Track: Design Leadership
Design leadership embodies the essence of user-centricity, creative problem-solving, and the possession of a diverse toolbox. To excel in the realm of design leadership, one must embrace these principles.
At this year’s conference, we have curated an impressive lineup of design leaders who will explore a wide range of topics to support you and your organization on your own design leadership journey.
While four other conference tracks run concurrently, you can utilize the breaks, plenary sessions, and popular evening social events to broaden your perspective. Engage in stimulating conversations with peers from various disciplines and industries, enriching your understanding and expanding your network. For those with flexibility, consider extending your stay to attend the additional conference days. Don’t miss this remarkable opportunity to learn from a diverse community of design leaders and cultivate meaningful connections that will propel your career forward.
Join us at the Design Leadership track and immerse yourself in a world of inspiration, collaboration, and professional growth.
Track Leader: Thorsten Jonas (DE)
Founder of The Sustainable UX NetworkMorning run
- 6.30 - 7.00
- Morning run
Join the morning run to prepare for a day of learning and networking. We will run about 25 minutes at a relaxed pace.
We meet in front of Radisson Blu – the conference venue
Breakfast & registration
- 8.00 - 9.00
- Break/social
The conversation starts at breakfast. Have one or several cups of coffee and get a great start to the rest of the day.
Amélie Drouet (DK)
Communications Specialist at Headstart Career
Welcome to the conference
- 9.00 - 9.15
Cruce Saunders (US)
Founder and principal at [A]
Collaboration in Motion: Forming an Industry Association
- 9.10 - 9.15
Louise Agersnap (DK)
Head of the World Health Organization’s Innovation Hub
Unlocking Health Potential: Innovation Through a Systems and Community-Centric Lens
- 9.15 - 10.00
- Keynote
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It takes a village – or an ecosystem – to scale and sustain an innovation.
Louise will share insights from the implementation of the strategy of the WHO Innovation Hub from strengthening national innovation ecosystems through WHO guidance, to supporting countries in Sub Saharan Africa in scaling health innovation – spanning from digital to social innovation – and promoting entrepreneurship skills and continuous learning in a global organization.
With a Primary Healthcare lens at its core, the overall approach is to engage and empower communities, promote multisectoral action and integrated services.
Coffee, tea & networking
- 10.00 - 10.30
- Break/social
Sarah Wilson-Reissmann (DE)
UX & UI Team Lead at Canyon Bicycles
- 10.30 - 11.15
- Design Leadership
- In this session, participants will delve into how to optimize their leadership potential by re-evaluating their focus on the key aspects of their role. Discover strategies to shift your focus towards fostering team development and strategic vision, and learn how to elevate your leadership impact by prioritizing what truly matters.
Signe Schou (DK)
Senior Manager, UX at Stibo Systems
- 11.15 - 12.00
- Design Leadership
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We'll wrap up the design leadership with an open conversation about doubt:
Let’s say that you step up as a new leader inside your organisation, or journey into leadership in some other way. How do you ensure the support you need? How do you build relationships to the people you’re leading? Can you still contribute the way you used to, or does it change everything? Can you even lead a design team with you’re not a designer yourself?
In other words: How do we overcome our doubts or learn to exist with them in our leadership practice?
According to Signe: "If you’re certain about everything, you’re kind of missing the point." Doubt can be a tool to explore your leadership practice and go deeper.
Join this conversation about a part of our practice that we don’t often get to explore with peers in design leadership. Be ready to share your own experiences with doubt and how we can overcome, allow space for, blow up, or celebrate our doubts.
Lunch
- 12.00 - 13.00
- Break/social
Lars Kordes (DE)
Head of UX Design and UI Development at Hapag-Lloyd
- 13.00 - 13.45
- Design Leadership
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There's no doubt that designers are an integral part of any product team today when it comes to improving customer conversion or increasing product sales for commercial products.
But how do you get the buy-in to build a DesignOps for in-house development of large enterprise solutions? And how does the design of complex applications then differ from the design of e-commerce products?
Listen to some “seaman’s yarn” about the long, adventurous journey to establishing DesignOps for enterprise solutions at the traditional shipping company Hapag-Lloyd.
Coffee, Tea & Networking
- 13.45 - 14.00
- Break/social
Roundtables
- 14.00 - 15.00
- Discussions
Come join 2 x 25 minutes of informal roundtable discussions to get answers on your specific questions or help others by sharing your expert knowledge.
Coffee, Tea & Networking
- 15.00 - 15.15
- Break/social
Stephanie Weber (DE)
Head of UX Design at Fielmann
- 15.15 - 16.00
- Design Leadership
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In a world of constant change, stakeholders often rely on data and numbers to guide business decisions. But does it really work?
User-centricity is still the best way to create real value for users. As design leaders, we possess the superpower of empathy, which we can strategically apply—not only in the product development process but also in stakeholder management and team dynamics.
This session will explore the neuroscience principles behind specific emotions and how they can be used to improve collaboration, build trust with stakeholders, and ultimately lead to more impactful, emotionally engaging products.
Coffee, Tea & Networking
- 16.00 - 16.15
- Break/social
Small Feature Award
- 16.15 - 17.15
- Award show
What’s the small feature that really makes the product way better? Is it a small design change, an elegantly engineered new piece of functionality or something else?
In this new contest, we celebrate the unsung heroes of the workplace: The small features that make all the difference.
Networking Dinner
- 18.30 - 21.30
- Social Event
All participants and speakers are invited to the conference networking dinner. This is quite a popular party!
Location: Aarhus Street Food, Ny Banegårdsgade 46, 8000 Aarhus C
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