The rhythm
Led mornings, working afternoons
Every session ends with the question turned back to the room. Notes are yours; recordings do not exist.
Keynotes and sessions run from the front: forty minutes of argument, twenty of cross-examination by the room.
Circles are closed groups of eight, composed by the curators before you arrive, facilitated so the quietest voice goes first.
Meals are part of the programme. Long tables, drawn seating, and one rule: no phones at dinner.
- 08:15 Doors, coffee, and name cards without job titles Theater foyer Arrival
- 09:00 Opening keynote: the org chart is a design artifact Mara Okonkwo. Why reporting lines shape interfaces more than any style guide, and how to redraw them. Keynote
- 10:30 Quality bars that survive the roadmap Ingrid Lindqvist. The mechanics of holding craft standards when every quarter argues against them. Session
- 12:00 Lunch at long tables Foyer. Seating drawn by lot. Meal
- 13:30 Circles, first sitting: the problem you cannot say out loud Groups of eight. Each member states their problem plainly; the circle asks questions only, no advice yet. Circles
- 15:30 Interval: the theater, the city, or a walk Unscheduled on purpose. Break
- 17:00 Evidence in rooms that run on opinion Amara Sy. Research that changes decisions rather than decorating them. Session
- 20:00 Dinner at long tables Whole room. Included in your seat. No phones, no pitches. Evening
- 09:30 The exit interview: what I would redo Jonas Verhoeven. A former chief design officer on the decisions that aged badly, told without varnish. Keynote
- 11:00 Taste as a hiring strategy Celine Wu. How to interview for judgment when portfolios all look the same. Session
- 12:15 Saying no to the work that pays best Daniel Reyes. A studio founder's ledger of refused work and what it bought. Session
- 13:00 Lunch at long tables Foyer. Meal
- 13:30 Circles, second sitting: your problem, the room's hour Circles reconvene. Now the advice: each problem gets the circle's full attention, and written counsel goes home with you. Circles
- 16:30 Leading design where design is not welcome Tomas Abadi. Building influence inside institutions that never asked for you. Session
- 18:00 Closing: one commitment each, said aloud Whole room. Forty sentences, then the doors open. Closing
Take a seat
This programme needs your problem in it
Applications are read by the curators and answered within one week.