Your thinking is sky-high, but your budget isn’t... NOW wHat?
You’ve made something you truly believe in. You’d love to let the rest of the world know... NOW wHat?
You’ve toiled in corporate obscurity for long enough... NOW wHat?
You dropped your Business 101 class in design school to enroll in performance art... NOW wHat?
The 2018 Core77 Conference took place on octoBeR 25TH in BRooKLYn NEW YoRK. The focus was on starting and running a design business, or launching your own product line. Attendees walked away with tangible skills and toolkits to help them produce, finance and promote their products, their services, and themselves, along with a network of connections to help nurture their nerve. It was informative, honest, and it was fun.
Wrap Up
Presenters
Now What? began with a morning of inspiring and informative talks where leaders in the field of design entrepreneurship shared their personal success stories. The diverse range of speakers delivered valuable insights ranging from design firm best practices to the key traits investors look for in startups.
Presentation: There’s no business like… client services 🎶
In this enrapturing talk, Carly Ayres and Pedro Sanches, half of design and technology studio HAWRAF, will kick off the conference by sharing their experience in taking the plunge to start their own creative business. From pitching work to firing clients, they will openly share the euphoric highs and melancholy lows from their first two years making and selling creative work to clients big and small.
View Presenter Bio
HAWRAF is an interactive design and technology studio that engages audiences in new and interesting ways. Co-founded by Carly Ayres, Andrew Herzog, Pedro Sanches & Nicky Tesla, the studio is full-service and media agnostic, covering branding, design, development, marketing, and execution. From sound-reactive identity systems for orchestras to mirrored selfie posters for dental startups, HAWRAF helps their clients have more meaningful, authentic interactions with their audiences.
Presentation: Radical Thinking: How to Successfully Refresh an Oversaturated Market
Making sure your idea sets itself apart from competitors doesn't only involve having a great product; it also requires creating a cohesive system, service, and brand to envelop your idea. CEO of the new paint company Clare, Nicole Gibbons, figured out how to disrupt an entire industry with a combination of understanding her expertise and recognizing room for improvement within the paint industry. In her talk, she'll be sharing how she identified a market problem and created a system that fills a void in a crowded industry, while also making the experience of choosing paint for your home relatable, beautiful, and enjoyable.
View Presenter Bio
Nicole Gibbons is an interior designer and entrepreneur whose expertise has been sought by top media outlets like HGTV, OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network, TLC, Good Morning America, The Rachel Ray Show, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Better Homes & Gardens and more. Before pursuing interior design, Nicole spent nearly a decade managing PR for one of the world's largest retail brands. Not only has her experience given her first-hand knowledge of what it takes to build a world-class brand, but also unique insights into what customers really want when designing their homes. Nicole's design work enabled her to identify that the paint industry was one ripe for disruption. With a broken shopping experience and no legacy paint brand focusing on convenience and simplicity, or marketing to a creative, digitally-driven generation, she saw an opportunity to improve the process from start to finish. Nicole founded Clare to help people create spaces they love - and actually enjoy the process along the way.
Presentation: Owning and Maintaining Your Design Identity
Joseph and Sina will talk through their approach to running a creative business, while maintaining a qualitative design process. Balancing client relationships with creative control, they'll share stories of the projects that taught them to how build a generalist approach to industrial design that maintains a critical vision with imprinted authorship.
View Presenter Bio
Visibility is an industrial design office based in New York City. It was founded by Joseph Guerra and Sina Sohrab in 2012. Their work has been internationally recognized and exhibited, gaining the office such honors as Forbes’ 30 Under 30 and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design. The office focuses on the purity of an idea, as well as its material and formal actualities. The constant ambition is to move forward while looking back, drawing on observation and innovation as instruments of development. Visibility aims to distill ideas to what they want to be, retaining what appeals to our human sensibilities.
Presentation: Creating Your Own Place Within a Longstanding Market
Through offering attainable pricing, same-day delivery, easy-assembly, transparent customer relationships and a dedication to great design, furniture company Floyd has been able to successfully create its own market within the longstanding furniture industry. Floyd Co-Founders, Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell, will discuss how they are building a brand that continues to stay ahead of the game and tackle the problems of the typically painful processes of buying, assembling and moving furniture.
