Tired of briefs that feel more like checklists than creative springboards? You’re not alone. In the rush to keep pace, the true power of a well-crafted brief often gets lost, and with it, the chance to inspire great work.

Brand and strategy consultant Mary Czarnecki believes it doesn’t have to be that way. Her approach? Treat the brief not as a form to fill out, but as a story to tell.

Film documentarian, Richard Brehm discusses the rigors of the creative process and how meeting the challenges can solve our hardest problems. 

James Cameron rewrote the paradigm for making movies on Avatar using scientific method. It was all about finding a way to breathe life into the fantastic characters in his head. Yes, Pandora was breathtaking, the story was emotional, and the 3D opened a window into an immersive wonderland, but the trick was making us believe in the 9 ft. blue Neytiri. 

Is it storytelling, or just content? People are craving authentic experiences, and storytelling is an opportunity for brands to build connection, engage with audiences and generate entertainment, but not all stories are created equal. 

In this session, Alex Blum will focus on the difference between generating content vs telling engaging stories, and he will identify the challenges and requirements of the storytelling journey. 

A Fireside Chat on AI, Creativity, and the New Content Stack

Join Misti Vogt (Orange Logic) and Sarah Iskander (gateB) for a candid conversation on the evolving role of DAM in a post-AI creative workflow. They’ll tackle what’s changed (and what hasn’t), why creative output remains the engine behind marketing impact, even when attribution tends to land elsewhere, and how orchestration — not just storage — is what today’s teams truly need.

Expect honest takes, real-world examples, and answers to questions like:

Reimagining the production cycle as a human-AI collaboration.

Covering:

• Workflow diagrams: brief → AI concept comp → proofing → production designer
• How AI shortens cycle times without compromising craft
• New roles (AI Prompt Engineers, Creative Workflow Architects) in future Creative Operations teams

The next evolution of Creative Operations is not about efficiency alone - it’s about designing systems where human creativity and AI automation reinforce one another.

Time to have some lunch and visit the exhibition. See you back at 2:15 PM for the afternoon sessions!
 

What does it really mean to lead a creative team? 

In this candid conversation, Perrie Schad sits down with Kevin Frank, author of Raising Creative Teams, to unpack the craft of creative leadership - and how to do it well. 

Together they’ll explore what a leader’s role is (helping people succeed) and what it’s not (dictating creative choices). 

Expect practical insights on:

Behind every great design system lies a simple truth: creativity needs structure to scale. Fonts sit at that intersection—where imagination meets infrastructure.

Join Monotype’s Executive Creative Directors, Charles Nix and Sara Soskolne, for a fast-paced, thought-provoking conversation about the future of typography and what it reveals about the future of design itself. From “cultural synesthesia” to AI’s shifting role in authorship, they’ll explore how type expresses identity, adapts to technology, and connects creative intent across teams, cultures, and generations.

Creative Ops Strategies That Hold Steady While Teams Pivot

Context:
Creative work thrives in tension: too much structure smothers innovation, too little breeds chaos.

Getting the balance right:
How Saatva’s in-house creative team builds operational frameworks that deliver clarity, consistency, and measurable results without draining creative energy.

Lessons from the Olympics and Super Bowl high-stakes campaigns:

Are you ready… 

…to streamline your creative process, align teams, and unlock efficiency?

A hands-on sharing of the CreativeOps Toolkit - packed with actionable strategies, you and your team can use immediately. All with real-world examples of application.

Covering: