April 10-12, 2023
Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay | Tampa, FL
Day 2 | Tuesday, April 11
8:00 am - 8:20 am
Networking Breakfast
8:20 am - 8:30 am
Chairperson’s Opening Remarks
8:30 am - 9:00 am
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Innovative Methods in Design Thinking: Borrowing Techniques from the Realm of the Mystical
Christina Goldschmidt -
VP & Head of Product Design,
Etsy
With the magical promise of Design Thinking starting to lose its shine, as Design Leaders how are we to help our teams – and ourselves – solve problems, build products and get to real solutions? There are untapped methods for accessing your subconscious for brainstorming to solve creative problems and business problems that can help you unlock your decision making. Using data to prove that this is a trend sweeping society, this talk will detail practical methods for accessing the subconscious to help make decisions by looking at problems differently and alleviating anxiety and stress around decision making. The surprise twist is that these practices are traditionally considered mystical and not usually used in business: the tarot, breathwork and shamanic journeying.
9:00 am - 9:30 am
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Build Your Future-Ready Team with Humans and AI
Avril Hsu -
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Product Design & Innovation in Emerging Technologies,
Dell Technologies
As Malcolm X put it, "The future belongs to those who prepare for it today." That preparation given expectations for an AI-led second industrial revolution is top of mind across the executive suite. We need answers to questions like: What skills and capabilities does our workforce need for this technology-driven future? What role do humans play to get the most innovation value from our design expertise? In this new equation of team collaboration, what role do "artificial humans" or AIs play?
Avril Hsu
Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Product Design & Innovation in Emerging TechnologiesDell Technologies
9:30 am - 10:00 am
Business Meetings
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Business Meetings
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Business Meetings
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Networking Break
11:30 am - 12:00 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Rethink the Role of Enterprise Design
Andrea Jackson -
Vice President of Experience and Design,
M&T Bank
As design teams expand their scope across industries, it's becoming more important for design to be seen as a true, cross-functional partner in the business rather than a smaller, "nice to have" function. Utilizing your place in the C-suite to further the reach and capabilities of your team will help build a stronger design culture within your organization. What can you do to reframe design in a way that will deliver value enterprise-wide.
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Leveraging Accessibility to Drive Innovation
Alwar Pillai -
CEO,
Fable
Investing in accessibility and creating usable experiences for people with disabilities will quickly yield returns – immediately, and well into the future. Instead of a checklist, a list of legal requirements, or a set of constraints holding designers and developers back, it’s time to start thinking of accessibility as what it is: an opportunity to innovate.
When your product is usable and accessible for people with disabilities this is a brand differentiator that will quickly allow you to gain a significant market share over your competitors. In this presentation, Fable’s CEO Alwar Pillai will discuss how accessibility drives innovation and what it takes to build an accessible product.
Sponsored by: Fable
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Networking Lunch
1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | New Product Development: A Hero's Journey
William Gordon -
VP of Design,
BlendJet®
How we communicate the vision for products or experiences is vital to gaining support and buy-in from outside stakeholders. Too often, design approaches are explained complexly and can take away from the central goal, especially when cross-functional involvement seems to prevent your teams from doing anything innovative. Join this session as we delve into the different actionable tools and processes to overcome typical organizational barriers to advancing an innovation agenda in today's environment.
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Business Meetings
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
Business Meetings
3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Business Meetings
3:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Networking Break
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | The Intersection of Culture and Design
Kerin Smollen -
Corporate Vice President, Innovation and Design Strategy,
New York Life
Today design & innovation initiatives serve as a reflection of the culture you’re creating as a leader in any organization. Thinking critically about what goes into empowering creativity and openness across your team will allow you to develop a thriving culture as a whole. Kerin Smollen will explore the importance of blending culture and design ideals and how to implement actionable items to achieve this.
4:30 pm - 5:15 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Design Solutions to a CX Problem
Chris Avore -
Vice President & Head of Design,
Northwestern Mutual
Fabiola Corvera-Stimeling - VP of Client Experience, Northwestern Mutual
Too often, organizations mean well by creating customer experience and user experience & product design teams, but inadvertently keep these functions separate and ultimately limit their impact to the customer and the business. In this session, you’ll hear from leaders from these respective disciplines as we discuss where CX and UX is still maturing, and how to unlock value by closely coupling CX and UX. You’ll hear first-hand how to create inroads in your teams to uncover and share nuanced insights, how keeping responsibilities and expectations clear today prevents headaches later, and how co-creation and experimentation are tools in a shared toolbox of techniques both teams should draw from, not own individually.
Dr. Fabiola Covera-Stimeling, VP of Client Experience at Northwestern Mutual and author of “Voiceless Customer: Why Customers Leave” and her colleague Chris Avore, VP of Design at Northwestern Mutual and author of “Liftoff!: Practical Design Leadership to Elevate Your Team, Your Organization, and You”, will present their experiences—including the good and the bad—and answer questions to help you enable your customer experience and product design teams to thrive together.
5:15 pm - 6:00 pm
BENCHMARKING SESSION | Generational Divides: How Gen X & Gen Z’s Behavioral Differences Impact Innovation Practices
Mohamed Abbas -
Head of Innovation & Emerging Platforms,
TD
Miguel Navarro - Business Technology Executive, Specializing in Conversational AI Enterprise Delivery
Every organization looks at how their products or services reflect current trends to stay relevant and appeal to users. As Gen Z matures both into the workforce and as consumers, it's important to evaluate how their needs, expectations, and overall worldview differ from previous generations and adjust innovation practices accordingly. This session will highlight how understanding these behavioral differences can drive improvement and give your organization a competitive advantage going forward.
Miguel Navarro
Business Technology ExecutiveSpecializing in Conversational AI Enterprise Delivery
