Registration & Breakfast

Registration opens at 7:00 AM.

Join us for breakfast at 8:00 AM.

Welcome: Dr. Larry R. Thompson, President, Ringling College of Art

Summit Visualization Maestro: Tom Wujec, Autodesk

Opening Keynote:  Michael Alexin, Target

In his presentation, The Zen of Innovation, Michael Alexin will challenge attendees to think about how to create a culture that nurtures and values innovation and how to approach it in a holistic and practical way.

In this crowded global market, a company's ability to innovate is increasingly becoming an indicator of its ability to survive, let alone grow.  And this isn't limited to business - competition for resources and recognition in academia and the non-profit sector demands innovation at levels like never before.

There are literally hundreds of books with models of innovation, and a myriad of definitions. The past five years have seen an explosion of material offering step-by-step instructions on how to innovate.  Many are well-researched, if overly complex. Many aim to reduce innovation to a physical process. Yet true innovation is more than that.

Sharing his experiences at Target, named among the world's 50 innovation leaders, Alexin shares what he considers to be the seven steps of innovation - blending art and science to find the Zen of Innovation.

Morning Break

Franco Lodato, Pininfarina Extra USA

Walter Bender, Sugar Labs 

Steve Hamm, BusinessWeek Magazine

Steve Hamm introduces Franco Lodato and Walter Bender and talks about their current projects - electric car and laptop user interface form a birdseye level. Hamm will talk briefly about the commonality between the design thinking that goes into designing the communications features in an automobile and the features in a laptop computer designed specifically for children in emerging nations.This discussion will give context to the themes of the conference--how the hyper-connected, mobile, wireless society is changing work, education, family time, and leisure and all of the products and services that enable them. Hamm will give the audience a chance to ask questions at the end, so have your questions ready.

Franco Lodato
Transparent Connectivity and Universal Mobility
Talks about his concept car designs and ideas related to mobile communications, and will show a short video.

Walter Bender
Designing to Share, Sharing to Design
Talks about how children and their teachers have the opportunity to use computation on their own terms; they are free to reshape, reinvent,and reapply both software and content into powerful learning activities through Sugar's clarity of Design.

Lunch

Join a hosted table discussion on the topic of your choice.

Bruce Damer, DigitalSpace Corporation

Virtual Worlds: The New Design Medium for the 21st Century 

Virtual worlds, born on digital computers in the last quarter of the 20th Century, are emerging as perhaps the most significant new medium for science, engineering, design and living in the 21st. Avatars and their close kin social networks are reworking human identity and relationships in ways not imaginable just a few years ago. Virtual worlds are becoming a view portal onto all of planet Earth, and providing pathways for the future of life and the exploration of space.

In this session, virtual worlds pioneer and researcher Bruce Damer will take us on a tour from the birth of the first virtual world, through its evolution as a medium of human expression and beyond into his work with NASA to design future missions throughout the solar system. Bruce will also demonstrate how virtual worlds will be soon going mobile, as clothing and the human body itself, becomes digitally enveloped and how we will "become our own avatars.” Lastly, Bruce will show how virtual worlds may permit humanity to harness the greatest design tool in the universe: the power of evolution.

Susan Szenasy, METROPOLIS Magazine
Hussain Ali Khan, Tishman Speyer
Jennifer Magnolfi, HermanMiller
Erin Rae Hoffer & Joe Gould, Autodesk

The New Connectivity between Technology, Design and Sociology: Tech-Savvy Design and its Benefits for Creator and User Alike

How is technology changing the way we design and what we design? What do these technologically-sophisticated environments and spaces say about the new design process? How do the rest of us benefit from the high-tech work of designers? Find out as our panel addresses these questions and others in a highly interactive session.

CEU's - This panel and related breakout session offers CEU credits and is AIA registered for 2 LU/HSW.

Afternoon Break

Choose from one of the following concurrent breakout sessions:

 Brent Britton, Squire Sanders Dempsey - PLAZA 4

The Network Makes the Rules. Can You Design For That?

A hyper-connected human race inevitably gives rise to a powerful, new social order in which the individual elects to participate in numerous spontaneous, self-organized, special-interest groups. This utterly obviates many traditional institutions of civilization, including advertising, the entertainment industry, the pharma-medical establishment, the law license-granting bar. Perhaps, even, the very concept of a company or representative government itself.

The network makes the rules, and nothing else matters. Don't like it? Tough. You are irrelevant. All that matters is good ideas, which get more valuable as they are shared openly, tested, refined, and built upon by the net. In a hyper-networked world, is control oppression and design censorship?

Brent Britton, a lawyer, engineer, and 1991 graduate of the MIT Media Lab, published one of the first internet 'zines in 1985. He has been trying to figure out where the net is going ever since.

Tom Crawford, VizThink - PLAZA 3

Visualization for Learning: Approaches, Tools, and Applications to Improve Effectiveness

Using a variety of real world case studies, we’ll explore various visualization approaches, how they can be applied, and what tools can be used to assist in the process. Visualization approaches can be used to improve the entire learning development process.

Regardless of your specific development approach, visualization techniques can provide dramatic improvements to your analysis, design, development, implementation, and even evaluation processes. During this session, we’ll explore techniques that can be applied to each step of the development process.

Teckla Rhoads. GM - PLAZA 2

Driving the Future

The face of automotive design is changing to address the needs of the global community.  From the visionary designs for future transportation to ideas to meet the fundamental needs of emerging markets, automotive designers are exploring exciting ways to bring excellent products to all areas of the globe to meet these demands. 

This presentation will discuss the globalization of design and how new technologies and tools enable the designers to collaborate, create and visualize. We will explore the wide variety of skills and expertise involved in the development of an excellent vehicle, including interior and exterior styling, color and trim, components and instrumentation and graphic design.  The discussions will include the role of styling visualization in technical reviews and collaboration, surface and design reviews, advanced design development, design presentations.  We will also explore how these tools and skills support all market activities for consistent brand strategies and communication.

Erin Rae Hoffer & Joe Gould, Autodesk - PLAZA 1

BIM – Catalyst for Design Process Transformation

Designers and builders are incorporating Building Information Modeling in growing numbers. BIM is an integrated process which goes well beyond the application of a specific technology. The integrated BIM design process is built on coordinated, reliable information about a project from design through construction and into operations.  And in its ideal state, this process integrates the perspectives and collaborative contributions of the designer, architect, engineer, contractor and owner to optimize results in building performance and quality.

The transformational nature of BIM implies that broadening adoption will result in significant and fundamental changes to the design process. The session considers the role of BIM as a catalyst in the evolution of design in new directions. We will use specific project case studies as illustrations. Participants will more clearly understand the potential of design process transformation and the implications for their own work.

Susan Szenasy will moderate a Q&A session at the end with Jennifer Magnolfi and Hussain Ali-Khan.

Welcome Reception on Ringling College Campus

Join us for cocktails Under The Tent - Tours available.

Dinner on your own.  Suggestions will be included in your registration packet for nearby restaurants.