Looking Back at 2012 on ValpoLife.com

2012 has been a great year for the Ideas in Motion Media team. We launched our third online community, we overhauled our web design to be faster and easier to navigate, we doubled the size of our team, and by every measure we will complete our year having had the best 12 months since we launched back in 2009.

Below are the 10 stories, photo galleries, or videos that best summarize what it is we are doing and what we strive to do to bring you the absolute best good-news stories in our communities. We hope you enjoy this look back at the year as we look forward to bringing you even more good news stories in 2013 and beyond!

2012 Popcorn Festival
Recap | Panic | Lil Kernel Puff Race | Festival | Parade

Please tell me that you made it out to the 34th Annual Popcorn Fest. If you did make it out, then you already know that it was awesome! If not, then let me have the pleasure of keeping you informed.

Let’s go chronologically, shall we? Throughout the week preceding the Popcorn Fest, events were held in downtown Valparaiso to get ready for the main event. Local restaurants and charities served lunch or dinner, there was a Corn Hole tournament, a race, and a cutest baby contest finals. Also, a spiffy new statue was unveiled at Central Park Plaza on Tuesday morning. It was Orville Redenbacher lounging on a park bench. It has a good likeness indeed.

Ideas in Motion Media Launches Third Good News Online Community with LaPorteCountyLife.com
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Ideas in Motion Media, publishers of ValpoLife.com and PortageLife.com, have launched their third exclusively-positive online community network, LaPorteCountyLife.com, dedicated to sharing the good news stories of people, organizations and businesses throughout La Porte County.

The new online community network, encompassing the website, email newsletter and social networks, officially launched Wednesday, August 15, 2012, allowing users to access the full multimedia experience of stories, articles, photos and videos, all promoting good news throughout La Porte County.

Good Life Awards - A Night to Celebrate Crazy Ideas and Good People
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Soon after we launched three years ago, I wondered in a blog post if it was just a crazy idea to have an award just for Good People. Fast forward a couple of years and through countless other crazy ideas, to our Good Life Awards party, which honored five individuals who have made such a positive impact on the world around them and on the LIFE mission. The net proceeds from the night will go to the Valparaiso Schools Foundation and the Porter County Career and Technical Center.

I was proud to see Ideas in Motion Media host the event and happy to present each recipient with their award, a hand crafted steel piece made by Industrial Revolution owner Mike Leeson, who is also President of Synergy Steel Structures.

VHS Graduation 2012
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Students stood proudly for the day that marked a turning point in their lives. The VHS Graduation took place on the football field on a bright sunny day. The bleachers were filled with families and friends of the students and they all looked on proudly during the ceremony

Each student smiled brightly as their diplomas were handed to them. The promise of a bright future shined brightly before them. All they had to do was move forward!

Porter Moves A Hospital
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Driving on Highway 49, you maybe have noticed a new facility adjacent to the route. Porter Regional Hospital officially opened its doors on August 25, bringing a new level of healthcare to the region. The hospital moved from the old LaPorte St location to its current spot all in one morning, requiring precise coordination from a variety of groups.

The move was controlled via two command centers, one at the origin hospital and one at the new facility. The mood inside both centers was very calm and coordinated. “We don’t operate in chaos,” Nalli stated, discussing the communication taking place between the individuals in the room, via phones and poly-coms between command center origin and command center destination, via live tracking on computers, and from people in each room whose presence there was to make sure every step was taken care of. “It’s actually communicative.”

Valpo Lives in the Spotlight
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A Valpo Life in the Spotlight highlights people around our community who go the extra mile to make Valparaiso a better place to live.

If you know of someone who is going above and beyond, someone who is truly doing great work in the community, in a school, in a church, on a team, or in an organization, send us an email at share@valpolife.com and we'll add them to our continually growing list of people to highlight in our community.

Steindler Signs Wraps Yet Another Ideas In Motion Media Vehicle, A 2012 Chevy Volt in "Connect to Good News" Partnership with Arnell Chevy-Kia
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Have you seen the highly decorated and detailed vehicles that belong to Ideas in Motion Media? They sport our logos with colorful designs displayed all over, making quite a positive statement as they cruise down the street. Well, meet the newest addition to the fleet Chris Mahlmann, Publisher and CEO of Ideas in Motion Media, took his Arnell Chevy-Kia Chevrolet Volt to Steindler Signs & Graphix in Wanatah, IN to get a custom car wrap.

"This will be the fifth car wrap that they have done on our behalf and we love working with them,” said Mahlmann. “We are more excited about this one than any other as it really focuses on our core messages and ties into what is awesome about the Volt being plugged in to good news," Mahlmann said.

My Mobile Fans and ValpoLife.com Partner in Development of New Mobile App
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Ideas in Motion Media and My Mobile Fans have partnered to deliver the Northwest Indiana community a new ValpoLife.com mobile app, now available on the Apple and Android platforms.

The app is designed to be an easy way to view and share good news on the go, with access to ValpoLife.com’s over 20,000-deep archive of good news stories, 84,000 photos, and 500 videos from the past three years, with every piece of content available since the online community’s launch in March of 2009. The app also will allow users to utilize their mobile device to share photos and stories directly to the ValpoLife.com editorial staff, expediting the process of sharing good stories currently taking place in the community.

The State of LIFE - Letter to the Community
Click here to read the full State of LIFE Letter to the Community!"

Three years ago, we launched a new look at LIFE…

…a new media start-up working at a relentless pace above a garage, based entirely on one simple premise: Good News.

… a place you could go to enjoy positive, community-oriented information about the town, city, or region you live in and the people involved.

… a place where you can celebrate what is right in the world, share it with your friends, family, and your community of neighbors at school, work, or church and having some fun doing it!

Ideas in Motion Media Partners with Northwest Indiana Organizations on Popular Photos of Life Galleries within ValpoLife.com, PortageLife.com
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Ideas in Motion Media Inc. announced today partnerships for its popular Photos of Life Galleries in conjunction with the support of three local businesses to help share good news and great images of life in Northwest Indiana.

NIPSCO, St. Mary’s Medical Center, and REGIONAL Federal Credit Union have partnered with the good news media company to be ongoing sponsors of the Photos of Life Galleries, which display over three million photos annually.

“We are incredibly excited to have these great businesses on board with us in sharing some really good, fun photos of people and events taking place in Northwest Indiana,” said Chris Mahlmann, CEO of Ideas in Motion Media.