Workshops
Hands-on half-day sessions, hosts and rooms to follow. Access is on the all-access pass or a separate workshop ticket — the 3 Day Summit Pass starts at 5pm badge pickup.
Three days,in blocks
A draft to plan your days around. Each block is a room, a format and a mood.
Times are indicative and can move. Mainstage talks are recorded with speaker control; roundtables, interactive sessions and socials are not.
Day 01 · 4 blocksTue 17 November ↘Day 02 · 8 blocksWed 18 November ↘Day 03 · 6 blocksThu 19 November ↘One pass · every formatGet tickets ↘
Day 01 — Tue 17 November
Arrive, register, open the question.
Afternoon workshops, then the evening at TIFF Bell Lightbox
Badge pickup
Collect your badge tonight and skip the Wednesday morning queue. First conversations start here.
Opening panel
The year's question goes on the table before anyone has taken a position, so Wednesday starts with context rather than cold. Panelists announced as slots are locked in.
Opening social.
The room meets. No format, no name-badge networking — just the people you will spend the next two days with.
Day 02 — Wed 18 November
Talks on the mainstage, then the frank part.
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Cinema 2 · roundtables in smaller rooms nearby
Registration & coffee
Late badge pickup, first coffee.
Welcome
Housekeeping from the DLS hosts.
Talks by speakers
Morning mainstage block. Speakers and titles published as each slot is locked in.
Lunch
With the room.
Talks by speakers
Afternoon mainstage block. Recorded with speaker control.
Roundtables briefing
How the tables work, then travel time to the rooms.
Roundtables.
8–12 peers per table, under the Chatham House Rule. Use what you hear, never say who said it.
Social
The conversations after the microphones are off.
Day 03 — Thu 19 November
Work the questions, close with a direction.
Morning in the working rooms · afternoon in the theatre
Breakfast
With the room.
Interactive sessions
Two hands-on blocks with a break between. Hosts and rooms published as they are locked in.
Closing panel
Mainstage.
Lunch
With the room.
Five-minute madness
Rapid-fire takes from the room.
Light social & wrap.
No formal close. Just the last conversations before people head to flights.
How the days work
Six formats. One room.
Talks, panels, roundtables, interactive sessions and the socials are all inside the summit pass. The day 1 workshops need the all-access pass or a separate workshop ticket. 2025 workshop hosts are on the sixth-edition recap.
FormatTalks
Main-stage stories without the conference theatre.
FormatPanels
Debate the parts that do not have clean answers.
FormatWorkshops
Apply the thinking to your own organisation. On the all-access pass, or a separate workshop ticket.
FormatRoundtables
8–12 peers, off the record, under the Chatham House Rule.
FormatInteractive sessions
Two hands-on blocks on day three, working the questions in a smaller room.
FormatSocials
The conversations after the microphones are off.
Confirmed so far
This year’s voices, not the full lineup.
5 leaders are confirmed for the seventh edition. Session titles will be announced when the programme is ready.
ConfirmedVuokko Aro
Chief Design Officer · Monzo
2026ConfirmedCynthia Savard
VP of UX · Shopify
2026ConfirmedAmy Thibodeau
Chief Design Officer · Gusto
2026ConfirmedChristian Rohrer
VP of Design · TD Bank
2026ConfirmedPeter Merholz
Consultant & Author · Humanism at Scale
2026One passAll three days.
All three days.
Every format.
One pass covers all three days. Smaller rooms are subject to capacity, and the day 1 workshops need all-access or a workshop ticket.
Get the summit pass ↗New to DLS? See what the summit is about ↗
Need sign-off? Take it to your manager ↗