InceptionU’s framework for getting what you need where you need to go throughout your mesh conference experience. 

Introduction

Go where? Go there. mesh, that’s where. It is all about being ready. Right now. No sleepwalking into and through the experience. Be present and recognize what matters. Have fun and build meaningful connections. That is the heart of the InceptionU approach and so it makes sense to approach an event like mesh with a flexible set of intentions, tools, and signposts. 

InceptionU created the framework of G.O. T.H.E.R.E. for exactly this reason. Thoughtfully engage with sections that have been tailored to the mesh conference below to help set you up to have a great conference experience. 

GO – Get Oriented

It’s about situational awareness. It means understanding your internal dynamics, external environment, and the interplay between the two. Consider the following:

• Why are you here?
• What do you want to get from mesh that will help you and/or your organization reach their goals? What does success look like?
• What are you worried about or afraid of? How could that impact your experience?
• What is something that you would like to understand better?
• What is something you have already seen everything you need to see for now?
• Who do you need to form a relationship with that will help you and/or your organization reach their goals?
• How will you leave room for some serendipity in the unfolding of mesh?
• Which of the following traits do you struggle most with and would like to work on during your mesh experience?
• How would you characterize your mindset? Are you a booster, a cynic, a follower, a true believer, or a skeptic? Something else? What kind of challenge does that represent for you? What would it be like to try on a different mindset at mesh? What mindset would you like to have at mesh? 

T – Tool, Techniques, and Tactics

Our toolbox equips our ability to act. The broader and more diverse our techniques are, the better equipped we are to navigate challenges. Some resources for you to support your mesh experience:

• Approaches to starting relationships – The Three Conversations
  • Every relationship works from three conversations and they occur in the following order:
    • Conversation for relationship – do we have things in common, are we pursuing similar paths? What is the basis for being in a relationship
    • Conversation for possibility – what might we be able to do together?
    • Conversation for action – how will we start to work on something together
• SEXI for summarizing a clear understanding of something
  • State in one clear sentence the thing you are working to understand
  • Elaborate on that thing by adding a couple of sentences describing how it works and what the impacts are
  • eXamples of the idea in motion are a good souce of clarity
  • Illustrations like a metaphor or an analogy that links to a new idea will help check our understanding quickly
• Practice Provisional Acceptance for dealing with new and possibly challenging ideas
  • This involves the assumption that any idea is a good idea until it isn’t. It is a much stronger move to accept an idea in order to investigate it instead of standing outside the idea with no skin in the game. This approach doesn’t mean we end of accepting the idea or not being critical of it – that’s why we refer to it as ‘provisional.’ The other opportunity that comes with this approach is that one idea often leads to others and those others could be even more valuable but we wouldn’t even notice them without exploring the first one.
• Applying standards of thinking – asking questions from a critical perspective based on what you are trying to see better. Questions built around clarity are most important early since it is hard to ask questions about anything else if an idea is not clear to us

• List of Valuable Intellectual Traits

H – Hunger

Hunger fuels growth. It’s the desire for connection, control, and competence that drives us to learn and improve. But hunger must be nurtured thoughtfully. When we’re hungry, although the temptation for a quick hit of urgent high calories is large, avoid “junk food” distractions and misinformation that offer short-term satisfaction but hinder long-term progress. Reflect on:

• How hungry are you? What do you need to take onboard that leads to your goals?
• What are the things you usually avoid? How can you set yourself up to try some of that?
• Beware of junk food: Are you consuming valuable and relevant information or the equivalent of junk food?
• Are you looking for diversity? Diversity is the lifeblood of creativity and imagination. People from different backgrounds and cognitive approaches as well as ideas that come from unexpected places are a potential treasure trove of creative opportunity.

