The hardest part isn't knowing what to build, it's getting everyone behind it. A two-day gathering of forty business leaders who are pushing to make design more impactful inside their organizations.
Programming is intentionally conversation-first, no stage, no audience. Expect surprise elements, marquee voices to spark debate, and a room that feels more like a working session than a conference.
September
28–29, 2026
Sonoma,
California
We're exploring coalition building. Design is often the easy part. Building the coalition, that's where it gets hard. We'll bring together voices across business, the arts, and politics to share how they think about coalition building: what it takes, what breaks it, and what makes it last.
We are bringing together a small group of people we genuinely admire, 40 leaders from across industries and disciplines, for two days of good conversation, good food, and the kind of thinking that's hard to do when you're in the middle of it all.
The Stravrand Hotel
Immerse yourself in the surroundings, and the people. Small-group sessions and built-in community time create the conditions for real connections and the kind of idea exchange that only in person can do.
Featured Speakers
Sheryl Cababa
Design Strategist, Founder of Optimistic Design, author of Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers, and privacy designer at Google
Systems thinking is, at its core, about seeing the web of relationships that produce outcomes, which is exactly what coalition building requires. Sheryl will talk about what a systems lens might reveal in the art of coalition building.
Bill Burnett
Executive Director, Stanford d.school, Author, Designing Your Life
Designing Your Life became a coalition, a global community built around a shared methodology. Bill will talk about craft and meaning: what does it mean to make something well, now, when the tools are changing this fast. How do you build something that other people want to be part of?
Molly Moon Neitzel
Founder, Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream, Civic Organizer
Molly built a business, and then used it to change a city's minimum wage policy. Molly will talk about how she actually did it. Who she had to bring together. Who surprised her. What didn't work.
Andrew Evans
Magician
Andrew Evans is a magician. What that actually means is the real-time trust it requires, the coalition it forms between a performer and a room full of strangers who have agreed to believe in magic.
Andy Allen
Founder, Not Boring Software
Not Boring makes software that people love in an era when most software is optimized to exploit attention. That's a stance. And stances attract people. Andy's community is partly a coalition of people who believe software should be different. He will talk about what it means to build with conviction and how the community that formed around his work has shaped what he builds, and vice versa.
Paul Dichter
Television Writer and Producer
The best worlds are built by groups, not authors. Paul will talk about what a decade inside the Stranger Things room taught him about turning colliding ideas into something greater than any one person could make—and building something other people want to be part of.
Our Partner
Design Better is a podcast and creative leadership platform hosted by Aarron Walter and Eli Woolery. Through in-depth conversations with founders, designers, and creative leaders, the show explores the craft, culture, and decisions behind the work we admire.
Together, they explore what it takes to lead with intention — how to build trust, navigate complexity, and create the conditions for design to drive meaningful business outcomes. Their conversations have shaped how a generation of leaders approach their craft.
There are two ticket options. The first reserves a spot at the Stavrand hotel. The second lets you book your own accommodation nearby, a hotel or Airbnb of your choice. All tickets include meals, programming, a wine tasting, a sit-down three-course dinner, and all of the surprises we have planned.
No problem, here are a few nearby alternatives we recommend:
Dawn Ranch
Highlands Resort
All tickets are nonrefundable. Given the limited number of spots available, we're unable to offer refunds once a purchase is made.
Reach out to brandon@september.works and we'll get back to you.