View Presenter Bio
Floyd is a Detroit-based, direct-to-consumer furniture brand that designs and manufactures high-quality pieces at an attainable price point. Co-founded by Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell in 2014, the company is committed to creating lasting pieces, versus the all-too-common practice of buying inexpensive furniture to only then dispose of it when moving into a new home. With same-day delivery in key markets, all products ship flat pack, directly to consumers’ doorsteps, without any fees. With easy, intuitive assembly, and each piece can be put together and taken apart with ease. The furniture is designed to be timeless and is built in American factories from high quality materials, translating into a beautiful design that can go anywhere.
Presentation: Navigating the World of VC Funding as a Designer
Where and how to find funding for your big idea is a multifaceted question that requires you as a creator and entrepreneur to ask: “what type of funding is right for me?” In this talk, financier and former entrepreneur Alex Houssou will help you determine where you should be searching for capital based on your business goals. This talk will include tips on how to figure out whether or not your project is a fit for venture capital funding, how to pitch your idea, how to figure out if your project is appropriate for crowdfunding platforms, and the do and don’ts of using your money.
View Presenter Bio
Former entrepreneur and financier, Alexis started Hardware Club in 2015 with a mission to support the best hardware startups worldwide using collaboration and network effects. Through its unique $30M community-based fund, Hardware Club invests in hardware startups in Europe and in the US at seed stage. Alexis took part in launching several novel initiatives like the Hello Tomorrow Summit and the accelerator The Family. He also sits on the boards of companies including Remedee Labs, Reach Robotics, Aryballe and Keecker. Passionate about how tech can create an impact on communities, Alexis regularly mentors startups in various programs including Techstars and StartupBootCamp.
Presentation: Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: How to Create a Business You’re Actually Passionate About
Is it possible to run a successful creative business doing exactly what you love—even if what you love is as specific as magical, multisensory experiences? In this talk, Co-Founder of Bompas & Parr, Harry Parr, will tell the story of how his design studio transformed from tiny jelly stand in a market to the leading experience design company in the food and beverage industry. Harry will tell a series of outrageous stories—including an architectural jelly competition turned food fight—all while teaching valuable lessons for people looking to start and grow their own studio. Let’s just say, this is a keynote presentation you won’t want to miss.
View Presenter Bio
Sam Bompas and Harry Parr of multi-sensory experience design studio, Bompas & Parr, first came to prominence through their expertise in jelly-making. Soon after, their business rapidly grew into a full-fledged creative studio offering food and drink design, brand consultancy and immersive experiences. The studio works to experiment, develop and produce projects and experiences as well as provide strategy, analysis and advice for brands to increase consumer engagement through experience design. Genre-defining projects include Alcoholic Architecture, an inhabitable cloud of gin and tonic; Multi- Sensory Fireworks display for London New Year’s Eve 2013; and the Taste Experience for the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin. Bompas & Parr also founded the British Museum of Food, the world’s first cultural institution exclusively dedicated to food and drink, and has published six books that explore humankind’s relationship with food. The studio is based in south London but in the past year has realized projects on practically every continent.
Many designers follow a traditional design process, where final designs are sent to a factory after they've gone through the prototyping process. Jamie Wolfond and his brand Good Thing, however, choose to put an emphasis on specific materials and production methods at the beginning of the design process, working with factories, manufacturers and outside designers to bring unexpected twists on classic home items to life. In this talk, Jamie will delve into this method of “backwards design,” explaining how it works and how it fits within Good Thing’s unique business model.
View Presenter Bio
Jamie is a Canadian designer based in Toronto and New York. His work explores the ways in which manufacturing can influence the design process. Often centered around one material or production method, the objects Jamie designs expose new applications for pre-existing manufacturing techniques. Jamie founded Good Thing in 2014.
