What a year it's been

January 12, 2021

We did it, welcome to 2021! 2020 will be a year that goes down in history and one we will talk about for decades to come. As we look out on the horizon of a new year, it means reflecting on major milestones from 2020, while being excited about what the new year brings.

This year has been quite different and challenging for all of us. Yet, it was incredible to see how many of you rose to the occasion. It’s been a year of “pivoting,” pressing into innovation, and leveling up. Like many of you, our team at Silver Fox asked how we could level up and utilize our time best during what felt like the world’s longest stalemate. We didn’t want to just ride out the year, we wanted to plant seeds and invest in our team’s growth. This is how the Silver Fox team initiatives were born. We decided to split our staff up into teams, where our designers and project managers worked collaboratively to dream up new ideas. We decided to cover everything from sharpening our design skills to re-imagining the Silver Fox brand to anticipating how our client’s design needs were shifting in a virtual world.

Another way we decided to level up was through collaborating on creative projects with some of our friends and professional partners in the event planning and presentation design spheres. We recorded podcast episodes with our friends at eventcore, Storycraft Lab, and 356labs; presented at virtual events like Untethered and The Presentation Summit; designed presentations for and supported TEDxSeattle 2020 speakers, as well as hosted our own virtual webinar series, “Pivot: Small Screen, Big Impact.” If it sounds like we’ve had fun working on numerous creative endeavors, it’s because we have! We feel gratitude to take part in each of these projects and have enjoyed being a part of creativity in action.

Throughout the year, design was our constant grounding force, as was our team camaraderie and working together to find creative solutions to complex problems. As our clients adapted and figured out how to move forward with virtual events, meetings, and projects, we celebrated in the success of this. Our success as a company was tied to our clients being able to pivot and make things happen! Admittedly, we had no idea how busy we would be from mid-Summer to the end of the year, and for that, we are grateful.

We also feel gratitude that this past year brought into focus the things that are important: our team, our company priorities, and initiatives, and continuing to provide great service to our clients. As we enter this New Year, we are looking forward to continuing to evolve and adapt to the times, while remaining a consistent force in presentation design. Like many of you, we are creating space to figure out what we are passionate about, while also wondering what it will look like to go “back” to in-person events. We are pondering how to incorporate the things we have learned or picked up throughout the year when we return back to our office, whenever that time may be.

To all of you, our friends, professional partners, and clients we say thank you. Thank you for your collaboration, trusting us with your creative endeavors, and for the opportunity to breathe life into concepts and ideas. We cannot wait to see what 2021 brings!

Art by Javier Jaén.
Mitchell Derrey
Director of Creative Services, Silver Fox Productions
Mitchell Derrey
Director of Creative Services, Silver Fox Productions

Mitchell joined Silver Fox in 2008 as a freelance Presentation Specialist where he was able to merge his passion for design and mentorship, as well as rise to a leadership position in the company. His proudest achievements have been in training new designers and providing coaching as they grow into their careers. He has traveled all over the world to support executives for some of the most well-known brands of our time. His 14+ years at Silver Fox has enriched his life both personally and professionally.

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