks into every spare second of the day. I’m a morning person, so I prefer getting up early to email stockists, fill orders, and work on new products. Having a home-office makes that much easier, especially now that my wife and I moved into a house and are no longer being suffocated by inventory in our one-bedroom apartment!

Behind the Stationery: Free Period Press

Since the time I have to work on Free Period is limited, I really have to stay focused on my goals and prioritize my to-do list. It’s a constant juggle between growing wholesale, branding directly to consumers, and developing new products. When looking at the tasks on my list, I find it helpful to think about which tasks could have the biggest potential to move the needle towards my goals.

That’s Free Period in a nutshell! Thanks so much for taking the time to learn about our labor of love. You can find us at freeperiodpress.com and on Instagram at @freeperiodpress – please come say hi!

Photos courtesy of Hilary Bovay Photography.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

Jenna from Paper Wilderness joins us on this installment of Behind the Stationery from Long Beach, California. Her stationery collections bring together lively watercolor illustrations and puns galore, and she makes it work all right out of her living room apartment! She’s here to share how her artwork went from a side hustle to her full-time job and how she maintains that handmade feel in her line. —Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

From Jenna: I’ve been drawing and painting ever since I could pick up a pencil and always knew I’d be some kind of artist. In 2010, the question of what exactly I’d be doing was definitely on my mind as I was about to graduate from CSU Long Beach with a BFA in Illustration. I’ve always had a deep appreciation for actually putting a paintbrush to paper, traditional art methods where you really have to commit to every brushstroke, and for me that was watercolor painting specifically. Yet in an increasingly technological society, where a large portion of art is created digitally, I was uncertain if my work would have any place in today’s art world.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

Meanwhile, I’d been hand painting greeting cards for friends and family for years, and usually customized them with their favorite animal and a punny phrase. Everyone loved the cards and I discovered that they’d often get framed. Shortly after I graduated college, I got the opportunity to have a table at a small local art walk. While brainstorming ideas of what to sell at my table, I realized that my greeting cards were always well received and would be the perfect, affordable piece of art to sell. So I drew ten animals wearing party hats, traced each drawing onto cards, and hand painted every one! The cards sold out and I was addicted to the feeling that people actually wanted to buy my art. (Fun fact: a few cards from this first Party Animals series are still in my line to this day!) This little hand-painted side hustle continued for a while where I sold framed paintings, brooches, cards, and anything I wanted to experiment with at the occasional art walk, just as an artist with a hobby and not a business.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

Eventually I realized that my unique watercolor greeting cards were the obvious draw and that I wanted to make an actual business out of it, and Paper Wilderness was born in 2014. Hand painting each card was not a sustainable option anymore (ha!) so after printing in-house for a few years I recently found a couple amazing printers who digitally print our goods now. Having inventory on hand to pull from has been amazing.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

I run the business out of the dining room of my apartment in Long Beach, California and space is a little tight but I make it work. Paper Wilderness revolves around my lifelong love of animals, so every design is animal and nature based. I feel like animals and the natural world are a universal love language, symbols of purity that every human can appreciate and admire. That’s why they’re the perfect subjects for my work and goal of uniting people and encouraging communication and togetherness.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

My cards usually involve some kind of pun too because I will always appreciate a good dad joke. Working from home while my bunny Lou Lou hops around is a constant source of cute inspiration so she’s got me covered on that front. The rest of the inspiration I get is from zoo trips, National Park visits, old illustrated textbooks, animal encyclopedias, and nature shows like Blue Planet. I love featuring obscure animals in my designs! The Notes app on my phone is full of snippets of funny conversations, cool animals to draw, and ideas for future cards.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

All my work begins as a pencil sketch in my favorite mixed media sketchbook. Once I’m happy with the sketch, I ink it with waterproof Micron pens and watercolor paint over that inked illustration. Next I’ll experiment with hand lettering until I find a style that feels right for the card or product I’m designing, and that gets lettered in my sketchbook or piece of tracing paper. Then I scan everything into Photoshop, clean them up a little, lay it out, and it’s ready for production!

