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AIGA Executive Leadership Summit 2023
Design Conferences

AIGA Executive Leadership Summit

2024 Dates Coming Soon!
Alexandria, VA

The AIGA Executive Leadership Summit is a place to convene with leaders in design to make lasting change for the profession while finding and strengthening your voice as a leader. This event also provides an in-person testing opportunity for the AIGA Design Leader Certification (AIGA-DL). Check back for 2024 announcements and updates.

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Explore the AIGA Executive Leadership Summit

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Invest In Your Leadership

Take your leadership to the next level with our new Executive Leadership Summit! This event, geared towards Director level and above, convenes design leaders in an intimate professional development-oriented setting. Learn from four experienced trainers on topics like mindset readiness, creative leadership, scaling design, and building customer experience practice. 2024 dates and registration to be announced–please check back here or sign up for email updates!

2023 Experience: What's Included

Small Group Training

12 hours of Design Leadership Training

Hotel Stay

Three nights of accommodations at the Westin Alexandria

Select Meals

Breakfast on March 12, 13, and 14; Lunch on March 12 and 13

Networking

Networking reception on Sunday, March 12

Sightseeing Opportunity

Offsite excursions on Tuesday, March 14

Certification

Optional add on: AIGA Professional Portfolio Assessment for the AIGA Design Leader Certification (AIGA-DL)

AIGA Leadership Summit

Snapshot of ideas from a working session. Photography by Lee-Sean Huang.

Summit Attendees During a Working Session

Leaders organizing ideas and notes during "Design at Scale" session. Photography by Lee-Sean Huang.

2023 Schedule Overview

Looking for a taste of what the AIGA Executive Leadership Summit has to offer? Explore this past year's schedule below.

Sunday, March 12

8:00 a.m. Check in and Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Re-Design Your Mindset | Navigating Uncertainty in Leadership 
10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
1:00 p.m. Lunch and Learn
2:00 p.m. Introducing Generative AI for Designers
3:15 p.m. Coffee Break
5:00 p.m. Happy Hour

All times US Eastern. Schedule subject to change.

Monday, March 13

8:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:00 a.m. Creative Leadership: From Ideas to Transformation
10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
12:30 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. Design at Scale
3:15 p.m. Coffee Break
5:00 p.m. Happy Hour

All times US Eastern. Schedule subject to change.

Tuesday, March 14

8:00 a.m. Breakfast
9:30 a.m. Buses Depart for Offsite
3:30 p.m. Buses Return from Offsite

Visits include National Museum of the American Indian and the Washington National Cathedral.

All times US Eastern. Schedule subject to change.

Offsite Excursions for Attendees (Included in Summit Registration!)

Cap off two days of learning with sightseeing excursions in Washington, D.C.! Both experiences included in registration fee.

National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian
A diverse and multifaceted cultural and educational enterprise, the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an active and visible component of the Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum complex. The NMAI cares for one of the world's most expansive collections of Native artifacts, including objects, photographs, archives, and media covering the entire Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego.

Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral holds a unique place at the intersection of sacred and civic life. Filled with stories of our country's history from 1893 to today, this is a not-to-be missed architectural wonder that claims the title of the world’s sixth-largest Cathedral and boasts old-world artisanship in it's stunning wrought iron, stained glass, gargoyles and grotesques.

Meet the 2023 Instructors

Rama Gheerawo Headshot

Rama Gheerawo

Janice Chaka Headshot

Janice Chaka

Doug Powell Headshot

Doug Powell

Shelley Evenson Headshot

Shelley Evenson

Hugh Dubberly Headshot

Hugh Dubberly

Wuertz

Hal Wuertz

2023 Session Articles

The Uncertainty of Leadership

Instructor: Janice Chaka

Leading a design team can be daunting during times of uncertainty. Re-Design Your Mindset: How to Navigate Uncertainty as a Leader in Design was the perfect workshop to help our attendees change their mindsets and approach tough situations with renewed confidence. Our attendees learned how to leverage adaptability and resilience, challenge assumptions, question mental habits, experiment with new approaches and create original solutions.

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The Power of AI for Designers

Instructors: Hugh Dubberly and Shelley Evenson

This workshop introduced participants to the basics of generative AI and its potential for designing.
During the workshop, participants learned about a range of generative models, from text to chat to text to image and beyond, while exploring how these models can generate a wide variety of artifacts, such as texts, images, animations, 3D models, and more.

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Creative Leadership: From Ideas to Transformation

Instructor: Rama Gheerawo

Creativity needs leadership and leadership needs creativity. Creative Leadership is a new form of leadership for the 21st century. Based on a new book by Rama Gheerawo (Creative Leadership: Born from Design) it is an inclusive design approach to leadership that aims to transform your individual and organizational practice. Attendees learned how to use three human values of empathy, clarity and creativity to unlock their leadership style.

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Scale. It's All Relative.

Instructors: Doug Powell and Hal Wuertz

Design is in the midst of a remarkable surge of growth, expansion, and influence in virtually every business sector and geographic region. Global companies and organizations are recognizing the potential for design as a business driver and differentiator by investing in internal design programs at a rate never before seen. This workshop focused on how design leaders understand the state of their program, plan for future growth, and align key stakeholders around that plan. Participants left with tangible takeaways including the draft of a Design Program Dashboard that they can continue to build and iterate.

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Professional Development

Get Certified!

The AIGA Professional Design Certification program represents a commitment to the design profession and to lifelong learning. Enhance your skills to become a stronger leader for your design team. This event will also provide an in-person testing opportunity for the AIGA Design Leader Certification (AIGA-DL).

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AIGA Professional Design Certification

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