Submit a proposal to speak at The O’Reilly Design Conference: Design the Future, our new design conference looking at the convergence of design, programming, and business.
Last year, I had a conversation with Tim O’Reilly about the emergence of design in unexpected places — in the data community, in the programming community, and in the business community. Design has become increasingly important as technology and bandwidth become commoditized. Our conversation initiated what would become a new program for us here at O’Reilly, and our relatively recent focus on design has reached a milestone: I’m thrilled to announce the first O’Reilly Design Conference: Design the Future, coming to San Francisco in January 2016.
It’s become increasingly apparent that the walls between design, programming, and business are falling. This presents both tremendous opportunity and new challenges for designers and organizations. Great designers need to constantly upgrade their skills and acquire business and programming literacy.
There are three threads we have been following, which will take the form of tracks at the conference:
- Designing for IoT represents a more dramatic change for designers than iterations from print to Web and Web to mobile. It also renews the importance of fundamental skills, such as user research and information architecture.
- Design is a core business asset. It’s no surprise that design can provide a competitive edge, but shifting a business into a design-embedded organization is not simple nor easy.
- Design for a Greater Good: design’s social impact is stronger than ever. Good design has the ability to improve our lives and our world.
The O’Reilly Design Conference will provide three days of training from the best minds in product design and development. Designers need to know more about more, and this conference will provide you with the full stack of skills needed to excel at your craft and design the next generation of products and services. The program will cover design, business, social impact, and programming proficiency. Topics will include:
- Designing for IoT
- Designing for Ecosystems
- Designing with Data
- Designing with Voice
- Collaboration and Team Skills
- Design Sprints
- Predictive Analytics
- Designing Secure Experiences
- Ambient Design
- Discussing Design
- Design Critiques
The conference will take place January 20-22, 2016, at Fort Mason in San Francisco. We are planning some amazing workshops, presentations, and networking events, and we hope you’ll be part of it. Our call for proposals is now active, and we want to hear from you. We’re looking for designers, innovators, and leaders who are working on interesting projects or have compelling tales to tell about the practice of design and are willing to share their stories.
If you’d like to speak at the O’Reilly Design Conference, please visit our call for proposals page. No need to be famous — if you have fascinating stories, useful advice and insights, or hard-won experience and are willing to share, please consider submitting a proposal. If you’re interested in sponsoring the O’Reilly Design Conference please contact Phil Garzoli. We look forward to hearing from you!