As a design professional, you can fall off your Setu [or Aeron, if you're a Boomer] chair and land at a conference on design, in almost every city.
Few of those conferences balance the three legs of form, function and purpose in a way that FUSE does. The stories at FUSE are often beautiful, intellectual and evidentiary. As business professionals, this gets us excited about where design, (with a big D) is headed.
There are plenty of places to see beautiful, elegant, sexy design solutions which have never made it on the shelf or only survived long enough to end up on discount. Design is only relevant when it fulfills on a purpose. If the purpose is to fill a gap in a designer's portfolio, then the chance of it connecting with real people at the shelf is slim.
There are a great number of places where you can find, read and listen to business case studies on new product development, innovation, growth strategies and consumer behavior research. The number of suits and ties in those situations is exponentially greater, and in many cases the content is a solid story around the organizational success story.
Luckily, FUSE is both. FUSE is a place where many of the stories are a fascinating blend of the business and design strategy. And, you can see it in the fashion. Perhaps you noticed when you walked around, what people wore, the hair styles, the accessories, and of course, the shoes.
If you're a student of business looking to hear what the word "design" means, this is the place for you. If you're a student of the design world and you're looking for a definition of the word "strategy," this is the place for you.
This is what makes FUSE an essential part of any organization's future. Each time, the blend of disciplines gets better at FUSE. Each year, more people with vastly different backgrounds show up, making for a more interesting conference.
It is a wonderful thing when a brand lives up to its promise.
The FUSE brand promises to blend disciplines, stories, conversations and ideas into one very engaging set of three days. Promise achieved.
Thank you for inviting us and our shoes.