DTNS 2023 — how to organize a really good design conference
I love attending (UX) conferences.
At least once a year, I need a condensed update and new impulses to further develop my work and myself. And to meet other people who share my interests and passion for it. As an employee of a bank, I can use my training budget for this. Or, as an employee of ING, I can organize and run my own UX conference according to my individual wishes. Wait, your own conference? WTH? Yes, that’s exactly what happened to me at the “Design The Next Step” Conference 2023.
But first things first.
My own conference, just for me? Well, not really. But ING has actually been organizing a design conference for a few years now: Design The Next Step (DTNS). And its fifth edition took place in Germany for the first time this year. A clear reason for me to become part of the organizing committee. I don’t want to say much about the preparations, as my colleague Despoina already shared her experiences last year. For me, the much more exciting question is what made DTNS 5 a conference that generated so much enthusiasm and inspiration. Something like a construction manual for the perfect DIY conference.
This is what it takes to organize a really good design conference:
1. The location
Even though the headquarters of ING Germany are in Frankfurt am Main, we decided to hold the DTNS in the neighboring city of Offenbach. Although it is less central, it offered us a real theater as a location and thus a more dignified setting than a classic conference center.
2. The line-up
DTNS is a free conference. This does not necessarily make it easy (for budget reasons) to find interesting speakers. However, those we were able to win over were all our preferred candidates — and they put their heart and soul into the whole day.
3. The team
Crew love is true love. And that made the main difference for me at DTNS. Even during the preparations (which we had to do in addition to our day-to-day business), there was a sense of cohesion across all locations. But the day of the event itself was the ultimate stress test. We were super well prepared, but as we all know, something always goes wrong. And as soon as something didn’t go according to plan, there was a quick call for help in the chat group, which was answered immediately. It started with an urgently needed cough drop and ended with a speaker whose luggage got lost on the journey (spoiler: we went shopping with her). I must especially include the “non-ING” team members here: the technical team, catering and, of course, the speakers worked hard but heartily and with great mutual respect to make this day a success.
4. The audience
As a free DIY conference, DTNS was totally comparable to conferences with three-figure attendance fees. As already mentioned, we had the best conditions with a fantastic line-up and a wonderful location. Only one thing was missing to make the day perfect: THE AUDIENCE. An old rock star trick is to have the “best audience ever” every night. And to be honest: we really did. We really did! I spent a long time in the entrance area on the morning of the conference and spent my lunch break with everyone else at the delicious catering. All the conversations I had or overheard were consistently pleasant or professional or (in most cases) both. And this last ingredient made my first personal DIY conference perfect.
Many thanks to everyone who attended. And of course to ING for the support and the freedom to put on “my own conference”. Our opening speaker Angel Brown did an excellent job of summarizing the content of the conference on LinkedIn, and the sketchnotes by Yanbo Chen, which we are kindly allowed to use here, are just as excellent.
