Lead By Design: Envisioning A New Conference Experience for AIGA
Organization: AIGA Baltimore
Client: AIGA: The Professional Association for Design
What: 2018 National Leadership Conference Experience And Event Engagement Concept
Role: Chapter President, Conference Concept Development, and Executive Producer
Goal: Produce a two and a half day leadership conference, hosted in Baltimore, to engage 300+ design leaders representing AIGA’s 72+ chapters from across the country.
Stakeholders Involved: Executives, Directors, Vendors, Sponsors
Welcome To Baltimore.
With 300+ people coming from across the country to visit Baltimore, many for the first time, I believed it was only right to show them an authentic, and heartfelt expression of our city. Knowing there would be plenty of negative assumptions about the city I partnered with AIGA Baltimore’s video sponsor Stereoscope Studios to collaborate on a vision that wouldn’t sanitize our city, but show it in its natural, imperfect beauty. As executive producer I worked with Stereoscope to develop a concept and narrative for a welcome video that would be the first thing attendees would be introduced to upon the opening of the conference.
OVERVIEW
For a passionate board of volunteers, being awarded host of AIGA’s National Leadership Retreat Conference is a high honor, reflecting the national organization’s recognition of your chapter’s leadership, work, influence, and visibility in the community. As a representative of your city, showing off what makes your home so great to 300+ attendees and creating a memorable city experience is equally as important as the event experience. As chapter president, serving the programming and content needs of the local design community still needs prioritization just as much as executing a successful conference experience.
THE CONSTRAINT: BOARD RESOURCES & EXPERIENCE
Our chapter’s board was small and relatively inexperienced in chapter management due to term rollovers and the offboarding of tenured board members. This made mentoring the learning board while also managing and executing the development of the conference an extra-challenging task. I assembled a steering committee of past AIGA Baltimore chapter-leaders to assist me in working with AIGA National in developing the conference, allowing my new board to support local community efforts with my support.
KICKOFF
COLLABORATION WITH AIGA NATIONAL
To officially launch the initiative, our leadership team traveled to New York for a two-day working session with AIGA National leaders.
AIGA Executive Director Julie Anixter challenged us with a bold mission: to design a retreat that would inspire, develop leadership skills, introduce organizational growth models, and offer engaging, interactive experiences for chapter leaders—whether they were from large, small, or mid-sized chapters.
CONTENT THEMING
One of our biggest challenges emerged early in the planning process. Attendee feedback from past retreats revealed growing frustration—sessions were seen as overwhelming, lacking relevance, or not diving deep enough to meet chapter leaders' real needs.
DAY 1
BRAINSTORMING & CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Through multiple iterations, we honed in on a solution: a structured framework for chapter and leadership development. This would serve as a practical tool for chapter leaders to build their boards, address the needs of their local design communities, and even chart their own professional growth.
We analyzed leadership competencies across various industries, mapped them to chapter board roles, and developed a measurement scale to assess proficiency. This visual tool would help leaders identify both strengths and areas for growth.
Having laid the foundation, we wrapped day 1 with what would become the AIGA Leadership Framework and Conference Playbook Guide—cornerstones of the retreat experience.
DAY 2
REFINING THE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Using survey insights, we identified a key pain point: attendees often left past retreats feeling frustrated and exhausted due to overpacked schedules and disorganized session timelines.
To address this, we streamlined the conference format, ensuring sessions ran on time while embedding intentional free time to encourage wellness. To alleviate the stress of missing popular sessions, we mirrored key content themes across multiple days, allowing more attendees to participate in high-demand topics.
Final Presentation & Approval
After two intense days of brainstorming, prototyping, testing ideas, gathering feedback, scrapping concepts, and pushing through moments of frustration (and maybe even a few tears), we presented our final plan to AIGA’s executive stakeholders. The response? Full approval and enthusiasm for our vision.
ENTER: LEAD BY DESIGN
We concluded our workshops with a naming session. The theme was clear: this retreat represented a pivotal moment for design leadership development, positioning AIGA chapter boards as incubators for future leaders.
The name Lead by Design captured this mission perfectly.
BRINGING THE VISION TO LIFE
In the months that followed, AIGA Baltimore and AIGA National worked closely—through regular remote and in-person meetings—to refine the final conference schedule and fully develop the Leadership Framework.
THE OUTCOME
A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE
The response from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. While some initial confusion arose around how to apply the Leadership Framework, there was widespread enthusiasm for a structured approach to leadership skill development. Many attendees also expressed appreciation for the improved session timing and intentional focus on wellness.
Since its launch, the AIGA Leadership Framework has continued to evolve, playing an essential role in shaping leadership retreats. Chapters across the organization have embraced it as a tool for identifying strengths and opportunities within their boards, ensuring the continued growth and development of AIGA’s leadership community.
