Calling all visionaries!
This is your opportunity to be a part of the forefront of industrial design by speaking at an IDSA event! We’re excited to invite you to lead the conversation and share your expertise as a speaker. We’re seeking proposals for captivating presentations, interactive workshops, engaging panels, and in-depth training sessions that redefine the landscape of industrial design.
We’re looking for speakers who are ready to disrupt the status quo – going beyond the cutting edge of industrial design today to explore the future of the industry. We want to hear your real design stories, and invite you to engage with our audience in new ways. This is your chance to shape the conversation, and engage with our diverse community of designers keen to learn from the next generation of thought leaders.
Attention leaders and visionaries!
As IDSA celebrates its 60th anniversary, we invite our thought leaders to lead conversations at this year’s events, including the 2025 IDC in Detroit. Help shape the future of industrial design by sharing your stories, ideas, and connections that inspire and drive change within the global design community.
Why speak at IDC 2025?
- Industrial design is facing new challenges—career shifts, climate change, AI, and more. Now is the time to redefine our role and influence the future of the field.
- We will honor the achievements and innovations of the past 60 years while exploring emerging trends, new leaders, AI, materials, ethics, and the future of design.
- Detroit, the birthplace of industrial design, is the perfect place to celebrate our history and spark what’s next.
Don’t miss this opportunity to revitalize your career, expand your network, and collaborate with leading designers!
2025 events open for proposals
2025 IDC Legacy: Bridging Generations Through Design
September 16-19, 2025 | Detroit, Michigan
IDSA’s 60th anniversary sets the stage in the city of Detroit, a city built on resilience, craftsmanship, and innovation, to celebrate the legacy of industrial design. This pivotal industrial design event brings together professionals worldwide to forge ahead while honoring the past. The shared experiences and collaborative efforts will create enduring effects that will shape the profession for future generations. This conference calls on attendees to embrace their professional contributions while providing them with essential tools and networks to establish a future based on sustainability and innovation.
Deadline for submission: April 25, 2025
2025 Academic Paper Proposal
We invite scholars, researchers, and educators to submit academic paper proposals for presentation at the upcoming Industrial Design Conference. Proposals should explore original research, case studies, or theoretical insights related to the evolving field of industrial design. Topics may include, but are not limited to: design education, sustainability, emerging technologies, user-centered design, and the future of the profession.
Call for papers opening soon.
Value of Design Deep Dive
Fall 2025 | Virtual Event
Amid today’s cost-cutting pressures, industrial designers must effectively communicate the value of design. This session equips designers with tools to advocate for the full human-centered design process, measure return on investment, and integrate design strategically into business. Topics include sustainability, the future of design, and effective communication with clients and stakeholders. Ideal for designers in both consultancy and corporate sectors, it explores design’s role in driving business growth.
Deadline for submission: August 1, 2025
Design Language Deep Dive
Fall 2025 | Virtual Event
This deep dive offers resources for creating and maintaining design vision across development, engineering, marketing, and production. Learn to create compelling visual components, understand design systems, and uphold brand integrity across platforms. Attendees will also explore building and managing component libraries to streamline the process.
Deadline for submission: August 1, 2025
Women in Design Deep Dive
Rescheduled for 2026
The Women in Design Deep Dive Conference is a powerful gathering that celebrates, amplifies, and advances the voices of women and underrepresented genders in industrial design. This dynamic event brings together designers, leaders, and changemakers from across disciplines to share stories, explore challenges, and champion equity in design. Through keynote talks, panel discussions, workshops, and networking opportunities, the conference fosters community, inspires action, and drives meaningful progress in the design industry.
Want to hear about a particular topic at a future event?
We’re always eager to hear ideas from our community. Share your thoughts and contribute to shaping the direction of our upcoming events by filling out our theme nomination form.
September 11-13, 2024 – Austin, Texas
2024 Theme – Design Disrupted: Shaping the Future of Design
Industrial Design as we know it is changing, with disruptions affecting designers across the globe. But we don’t have to do it alone – by cultivating collective adaptability, we have the power to shape and redefine our industry and prove our value. Are you prepared to embrace these changes and elevate your design skills to new heights?
In this rapidly changing environment, designers face new pressures in response to the state of the global economy and mass layoffs in design. Now, more than ever, designers must demonstrate their value as the tools we employ and the roles we fulfill continue to evolve. Together, we’ll explore the skills you need to remain relevant through agility and adaptability as you forge connections with your fellow attendees.
At this year’s International Design Conference, we’ll delve deep into the art of upskilling and navigating the future. Our expert speakers will share their insights and experiences, equipping you with the tools and knowledge to thrive in this ever-evolving landscape. From cutting-edge techniques to game-changing approaches, we will uncover new pathways to innovation and chart a course towards a brighter, more sustainable future.
Want to speak at IDC? There are 2 pathways available to you. Choose one or both.
🚀Design Content Proposal
Share your expertise, innovation, and vision at IDC 2024. Submit your speaker proposal to lead conversations that redefine the landscape of industrial design.
Submissions closed.
📄2025 Academic Paper Proposal
We invite scholars, researchers, and educators to submit academic paper proposals for presentation at the upcoming Industrial Design Conference. Proposals should explore original research, case studies, or theoretical insights related to the evolving field of industrial design. Topics may include, but are not limited to: design education, sustainability, emerging technologies, user-centered design, and the future of the profession.
Call for papers opening soon.
Nominate a speaker
The impact of design transcends society, business, and culture. We believe that a shared dialogue that advances our ability to collaborate and magnifies the impact of our work. Submissions are open to anyone who is passionate about design, innovation, creativity, technology, and their many intersections. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, your unique perspective is valuable to us.
Know someone who should speak at our events? We want to hear from you! Please use our Speaker Nomination Form and tell us why this person would be a good fit for an IDSA event.
What to expect
Your Success Is Our Success
The success of our conferences and events relies heavily on the contributions of our presenters. Your professionalism, expertise, and individual flair all contribute to a memorable attendee experience. We are here to make sure you are set up to succeed. All speakers are offered coaching and orientation sessions in the weeks leading up to the event. This helps to refine and elevate your presentation materials (visual and verbal) to the highest standard.
Speaker Compensation
It is not IDSA standard policy to offer honorariums, travel, or expense reimbursement for your participation. As a non-profit organization, IDSA operates inside extremely tight budgetary constraints to provide members and participants with the most value for their spend with us. Keeping our expenses down helps to keep our events affordable for as many participants as possible. Any revenue generated by our events is used to offset the production expense and/or is directly reinvested into future IDSA programming.
How Selections Are Made
A content team is responsible for reviewing and curating the content of each event. This group will review all submissions and evaluate them for their fit, relevance, novelty, and overall quality. Guideliness are also in place to ensure a diverse and inclusive group of individuals are selected to participate in our events. Creating space for all voices to be seen and heard through our events is deeply important to IDSA.
Event dates or other event details shown are subject to change without notice.
Who You Will Present To
It varies by event, but generally our audiences consist of design professionals, design educators, design students, and business leaders from a wide spectrum of different but related disciplines: Industrial Design, Graphic Design, User Experience, User Interaction, Futures & Speculative Design, Design Management, Service Design, Experience Design, Branding, and more!
What’s in It for You
Our hope is that you will find our events to be a compelling platform that is worthy of your time and investment, as well as an opportunity for your own professional growth and heightened visibility within the design community. The collection of speakers assembled for each of our events recieve significant promotion and visibility across all of IDSA’s media channels. In addition, most speakers are provided a complimentary registration for the entire event they will be contributing to.
No sales pitches please
We will not accept presentations that may be considered capabilities presentations, brand or product commercials, or generic or pre-canned content. Please respect this request. If your brand would like to present skill-building, training, or educational content about your product or service, paid (sponsored) speaking opportunities are available at most of our events.
Have feedback or recommendations for IDSA Conferences?
Your feedback helps us improve! We value your thoughts and ideas for our events. Share your insights, suggestions, and experiences with us and be an essential part of making our events even better.