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

I just love how every single product exists on an actual piece of paper somewhere in my studio. I think this handmade process lends a certain intimate feeling or emotion to my work, which is definitely what I’m going for. I want my customers to feel like my own friends and family did when I first started, like I made this card just for them.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

Paper Wilderness is a one-woman-show so every day is different. Whatever needs to happen gets tackled one task at a time, whether that’s packing up retail and wholesale orders, painting new illustrations, answering emails, checking inventory, bookkeeping, updating websites, or prepping for craft and trade shows. I just debuted my line at the National Stationery Show back in May and it was amazing! My business has slowly evolved into the hand painted, hand lettered watercolor paper goods studio it is today and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Behind the Stationery: Paper Wilderness

All photos courtesy of Paper Wilderness.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

Behind the Stationery: 1Canoe2

Happy Tuesday! We’re back with another installment of Behind the Stationery featuring one of the best in the business, Beth Snyder of 1Canoe2! Beth moved back to her small town roots and shares how this is so important to her daily life and business. Having been in the business for 10 years and now managing 10 employees, Beth is here to share how she keeps the look and feel of 1Canoe2 consistent and each collection consistent across the brand after all this time. Take it away, Beth! —Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Photo by Drew Piester Photography

From Beth: I have always been a visual person. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love to draw, look at photos of far away lands in my parents’ National Geographic magazine, do crafts, and generally “make stuff.” This love of art mixed with my tendency to dream really big led me to start several little companies which served as a vehicle to sell my creations and enhanced the planner side of my personality.

I got a BFA in Graphic Design and Fibers from the University of Missouri (Mizzou) and while I was there, I worked almost full time at the local NBC affiliate TV station doing every kind of design work you can imagine. And when you work at a small company and show some initiative, you get to have a lot of responsibility! I designed TV sets, graphics for the news, logos, signage, and marketing materials. When I graduated I looked around and didn’t think I could find a creative job close to home, so I headed to Nashville, Tennessee (before it was the hot thing to do) and worked at the CBS affiliate there for 6 years. I won an Emmy for graphic design in television, and I also met my husband!

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

I never lost my intense sense of homesickness for gravel roads, big open skies, and being a small town dweller. We moved “back home” to our sweet little town of Fulton, Missouri (population: 12,000).

I’ve always had a penchant for selling a little something that I made. At the end of my stay in Nashville, I got a tiny Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 letterpress and learned everything I could from blogs, a friend, and internet forums. Pretty soon, I called up my childhood friend who was a talented artist and told her to send me some of her drawings and I would make plates which we could print together. 1canoe2 was born! That was almost 10 years ago, and studio locations and iterations of the business structure have come and gone. Now we have 10 employees, our own building in our historic town, and a following of really devoted fans who love to see what we’re up to on Instagram!

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

I’d love to tell you a little bit about our corner of the world, because we believe it’s at the very center of our success. We’re based in the middle of a rural part of the Midwest. There’s a grand total of 40,000 people who live in our county. A mile from my house in the middle of town, you’ve got dirt roads and corn fields—and I love it! I can go out rainbow chasing and post it on Instagram before it’s faded.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

I live just 4 blocks from our studio/warehouse/paperie, on the same street which allows me to walk or ride my bike to work. It’s in an historic home near the downtown Brick District and we love it a lot. My husband, daughter, and our dog Trixie and I walk downtown at least once almost every day. All the little small town parades go right past our front porch. If you’re gonna go small town, do it up!

