IIT Strategy Conferece

Need a reason to visit Chicago?  Here’s two.
The Illinois Institute of Technology is hosting a two day conference, titled Strategy 06.  Here is the description: 

“The Institute of Design Strategy Conference is an international executive forum addressing how businesses can use design to explore emerging opportunities, solve complex problems, and achieve lasting strategic advantage.”

It’s the third year that the IIT has hosted this type of conference, and it’s one of the few venues where attendees from diverse fields such as Product Design, Interaction Design, Brand Strategy, and Business have an opportunity to mix it up in-between a variety of solid presentations.  At Last year's Design Strategy event, I facilitated a lunch round-table where a group of attendees discussed this topic: Are Interaction Design and Industrial Design not-so-distant relatives?  The informal and interactive round-tables are another reason why this event is so special.  The two day format is fantastic, as is the venue (Chicago's MCA) and it’s one of the rare forums where you’ll have attendees ranging from firms like Frog Design and IDEO to IBM and Motorola. 

The event will also feature Bruce Nussbaum from Businessweek (view video).  Bruce has become one of the most  effective design/innovation Evangelists to bridge the creative and business worlds.  His presentations are always insightful and forward thinking.  This year's event takes place in May—if you are in town, I highly recommend attending.