Workshop: Accounting 101: Basic Accounting for Non-Accountants
In this fun workshop, Paco will walk you through the basic principles of accounting and bookkeeping for small businesses, the ins and outs of invoicing, expense tracking, online platforms that will save you time and money and why your accountant is as important as your doctor or lawyer. Take control of your business finances without falling asleep in the process.
View Presenter Bio
Paco is the Events Director at FreshBooks. He spends most of his time travelling around North America meeting with small business owners and sharing a little bit of the FreshBooks love with them. Paco is the co-creator and lead of the #imakealiving speaker series; an event that fosters conversations and support for small business owners and entrepreneur communities across North America. He has met and interacted with more than 10,000 business owners, freelancers, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, helping them have better control of their accounting and finances.
This Kickstarter Project Jam will be a mix of a "how to" for independent product development and launch as well as a share session for peer feedback. Attendees who are already working on a creative project will get the feedback and direction they need to take the next step forward towards launch (bring visuals or mock-ups to share!). Attendees who are not yet committed to a specific project will get a good sense of the whole process and will get inspiration from participating in the group critique.
View Presenter Bio
Craighton is a designer, illustrator, educator and creator that simply loves bringing ideas to life—both for clients and as self-directed projects. His illustration work combines design-thinking and napkin-sketching to yield a unique form of concept-driven storytelling. Craighton is also the founder & creative director of Manual, a home goods brand that creates products for slow living. Craighton has work in the the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection, was the first designer ever to use Kickstarter to launch a product, and taught "design entrepreneurship" at the University of Illinois at Chicago and design sketching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
How do you scale a business focused on social impact while also making a profit? To CEO of Biolite Jonathan Cedar, he sees no reason why the two can't go hand in hand. In addition to illuminating the misconceptions surrounding social impact businesses and how to run them, Cedar will also demonstrate how utilizing different aspects of business strategy can not only help you run a successful business but also can be used to help tackle a the social or environmental issues your company is hoping to solve.
View Presenter Bio
Jonathan Cedar is CEO and co-founder of BioLite, a social enterprise that develops and manufactures clean, affordable energy products for off-grid communities around the world. Now offering an award-winning line of stoves, solar panels, and lights, the company originated in 2006 when co-founders Jonathan and Alec and began work on a camping stove that ran on wood rather than gas and quickly realized they had a technology that could transform life off-grid. In 2011, Business Week named Jonathan one America’s Top Social Entrepreneurs; since then, Jonathan and the BioLite team have been the recipients of numerous awards including the 2011 St. Andrews Prize For The Environment, 2014 Fast Company Innovation By Design Awards, and 2018 Core77 Design Awards Social Impact Honoree.
Do you want to manufacture your own products and find factories/suppliers for your design in China? This workshop will show you how to find manufacturing partners in China and wow them with your business etiquette knowledge. With over 15 years of experience designing products for manufacturing, award-winning industrial designer & entrepreneur Ti Chang can attest that manufacturing hardware is not trivial. As a trained industrial designer fluent in Mandarin, she'll share her story of how she sourced manufacturers in China using Alibaba and continued the relationships as her company grew. She will share tactical tips on how to find factories, business etiquette, and red flags one should avoid.
View Presenter Bio
Ti Chang is an industrial designer & entrepreneur passionate about designing products for women. She is the co-founder and VP of Design of CRAVE, a San Francisco-based company specializing in discreet and beautifully designed luxury sex toys. Ti leads the concept and design for the company’s full line of products which has won numerous awards including Red Dot, IDEA and Good Design. Prior to Crave, Ti founded INCOQNITO, a line of intimate accessories that double as fashionable jewelry which was acquired by CRAVE in 2011. Ti is best known for the design of Vesper, a vibrator necklace, one of the most celebrated and innovative sex toys disrupting the adult toy industry and changing the conversation around sex.
Workshop: Best Practices Any Design Firm Should Know
Are you curious what other design firms do to succeed? After working with hundreds of leading creative/design teams over the years, Emily has curated and compiled an evolving list of smart business strategies that define successful firms. This session highlights those top business practices across different areas including organizational structures, staffing strategies, pricing, client and project management, marketing, and new business development.