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Our studio space is 5,000 square feet right in the middle of the historic business district and it was built in 1902. When I purchased the building in 2016, it hadn’t been inhabited for about 9 years, but in previous lives it had been a bank, a lawyer’s office, and an insurance company. It was definitely a space that required major vision to see through the 12 (!) layers of wallpaper, drop ceilings, maroon carpet, and the 1980s wallpaper. But from the moment I first stepped in the building, I saw a few architectural details that hinted to the treasures that had been concealed with generations of bad taste and small budgets. My favorite discoveries were the intact 14-foot pressed tin ceiling that was actually hidden above an 8 foot ugly fluorescent light drop ceiling, and the curved corner wall on which we painted a mural in the Paperie.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Now we have a bright sunny office for our team, and a little shop that is a benefit to the community, that is also the most incredible playground for me as a designer and product developer. It’s also amazing to experience the wholesale industry from the side of the buyer – who is our main customer! It’s made us much better at customer experience for sure.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

We are artists and, first and foremost, an illustration company. We happen to sell our artwork on stationery like cards, calendars, planners, etc., because paper is our passion. We started out as a letterpress company with a couple of presses in a barn, and now we use an offset printer to produce our full-color illustrations.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Our business is unique because of our signature style and the influences that surround us here in the rural Midwest. We hope that our fans could see a card in a shop and immediately know it’s ours. We put a lot of heart and soul into the artwork, and we lead with our paintbrushes.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Our creative process is collaborative, and starts with a brainstorming session with every member of the team from shipping and production up to me. We all throw out ideas that we think might make interesting cards — either visuals or wording. The actual design process then goes to the art team, which consist of me as the creative director (and I do a little of the art) and two artists who paint to their individual strengths.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Since we’re three individuals working as a team to create a cohesive look, we have had to hone our process. For our big collections, like the new Goldenrod which we just launched, we work for about a year from a creative brief. Last summer I was really inspired by all the warm, peachy-golden light at the end of August; so I created a creative brief that listed out all the visuals that came to mind and created a vision board of sorts. During one of our art meetings, I presented the concept to Haley and Kate and over the next couple of weeks they went out and pulled their own inspiration images and phrases and added to the brief. We reconvened, and started making artwork based on this creative brief.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

It’s definitely a fluid process, and we’re fine tuning it for our next collection, but I think we achieved our goals of creating an exciting, cohesive collection that has a clear intention. As we’re working on new products for the year, we’re painting new artwork and also using other artwork from the collection to put onto sketchbooks, notepads, cards, etc. But when it’s time to release all the new products, we have a massive library of artwork that can be used for future projects.

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

We thrive on a flexible work environment, but we have a lot of projects and we work as a team, so we have meetings. Generally, everyone is at the office on Mondays. We have staff meeting in the morning, and creative meetings in the afternoon. I personally spend a lot of time on big ideas and licensing partnerships. I think it’s my job to keep the company moving forward and creating amazing new things for our audience. I don’t know if it’s possible to accomplish all the big dreams we have, but our team is dedicated to trying!

Behind the Stationery: 1canoe2

All photos courtesy of 1Canoe2 except where noted.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

Today we’re headed to Philadelphia to chat with Amy Voloshin of Printfresh about her stationery business story! As a textile designer, Amy has taken a unique path to developing a stationery line. She’s here to share the integral role that fabric, textures, and patterns play in her designs. Amy is also a huge supporter of her community in Philly and shares about the various ways she teams up with local organizations to give back. — Megan Soh

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

From Amy: I studied textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design and focused on print and knitting. My first job out of school was working for URBN designing prints and garments for the Urban Outfitters and Free People lines. It was back in 2003 when technology was still limited in the industry and the work was very hands on — we used gouache to mock up colorways, and made repeats with pencil and a photocopier. It was an incredibly creative environment and the experience opened the door to an art director position for a textile design studio in New York. I loved the work but missed Philadelphia, and I decided pretty quickly to move back and use what I had learned to start my own studio.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

