Everyone youwill hear,in order.

We invite about half the programme and take the rest from open proposals. Nobody buys a slot, sponsors do not get to speak, and every talk is thirty minutes because the good ones do not need forty.

Twelve of the eighteen are announced. The rest land in February.

Editorial portrait of a woman in her forties with cropped silver hair and a black turtleneck, lit from one side against a deep charcoal backdrop

Adaeze Okafor

The typeface that ate the brand

Type director, Ledger Foundry

Editorial portrait of a bearded man in his thirties in a heavy knit sweater, half his face in shadow, deep charcoal backdrop

Tomas Reinholt

Everything I shipped that nobody used

Principal designer, Northbound

Editorial portrait of a young woman with long dark hair and wire-rim glasses looking directly at the lens, hard side light, deep charcoal backdrop

Mira Halvorsen

Motion is a spelling mistake

Animation lead, Studio Pell

Editorial portrait of a Black man in his fifties with close-cropped grey hair and a denim shirt, arms folded, warm rim light on a charcoal backdrop

Curtis Ambrose

Twenty years of the same three mistakes

Founder, Ambrose & Co.

Editorial portrait of an East Asian woman in her thirties with a blunt bob and a white shirt, three-quarter turn, soft key light on a charcoal backdrop

Yun-Seo Bae

Against the design system

Head of platform design, Corvid

Editorial portrait of a South Asian man in his forties in a dark jacket, laughing slightly, hard directional light on a deep charcoal backdrop

Rohan Bhatt

Photographs of things that don't exist

Image director, Field & Frame

Editorial portrait of a woman in her sixties with grey curls and heavy tortoiseshell glasses, chin resting on one hand, charcoal backdrop

Ines Marchetti

The client is not the audience

Creative director, Casa Verso

Editorial portrait of a Black woman in her thirties with long braids and gold hoop earrings, direct gaze, hard side light on a charcoal backdrop

Devon Achebe

How to end a talk

Editor, The Long Table

Editorial portrait of a man in his twenties with a shaved head and a plain black t-shirt, shoulders square to camera, charcoal backdrop

Petar Vukčević

I deleted the homepage and nothing happened

Design lead, Rivet & Rule

Editorial portrait of a Latina woman in her forties with dark wavy hair and a linen jacket, half-smile, warm rim light on a charcoal backdrop

Lucia Ferrer

Drawing badly, on purpose, for money

Illustrator, independent

Editorial portrait of an older East Asian man with wire glasses and a grey cardigan, seated, hands clasped, charcoal backdrop

Kenji Morita

Forty years of one alphabet

Type designer, Morita Kobo

Editorial portrait of a non-binary person in their twenties with dyed hair and a boiler suit, looking off-camera, hard side light, charcoal backdrop

Robin Kestrel

Sound design for things nobody listens to

Sound designer, The Quarry Room

Open until 15 December

Half the programme comes from people we have never heard of

Propose a talk

You do not need a track record, a following, or a title. You need one thing you have actually done and an argument about it. Proposals are read blind — we strip the names before the committee sees them.

What to send

A title, two hundred words, and one sentence on why you are the person to say it.

What you get

Travel, two nights at the Ashbury, a fee of $1,200, and four rehearsal sessions with a coach if you want them.

When you hear

Everyone gets an answer by 20 January, including the four hundred we cannot fit.

The theatre at the end of the night: house lights up, seats empty, one person still standing in the aisle looking back at the stage

Nine days is how long it took last year

Take a seatwhile therestill is one.

Get your ticketMay 14–15, 2027 · Detroit

Marquee

A two-day conference for people who make things and then have to explain them. Held at the Ambassador Theatre, 2110 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan.

[email protected]

The event

Take part

Watch and follow

Photography by Della Okonkwo and Sam Fetterman.