In one way, Design Thinking has suffered from its huge popularity as it now encompasses a wide variety of approaches, methods and areas of application. For experienced practitioners the multiple avenues allow endless exploration and new learning with potential for rich rewards. For the less familiar or uninitiated visitors, the variety can be confusing or overwhelming. To prepare for the day’s conference, this early workshop offers a simple, clear and meaningful overview of the essential heart of design thinking.  The session will include short exercises to illustrate key points. 

Leaders, designers and decision-makers face unprecedented levels of volatility and complexity. In this context, practical tools and methods that help us make sense of, and act in complexity are becoming increasingly important. Drawing on deep expertise ranging from pharma to defence to crisis management, Dave Snowden will look at how we design for complexity and how complexity informs and extends design thinking.

In this keynote Dave will look at how organisations can go beyond imitation to create novel solutions to the hardest of problems. He will look at new Design Methodologies that go beyond expert ideation and how these approaches can help find previously unarticulated needs. Dave will highlight how organisations can engage in radical repurposing and managed serendipity – finding novel uses for existing competencies and how this can be used to match existing capability against previously unarticulated needs.

This will be an action-orientated session and ensure people leave with tools to apply in their work immediately to have an impact on the basics of employees’ experience. This practical talk will draw on the experience of a range of EX pioneers around the world to address the business case for EX and how to get started on defining and realising the best EX for your organisation. Belinda will also share new research on EX maturity as well as highlighting the MAGIC-CA model of the individual and universal drivers of EX that her co-author Emma Bridger covers in the book.  

In addition, Belinda will introduce key tools such as personas, life spirals and journey maps. Belinda will also be around to answer delegates’ questions and explore their unique EX challenges.  

In 2021 veteran RTE journalist Charlie Bird was diagnosed with Motor neuron disease. Building on previous work done together, Trevor Vaugh and Keith Davey will talk about how they used design approaches and artificial intelligence to create a virtually identical clone of Charlie’s voice – a voice he has since used to inspire the nation and raise nearly 3 million euro for The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta.

Drawing on experiences in his own career, from software, through innovation and now on to service design, John will talk about the varied understandings of just what design means.

He will address the question of what is “just enough” when it comes to understanding design such that multi-disciplinary teams can engage meaningfully in product- and service-based projects.

He will also share his own “top tips” for getting the most out of design practice and mindset in complex organisations.

You probably have already heard about minimum viable product (MVP), a product or service with enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea early in the product development cycle. But have you ever heard about minimum viable competencies (MVCs) to excel as a designer and as a leader?

Karen Hold and her co-authors of Experiencing Design – The Innovator’s Journey, pioneered this concept to help design thinkers and leaders improve their skills and knowledge as a creative leader. In this session, Karen Hold will provide an overview of the research she and her co-authors conducted and the ways that innovators’ can deepen their design thinking practice with the use of MVCs.

In our world of innovation, we all experience a sense of doubt. Is this really possible? Can we achieve this in our company? Can we bring people with us on this journey? To help leaders to communicate their vision of the future and innovation, stories are a powerful tool.

When people hear stories all their senses are engaged. Facts and data are easier to retain when presented in story form. Stories create connections between people and things in a way that is tangible and incredibly motivating. It impacts the heart and mind at the same time. Crafting a story to tell forces you, the innovator, to think clearly, cleanly and concisely about how the different elements of the innovation fit together.

With over 30 years of experience developing stories for film and audiences of all ages, Jim will show you his favourite methods for developing creativity and designing story inspired by the best animation studios in the world.

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, writer, product developer or a business leader Jim’s concept of ‘Story Design’ can help you approach your work in a whole new way. With fresh thinking, you’ll be better equipped to inspire confidence and change people’s behaviour by using powerful story telling.