I rented a small warehouse space and began developing a print collection to sell to fashion designers. At the time I was screen printing many of our designs by hand and going on sales appointments myself! Our company grew tremendously over the next 10 years, and I was able to pull together an amazing team of talented designers and passionate saleswomen. Print design is so focused on behind-the-scenes work, and as our business became more established I started dreaming about what creative avenues I wanted to explore next. I’ve always loved stationery, but find that so many of the designs out there are too preppy for my personal bohemian aesthetic. After a lot of thought, I decided to apply my love and expertise in textiles and pattern to the world of paper. I signed up for the 2017 National Stationery Show and started working with a few of our textile designers to develop the very first Printfresh stationery collection. We got such amazing feedback at the show, I knew I’d made the right choice.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

Our studio is based in the Kensington area of Philadelphia. My husband and I are obsessed with old warehouses and found a beautiful carpet factory built in the late 1800s. We decided to renovate and relocate our studio here, and we finally moved in last fall. I love that our building was was used for textiles in the past. It still has many of the gears and industrial equipment from working with carpet rolls, and we’ve done our best to preserve some of it and show the history of the space. The Kensington neighborhood faces a lot of social and economic challenges, and our hope is that by restoring this warehouse and creating a community of small business owners and creatives we can help spur economic development and revitalization here.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

We’re invested in the Philadelphia community (I live less than a mile from our studio) and when starting the stationery line I knew I wanted to find a way to leverage the brand to give back. For the past two years we’ve partnered with Philly Paper Jam to donate a full year’s supply of paper to two local schools. We’ve also started giving 5% of our online sales to organizations that provide creative programming to children in Philadelphia’s public schools. Each quarter we feature a select group of amazing local organizations on our social media and blog, and it’s been great learning about and connecting with men and women who are really making a difference in Philadelphia.

My typical work day is very scheduled. I’m pretty busy between my entrepreneurial ventures and being a working mom. I’m a nut about Google calendars — everything is scheduled. I usually get up pretty early (around 5:45AM every day) to start working on something I really want to do, whether it’s a creative project or a walk around the neighborhood. That’s my power hour and I really try to do the thing I most want to do then. I spend time with my kids when they wake up and get them ready for school, and then I’m off to the office. During the work day most of my time is dedicated to meetings with my teams. I help direct all things visual – upcoming marketing materials, product development, progress on new collections, and ideas for upcoming selling events.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

Our current collection focuses on journaling and desk, and I think that our point of view (combining a love for fabric, subtle patterns, soothing color and purposeful design) is what really makes us unique. While we’ve developed some purely paper products, the majority of our collection features fashion-inspired touches like fabric covers, woven wraps, ribbon bookmarks, and traditional textile processes like silkscreen and hand-marbling. One of our most popular product categories are our velvet journals, featuring plush velvet accented with metallic foil text and patterns. Another of our most popular styles are the noteblocks – they’re the absolute best desk accessory. Natural cork bases give these notepads a touch of something tactile, while the gold foiled edges evoke a modern shine.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

While the products and inspiration changes, my process for creating each new collection is usually pretty consistent. Like most people these days I start with a new Pinterest board. I gather inspiration for color, silhouette and pattern and start identifying what kind of products and finishes are most inspiring me. I try not to spend too much time there, since another big part of the concepting process includes seeking inspiration in-person. I try to go to museums, art exhibits and flea markets to find more primary sources for my work. It helps the designs feel more pure and less derivative, and plus it’s more fun!

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

Once I have a few general concepts I start creating really loose sketches illustrating different types of silhouettes. Finding time to sketch in the office can be hard during a busy day, so I tend to do my most creative work away from the studio. I started drawing the latest collection after Thanksgiving dinner! You never know when creativity is going to strike, so I always love to have a sketchbook on hand.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

After I’ve finished sketching I start making decisions on materials, choosing fabrics, embellishments and trims. Then when I’ve developed a clearer vision I work with a team member to start creating the artwork and rendering the silhouettes in Photoshop. We render all of our designs in fairly high detail – I’m a very visual person, and I find it helpful to see exactly what the designs would look like in real life. It’s also incredibly important on the production end of things, since we work with artisans and craftspeople in India rather than manufacturing in-house. We need to be very specific about almost every aspect of each design, and we prepare incredibly detailed instructions (including everything from overall dimensions to paper weight to Pantone colors) that we call tech packs. If something is even just a little bit off in the tech pack, the finished product will suffer for it!