View Presenter Bio
A brutally honest consultant, Emily has been honored to work with many leading design firms across the country. Through these experiences, she has developed, tested, and curated key business insights and strategies that have helped firms become more effective, profitable, and fun to work at. Emily conducts strategic business retreats and provides confidential, best-practice insights and advice on staff, client, and process-management strategies. She loves sharing her expertise through speaking engagements, online courses, and in her new book, Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Business Strategies to Evolve Your Creative Business.
Workshop: Life After Launch: How to Continue Keeping Your Audience Excited and Engaged
Alex Daly’s promotional work in the crowdfunding space has collectively earned companies over $20 million dollars in funding and has recently expanded her PR offerings to companies looking for promotional help after hitting your financing goal. In this workshop, Daly will share case studies from her work at Vann Alexandra and Daly PR to demonstrate how to build your own annual promotional plan that will help continue the hype for your brand and get attention from your most desired audience.
View Presenter Bio
Alex is the founder of Vann Alexandra, a creative services agency that gets projects financed through crowdfunding, and the industry’s “Crowdsourceress,” a name she received in the press for her expertise in the space. Her clients include Neil Young, Oscar-winning filmmakers, Pentagram designers, Eric Ries, and TLC, the best-selling female group of all time. Alex has served on panels at top film festivals, universities, and organizations, is in the class of 2016’s Forbes 30 under 30, and published her first book in Spring 2017 by PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Most people tell you to make a 3-5 year plan, Michael DiTullo says "F* that, make a 20 year plan!". In this workshop Michael will talk about his long term plan to start a successful creative agency that includes career planning, personal brand building, and making a successful and smooth transition from moonlighting to running your own shop. Whether you want to start a consulting business or start your own brand, be prepared to see into the future by building out your timeline in this interactive talk.
View Presenter Bio
For more than 20 years Michael has been designing iconic products and brand experiences for some of the best brands in the world including Nike, Google, Motorola, Honda, and Hasbro. Located a block from the Pacific Ocean in San Diego, his studio focuses on industry leading halo projects across autonomous automotive, consumer electronics, travel, mobile devices, wearables, toys and conceptual Hollywood entertainment projects.
Workshop: Asking the right questions… and asking them again: How to avoid costly mistakes
When it comes to asking questions, how, when, and what to ask are forms of art honed over the years as a business owner. This workshop will include case studies illustrating how questions, or lack thereof, can change the course of projects for better or for worse. Learn how poorly formulated Requests for Proposals, contracts with hidden traps, and client feedback that is the opposite of actionable can all have a serious effect on your bottom line. Ask too many questions, and you will never get that next assignment! Attendees will engage in group activities, responding to real-life situations in real-time, followed by a group review and discussion.
View Presenter Bio
Maya Kopytman is a partner at C&G Partners in New York City, a multi-specialty creative studio dedicated to design for culture. She has three decades of design experience, and is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in interactive media. After spending more than a decade as SVP Creative at a digital agency, Maya joined C&G Partners in 2006, where she leads interactive, web and branding for non-profit and cultural institutions.
Advocating and evangelizing for design can be challenging. How do we embrace pushback and know how to respond? How do we remain positive, conversational, and use design artifacts to make a clear case for our process and our users? This workshop makes the design community stronger by allowing all attendees to share our tactics and techniques.
As designers, regardless of being in-house, agency, or otherwise, we must know how to negotiate and navigate difficult scenarios with partners of all shapes and sizes. We bring value by creating the best possible outcome for our users—but that's not always the no-brainer we hope for.
This exercise is going to put attendees on their feet.They will play a role—either an antagonist or a protagonist.With the given pushback topic / prompt in hand, designers will plan an improvised scene.These prompts include statements like, ” everyone needs to agree on the color of the interface,” and “It doesn’t matter if the user likes it—just sell it.” As designers perform their scenes, they will laugh(maybe through tears) and learn from one another.
