Learn with the industry’s best-of-the-best
We spent two days learning from industry leaders and connected with our fellow product + design peers.
Learn More about the 2024 conferenceTAKE A LOOK BACK
Here’s what happened in 2023
June 22 and 23, 2023 in Rochester, NY
ITX was proud to bring back the ITX Product + Design Conference this June 2023. Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, UX designers, and product people came together to learn how to build innovative solutions to solve complex business challenges. With our highest attendance rate yet, we fostered an atmosphere where collective learning and knowledge thrived, and participants shared the thrill that comes from improving the lives of users.
Read about takeaways from keynote day in the: Bridging the Gap: Highlights from ITX’s 2nd Annual Product + Design Conference article.
MEET THE 2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Hearing Firsthand Experience From Leaders In Product + Design
Jesse James Garrett
Author of the foundational book, The Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garrett is among the most prominent voices in digital product design for more than 20 years.
In addition to giving frequent keynotes, he co-founded the groundbreaking UX consultancy, Adaptive Path, and defined the dynamic interaction model, Ajax.
Rich Mironov
Rich Mironov is a 40-year veteran of Silicon Valley. He coaches product leaders, designs software product organizations, and parachutes in to help software companies as interim VP of Product/CPO.
Author of the influential work, The Art of Product Management, Rich is a relentless speaker and writer who has been blogging on product management since 2002.
Radhika Dutt
Radhika Dutt is the author of Radical Product Thinking: The New Mindset for Innovating Smarter, an approach focused on the movement of leaders creating vision-driven change. As a framework, Radical Product Thinking brings clarity around product vision and strategy, which drives prioritization and execution.
Radhika currently serves as Advisor on Product Thinking to the Monetary Authority of Singapore and advises organizations on building radical products that create a fundamental change.
Krissi Xenakis
Krissi Xenakis is a product design leader, advisor to startups, and an educator at the School of Visual Art’s Products of Design MFA program. She focuses on helping designers deliver impact and creating systems to empower design teams to succeed.
Krissi’s experience includes tenure at IBM, Komodo Health, and Shake, Inc. She currently runs a design practice in Brooklyn that helps startups establish product design foundations.
Jocelyne Dittmer
Jocelyne Dittmer is a design leader with over 14 years of product, industry, and consulting experience. She currently works at IBM, where she tackles innovation challenges that leverage a human-centered and lean approach to product design and tap into the best of what emerging technology has to offer.
Before joining IBM, Jocelyne was a designer and researcher at MAYA Design. Her previous clients include EY, S&P Global, HSBC, Visa, and CNBC.
Phil Balagtas
Phil Balagtas is a design leader based in Barcelona, Spain. Within the last decade, he served as Design Director at General Electric’s Digital Aviation group and as Experience Design Director at McKinsey & Company working across industries to transform and enhance their digital businesses and strategies.
Phil founded the Design Futures Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement and education of the Futures Thinking design approach. Currently, he is a part-time visiting design professor at Tecnológico de Monterey in Mexico City and leads a consulting practice to train teams on Futures Thinking.
BELSITO RETURNed AS MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Mike Belsito
Mike is the Co-Founder of Product Collective – the leading independent community for product management professionals – and Co-Organizer of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference.
Mike’s businesses and products have been featured in national media outlets such as the New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, NPR, and elsewhere. Mike is also the author of Startup Seed Funding for the Rest of us, one of the top startup books on Amazon.
WHAT WE LEARNED
Two days dedicated to Product and Design professionals.
Workshops – Thursday, June 22
Our attendees in both product + design leaned into the hands-on experience created by our workshop facilitators. On the product side, we explored product management models, emphasized the value for product professionals, and discussed aligning business stakeholders using customer value with Rich Mironov.
Radhika Dutt stepped through Radical Product Thinking (RPT) Working, covering strategies for effective communication, scaling thinking, and measuring success for product teams.
With Krissi Xenakis & Jocelyne Dittmer, design workshop attendees addressed challenges in aligning design, data, and business, focusing on collaboration, goal alignment, and conveying value to stakeholders.
We also explored principles of Strategic Foresight and Speculative Design, understanding trends and forces of change, and developing innovative responses for future opportunities with Phil Balagtas.
Keynotes – Friday, June 23
Jesse James Garrett kicked off our electrifying, jam-packed Keynote day. He explored the challenges that create a divide between design and product leaders, emphasizing the need for alignment in practices, communication, mindsets, and value propositions to foster cross-functional relationships and successful product outcomes.
Phil Balagtas introduced Futures Thinking as a field that combines Strategic Foresight, Speculative Design, and Design Thinking to guide actions in future environments.
Radhika Dutt advocated for a radical product-thinking approach to overcome common obstacles to innovation and build world-changing products.
Krissi Xenakis discussed the alignment of design principles with business metrics and offers creative ways to measure design value while Jocelyne Dittmer emphasized the importance of effective communication to involve designers early in projects and lead the strategy and direction.
And to wrap it up, Rich Mironov shared insights on product waste, deep discovery, and shifting focus to end customer outcomes.
One-of-a-kind learning experience
Our keynote speakers in action.
WHAT WE EXPERIENCED
Key Elements Behind The Success of The 2023 Product + Design Conference
1. Exclusive access to industry experts.
We brought the brightest minds shaping the product and design industries. The 2023 lineup impressed our attendees – Jesse James Garrett, Rich Mironov, Radhika Dutt, Phil Balagtas, Krissi Xenakis and Jocelyne Dittmer shared insights gained from their years of experience.
2. Connecting with fellow professionals.
Our conference provided plenty of opportunities to talk shop with other enthusiastic folks. Attendees met other like-minded people and made valuable connections, whether it be with their Rochester peers or those from across the country.
3. The best of both worlds.
The P + D Conference provided the space to for product and design to learn together. The keynote day helped build strong ties with your peers while the area-focused workshops gave the opportunity to dig into the skill development opportunity available.
4. Leveling up abilities.
Attendees left the conference with new and sharpened skills transferrable to everyday tasks. They learned best practices and ways of working that will help them move faster and respond to business’ needs in a more agile and collaborative way.
5. Rochester in summer.
As the conference concluded, summertime in Rochester began. With plenty to see and do around the area, include the start of the 20th Rochester International JazzFest. It was the perfect way to top off our spectacular event.
SEE FOR YOURSELF
I had a fantastic time returning to the stage to keynote the second ITX Product + Design Conference in Rochester! The crowd was a healthy mix of product people, design people, some none of the above, and some very interesting crossovers.
I enjoyed digging a bit deeper collectively on the panel and particularly when Radhika challenged us all to consider the impact of our work (and AI) on marginalized communities.
Thanks again for the great speaker experience and being so kind and thoughtful throughout our engagement.
I liked how the event was balanced – it didn’t focus solely on design or product but equally on both. When the presentation was not specific to my needs, I still got value from the information provided.
The biggest reason for why I attended the conference is to talk to people, and to meet my colleagues in person. It’s extremely helpful to get to know someone in person!
I liked the quality of the speakers and the relevance of their topics and the interactive activities (and purposeful pieces of reflection) between the presentations.
This year’s speakers were great and covered topics I wouldn’t have expected.
It was great to connect and interact with other product/design minds.
I always enjoy the speakers. It’s also great to see a gathering of product and design talent in Rochester.