Blown Away
I haven’t been to a conference this engaging, exciting and educational in a long time. Most of the design conference I attended in the past was filled with so-called “famous” designers plugging their works.
And most of the time, I left feeling that I’ve not gained any useful information, instead I ask myself, “Did I just spend thousands coming here to listen to a bunch of people brag about their work? I already saw all of that on their websites!!”
DMI Re-Thinking Design
Well, this DMI Re-Thinking Design Conference in San Francisco was none of that. I left with a belly of information that I can actually use to help my clients, grow my business and how to move forward in these uncertain times. Conversations were provocative, strategic, informing and inspiring. And MOST speakers tried their best to answer very difficult, complex questions.
For those who haven’t heard of DMI, Design Management Institute, it is an international non-profit organization that helps foster design thinking and management in business strategies. At this event, I’ve met business leaders and designers from Sweden, Brazil, London, Finland, Canada and Australia. Now talk about the caliber of people that attended; there were CEOS, business leaders, design gurus, intellectuals, managers, all eager and passionate about how to shape business thinking with powerful design ideas in challenging business, social and economic issues we face today.
So I am sure many of you will ask me how’s the networking opportunities…. I know because that was the first question I asked Patricia Olshan, Program Manager from DMI. I didn’t want to have to deal with “salesmen” or “vendors”. I wanted to meet people that actually CARE about design + business. (I am the type of person that I would rather walk away with 5 solid relationships than 100 business cards.) And sure enough, attendees were ready to share ideas, shake your hands and no one was trying to “SELL” me their services. No one was bragging either (except a few), but mostly these amazing movers and shakers were there to answer questions and interchange ideas. DMI has successfully created a safe venue where people felt comfortable and confident to ask questions and share thoughts.
There were 3 amazing moderators:
Roger Martin, Dean at Rotman School of Management
Darrel Rhea, CEO of Cheskin Added Value
Thomas Lockwood, President of DMI
First day speakers include:
Claudia Kotchka, Former VP of Innovation & Strategy of P&G
Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher @ Microsoft Research
Robert Brunner, Partner at Ammunition
Nancy Dickenson, Former Senior Director of User Experience Design & Research
Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
Jesse James Garret, Co-Founder of Adaptive Path
Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder of Ziba Design Inc.
Scott Cook, Founder of Intuit Inc.
Second day speakers include:
Tony Golsby-Smith, Founder & CEO 2nd Road Pty Limited
Jeanne Liedtka, Professor of Business Administration of University of Virginia
Mark Rolston, CCO of Frog Design Inc.
Deanne Beckwith, Herman Miller Inc.
Chauncey Bell, COO of Carecyte LLC
Craig Hanna, CCO of Thinkwell
Terry Dobson, Creative Lead at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Online
Now let’s go over the highlights of day one….(part 2)
Thank you all,
It is interesting to meet people from different countries with same problem to solve. We have a lot in common but we also have big differences between our cultures. I think we have a lot to learn from each other and I am looking forward to meet you again. Even though we hade time to talk it feels like we need more space for that.
/Carina