Designers will not only develop empathy for each other as we see the true challenges in these conversations, but they will also see some tactics to borrow for future ‘now what’ moments.
View Presenter Bio
Joe is the Director of Design Strategy at IBM. He has led teams of designers in the delivery of cognitive-enabled applications and services across the Cloud and Watson portfolios. As part of the IBM Design's core team, he has educated over 1000 non-designers in design thinking and activated practitioners working on product teams across the globe. Before joining IBM, he delivered user experiences for Herman Miller, Walgreens, Motorola, State Farm, Belk, Veolia, Highmark, Polycom, Covidien, MSA, Allstate, Follett, Samsung, and Chrysler. He lives in Austin with his wife, two children, and a Great Pyrenees.
Workshop: Social Hour: Getting Past the Small Talk and Finding Creative Overlap
While connection, friendship, and alliance-building are some of the most fundamental and intuitive things in life, we’re often uncomfortable engaging in them in a business setting. We’re too shy to approach strangers, we make small talk and walk away knowing little, we cringe at words like networking, and often try to mold ourselves to a rigid business-facade. In this workshop, via games and prompted conversations, we’re going to fast-track getting to know the person sitting next to you and find ways to collaboratively help each other in your endeavors going forward.
View Presenter Bio
Ksenya Samarskaya is the founding member of Samarskaya & Partners, a creative practice with a collaboration model at heart. S&P specializes in visual communications via brand strategy, identity design, typographic layout, type design, and occasional things for the internets. Clients and collaborators have included Adobe, Apple, Best Made Co., Google, Ideo, Intel, JaegerSloan, MCKL, Monotype, Rosetta, Snoop Dogg, WeWork, and others. Samarskaya has served on the board of AIGA/NY, and judged typography competitions including Communication Arts, TISDC, TDC, and the SoTA Catalyst Award. She currently splits her time between Brooklyn, NY and Barcelona, Spain where she teaches at Harbour.Space University.
Paul Sohi
Industrial Designer and Product Evangelist, Autodesk
Advocating and evangelizing for design can be challenging. How do we embrace pushback and know how to respond? How do we remain positive, conversational, and use design artifacts to make a clear case for our process and our users? This workshop makes the design community stronger by allowing all attendees to share our tactics and techniques.
As designers, regardless of being in-house, agency, or otherwise, we must know how to negotiate and navigate difficult scenarios with partners of all shapes and sizes. We bring value by creating the best possible outcome for our users—but that's not always the no-brainer we hope for.
This exercise is going to put attendees on their feet.They will play a role—either an antagonist or a protagonist.With the given pushback topic / prompt in hand, designers will plan an improvised scene.These prompts include statements like, ” everyone needs to agree on the color of the interface,” and “It doesn’t matter if the user likes it—just sell it.” As designers perform their scenes, they will laugh(maybe through tears) and learn from one another.
Designers will not only develop empathy for each other as we see the true challenges in these conversations, but they will also see some tactics to borrow for future ‘now what’ moments.
View Presenter Bio
Paul Sohi is a technology evangelist, industrial designer, and lead of the iconic projects program at Autodesk. Paul has a formal education as an architect, but moved very rapidly into product design after graduating. For a few years, Paul ran his own design practice out of London, focusing on additive manufacturing technologies, but found working with musicians, movie makers, and hardware innovators more fulfilling. Since joining Autodesk, Paul has run and managed a variety of high profile projects for Autodesk, from creating the world’s first 3D printed performance prosthetic for Silver medal Paralympian, Denise Schindler; to giant robots, to currently working on a series of projects in the sports and wellness industries with Astronauts.
So you made something that looks great. Now you just have to find the words to explain why it's important. In this workshop, Kickstarter Design & Tech Editor Katheryn Thayer will share examples of good design stories and talk through how to come up with story angles, give your work context, show your personality, and connect with your intended audience.
View Presenter Bio
Katheryn Thayer is the senior Design & Technology editor at Kickstarter, where she writes profiles of creative makers and curates the Invent newsletter. Her writing on art, tech, and design has appeared on Forbes and SFMoMA’s Open Space and she hosts a salon series called Pomegranate.