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

Once we receive our first prototypes we review the product, decide on any style changes, and work with our vendors to develop a 2nd prototype. At that point we have to make the tough decision about which products make the cut and are good enough to be shown at the big industry trade shows like NYNOW, the Atlanta Gift Show, and NSS.

Starting a new line is never easy, and it definitely comes with challenges. I’ve found that creating and cultivating a cohesive brand is the most difficult and also most rewarding part. I don’t have a lot of experience in branding, especially since my textile design studio focuses more on relevant designs and great business-to-business relationships (a much different market than that of the direct to consumer). But since this brand is my aesthetic, I’ve learned that I just need to trust my gut instincts. If something doesn’t sit right with me about the colors, pattern, silhouette or wording then it’s probably off brand. I try to make sure I’m making decisions on an emotional level and always staying true to my intuition.

Behind the Stationery: Printfresh

All photos courtesy of Printfresh.

Want to be featured in the Behind the Stationery column? Reach out to Megan at megan [at] ohsobeautifulpaper [dot] com for more details.

Fourteen Beautiful 2018 Calendars

As we get ready to wrap up the year, I wanted to share at least one round up of beautiful 2018 calendars! While I might not be one for making New Year’s Resolutions, I’m big on goal-setting and I always look forward to the promise of a fresh start in a new calendar year. It just feels so optimistic to be able to start over with a brand new calendar on the wall and a fresh new date in the top corner of a page. 2017 was definitely a rollercoaster of a year, and while the last couple of years have felt like a bit of a slog, I’m feeling optimistic about 2018. So let’s get some fresh new calendars on those walls! Are you with me?? Here are fourteen beautiful 2018 calendars to help start the new year off on the right foot!

Fourteen Beautiful 2018 Calendars

1. We could all use a bit more positive energy in the world, right? Love this wall calendar from Laura Brown

2. This gorgeous calendar from Happy Cactus features a print of beautiful hand embroidery with rainbow flowers!

3. A botanical calendar from Robert & Stella with prints of the most amazing floral compositions

4. This abstract art calendar from Fine Day Press is available in both wall calendar and desktop calendar formats!

5. Gorgeous florals and hand lettered quotes from Our Heiday (I also really love their colorbloc desktop calendar)

6. This modern hand painted calendar from Jenn Gietzen will help inspire you all year long!

7. I seriously want to be friends with this bunny from Dear Hancock just so I can go on these adventures!

8. If you enjoy looking at beautiful painted landscapes, you’ll definitely want to grab yourself one of these One Canoe Two appointment calendars.

9. How cute is this illustrated fox calendar from Izzy Whimsy Art??

10. Poketo calls this a “wall planner” but I’m counting it as a calendar! Either way, I love the ombré candy color tones – and since the pages are undated, you can start using it any time of year and just keep going into the next year if needed!

11. Love this illustrated botanical calendar from Carleigh Courey Design (this one fromEsther Clark Co. is also really pretty)

12. This modern moon phase calendar from Worthwhile Paper also doubles as an art print!

13. Speaking of the moon, Nicole from Mink Letterpress has completely outdone herself this year with this monthly desktop calendar featuring twelve moons from our solar system. The calendar is letterpress printed, although I’ve spent the last five minutes staring at the pictures of this calendar and I’m still not sure how she achieved these amazing color combinations and textures! Simply stunning.

14. This gemstone monthly calendar from Wild Ink Press is just completely unreal – each month features a gemstone printed with a corresponding metallic foil. Obsessed!

p.s. Fifteen awesome 2017-2018 planners and agendas!