A conference about the design of everything.

It’s about broad thinking. It’s about getting people out of the world they know and immersing them in a flood of ideas that ultimately help break down barriers and connect unknown dots. And it’s about finding ideas and relevance in unexpected places.

  • Cusp is not a ‘how to design things’ conference. It’s eclectic by design, intended to provoke cross-pollination of ideas and generate new thinking.
  • Attendees enjoy 25+ inspiring and thought-provoking presentations by people who are passionate about designing a better future.
  • Every attendee has the opportunity to see every presentation—there are no breakouts or q+a sessions.

Previous Cusp Conference presenters have included:

  • attorney
    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
  • IBM Fellow / reality TV star
    Dr. John Cohn
  • poverty fighter
    Dr. Paul Polak
  • cartoonist
    Lynda Barry
  • GM designer
    Dave Lyon
  • Iraq war veteran / actor
    Bryan Anderson
  • designer
    Emily Pilloton
  • IP attorney
    Brian Murphy
  • hip hop violinist
    Daniel Bernard Roumain
  • doctor of the future
    Dr. Jay Parkinson
  • author
    Ryan Knighton
  • punk pop pioneers
    The Smoking Popes
  • architect / artist
    Adam Kalkin
  • robotics engineer
    Dr. Ayanna Howard
  • TED founder
    Richard Saul Wurman

Cusp is a magnet for the design-centric, but a significant percentage of attendees do not describe themselves as 'designers.'

Cusp audiences have included people from the worlds of:

  • advertising
  • architecture planning
  • broadcasting
  • construction technical services
  • consumer electronics
  • consumer finance
  • corporate communications
  • education
  • equity management
  • filmmaking
  • furniture
  • graphic design
  • industrial design
  • international tax law
  • journalism writing
  • learning technology
  • manufacturing
  • medicine
  • music
  • not-for-profit
  • technology
  • theater
  • philanthropy
  • public relations
  • public transportation
  • publishing
  • printing
  • research
  • social science
  • web analytics

Cusp audience members have job titles such as:

  • Adjunct Professor
  • Advisor
  • Art Director
  • Artist
  • Assistant Professor
  • Associate Director
  • Board Liaison & Director of Presidential Events
  • CCO
  • CEO
  • Chairman
  • Co-Founder
  • Communications Manager
  • Controller
  • Creative Director
  • Customized Marketing Research Manager
  • Design Director
  • Digital Culture Researcher
  • Director
  • Director of Consumer Insight
  • Director of User Experience
  • Design Director of Marketing and Communications
  • Director of Strategy & Innovation
  • Director of Strategic Planning & Marketing
  • Executive Director
  • Executive Vice President & CFO
  • Executive Vice President & COO
  • Executive Vice President of Institutional Advancement
  • Executive VP of Creative Services
  • Faculty
  • Founder
  • Founder and Creative Director
  • Founder and Managing Director
  • Global Operations
  • Graphic Designer
  • Lawyer
  • Manager of Creative Services
(schmooze)

Cusp attendees have numerous opportunities to network and interact with presenters and fellow attendees during conversation breaks and other social events.

This conference has really helped me see life from a different perspective.

Steven Rebollar, High School Student
CICS Northtown Academy, Chicago, IL

More Applause

Organizers

The Cusp Conference is a project of Multiple, Inc. As designers we’ve been fortunate to work with phenomenal people and organizations over the years. We’ve always maintained that it’s our connection to the energy, intelligence and spirit of great people doing extraordinary things that has kept us engaged and energized. This conference is our attempt to condense the essence of our experiences into a format that can be enjoyed by a wider audience.

Contributors

There are a ton of people who make Cusp possible. Actually, if you gathered all of them together we're sure they’d weigh more than a ton. Here are a few.