Location
thE LocatioN: A/d/o
Now What? takes place at the beautiful A/D/O in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. A/D/O is a space created for designers that features communal workspaces, an installation-filled patio, a tastefully-curated design boutique, the world-renowned restaurant and cafe, Norman, and a community of creative thinkers and doers.
ACCComodAtIonS
There are several hotels within walking distance of A/D/O. We recommend the Franklin Guest House, The McCarren Hotel & Pool, The William Vale, and The Wythe Hotel are all excellent options.
GEttInG tHERE
A/D/O is accessible via public transportation using the Nassau Avenue stop on the G line or the Bedford Avenue stop on the L line.
Join Core77 and our design community for a full day of presentations and workshops located at A/D/O in Brooklyn. After filling our brains with knowledge during the day, we’ll gather back together for an exciting keynote presentation before our closing party, conveniently located a few steps away in A/D/O’s main room and installation-filled garden patio.
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Sign In / Breakfast / Meet-up
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM
Opening Remarks
Allison Fonder & Emily Engle
9:45 AM - 10:05 AM
There’s no business like… client services
Carly Ayres & Pedro Sanches
10:05 AM - 10:25 AM
Owning and Maintaining Your Design Identity
Joseph Guerra & Sina Sohrab
10:25 AM - 10:45 AM
Radical Thinking: How to Successfully Refresh an Oversaturated Market
Nicole Gibbons
10:45 AM - 11:10 AM
Morning Coffee Break
11:10 AM - 11:30 AM
Backwards Design Isn’t So Backwards
Jamie Wolfond
11:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Navigating the World of VC Funding as a Designer
Alexis Houssou
11:50 AM - 12:10 PM
Creating Your Own Place Within a Longstanding Market
Kyle Hoff & Alex O’Dell
12:10 PM - 2:00 PM
Lunch Break - On Your Own
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Social Hour: Getting Past the Small Talk and Finding Creative Overlap
Ksenya Samarskaya
2:00 PM - 2:10 PM
Workshop introduction & overview
Allison Fonder & Emily Engle
Workshop Section One
The session runs from 2:10 PM - 3:10 PM
The following workshops are presented simultaneously, and attendees choose to attend one.
Kickstarter Project Jam
Craighton Berman
Best Practices Any Design Firm Should Know
Emily Cohen
Accounting 101: Basic Accounting for Non-Accountants
Paco Arizmendi
How to Tell Your Design Story
Katheryne Thayer
Debate Camp For Designers
Joe Meersman & Paul Sohi
3:10 PM - 3:30 PM
Afternoon Coffee Break
Workshop Section Two
The session runs from 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
The following workshops are presented simultaneously, and attendees choose to attend one.
The 20 Year Plan
Michael DiTullo
Life After Launch: How to Continue Keeping Your Audience Excited and Engaged
Alex Daly
Making it (In China)
Ti Chang
Asking the right questions… and asking them again: How to avoid costly mistakes
Maya Kopytman
Designing a Business for Impact
Jonathan Cedar
4:35 PM - 5:05 PM
Have Your Cake and Eat It Too: How to Create a Business You’re Actually Passionate About
Harry Parr
5:05 PM - 5:15 PM
Closing Remarks
Allison Fonder & Emily Engle
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Closing Reception
Sponsors
Now What? is generously supported by the following companies and organizations:
Thanks for registering for the Core77 Conference 2016.
We'll keep working on making this year's conference rock. In the meantime watch your email for details and updates.
See you in Los Angeles on September 29th. You can't miss it!
Conference Code of Conduct
All attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers at our conference are required to agree with the following code of conduct. Organizers will enforce this code throughout the event. We are expecting cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everyone.
The Quick Version
Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter, and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.
The Less Quick Version
Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion, technology choices, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualized images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualized environment.
If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the conference organizers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the conference with no refund.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of the conference staff immediately.
Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.
We expect participants to follow these rules at conference and workshop venues and conference-related social events.