E – Effort

Effort is where progress happens. It’s okay to feel stretched or “out of breath”, this is how growth occurs – as long as we don’t go so far as to no longer be able to catch our breath. That is the path to collapse. Effort is most impactful when it is focused, intentional and can be sustained over time. Either evenly or in intervals of intensity. We can ask ourselves:

• Beware of things you already know and believe – you will tend to pay less attention to these things when, instead, you can treat it as a trigger to ask more questions and examine any beliefs that you are taking for granted. On the other side of this, seek out the things that are less familiar or challenge some of your long held assumptions and aim to treat them as fairly as you treat the things you already agree with.
• Where are you prepared to put in effort that might leave you a bit out of breath? How can you make sure you commit to this? Find something that will remind you to make more effort – a sticky note or some other kind of trigger.

R – Recovery, Rest, and Reflection

Recovery is the foundation of resilience. Without rest, creativity and problem-solving suffer. Just as muscles rebuild stronger than before during rest and not during the effort, our minds and our collective organizations need time to recharge. Recovery isn’t just about taking breaks—it’s about creating the conditions for sustained performance. Consider:

• How do you know when you need a break?
• What is needed for you to reset and recharge at an event such as Mesh?

E – Evolution

Evolution is the ultimate goal. It’s about learning from experiences and continuously adapting to new conditions. Consider:

• How will you change things based on what you’ve learned about yourself and the world?
• How will you connect new things you’ve discovered with existing things you want to keep?
• What disruptive influences did you learn about during mesh that you and/or your organization need to be able to respond to?
• Think about what is necessary to make yourself or something you are working on better. Not perfect, just better than before. Evolution is looking to create the best fit possible by experimenting with different approaches and ideas to find that best fit.

Final Words

mesh is an opportunity to connect with others and with yourself. As we continue to navigate increasingly volatile, complex and uncertain times, creating the conditions for your success becomes even more important, as the person over which you have the most influence is yourself. That’s one of the reasons we have self-knowledge at the foundation of our learning model.  It’s the ‘U’ in InceptionU. Using the GO THERE framework and questions noted above as a guide, what other questions can you ask yourself to create your path to success?

• Interested in exploring how to create the conditions for innovation and success in your organization? Join Margo Purcell for Sowing the Seeds of Innovation: Creating the Right Conditions for Growth Within Your Organization – Day 1, 3:45pm at the Main Stage. 

• Have some specific questions you want to explore about yourself or your organization? Pop by the InceptionU booth to engage with one of our team members. 

• Want to meet other unlike-minded people? Join us for the InceptionU for the mesh Social at the end of Day 1 from 5:00pm – 6:30pm at InceptionU’s space in the Central Library. Be ready to mesh, InceptionU style…

It wasn’t a lack of ideas that sunk the project. It was the silence that followed.

Tina Mathas has seen it happen too many times. Teams spend weeks refining an innovation, testing it with users, pitching it internally. But when it’s time to scale, things go quiet. The project is handed off to operations, and it either morphs into something unrecognizable or dies completely.

“What I found worked really well was to find the ambassadors — the people who were willing to bend the rules, not necessarily break them,” says Mathas. “People who did think outside of the box but felt more comfortable in the day-to-day.”

Mathas is bringing that experience to the mesh conference happening April 29-30 in Calgary. Her session, titled “From Idea to Impact: How to Structure Innovation Teams That Actually Deliver” offers a practical guide to building teams that can take bold ideas and make them real without getting trapped in process-heavy culture.

This isn’t about theory. It is grounded in lived experience, the kind that can sometimes get overlooked in favour of flashier headlines but is essential to making innovation stick.

Where innovation gets stuck

“Innovation is about transforming at scale, creating things that don’t exist today, anticipating need,” says Mathas. “That is a particular mindset. I don’t believe that continuous improvement is innovation.”

Mathas draws a sharp distinction between creativity, problem-solving, and true innovation. Too often, organizations flatten all three into one category and then fail to deliver. 

Her point: not everything that sounds innovative leads to transformation.

“What often happens is you have these groups that come up with ideas, market test them, and then when the idea is ready to scale, a team will hand it off,” says Mathas. “Then it would either die or morph into something it wasn’t intended to be because the organization hadn’t been part of it from the beginning. A lot can get missed.”

For Mathas, it’s not that the idea lacks value — it’s that the surrounding structure is too fragile or too disconnected to support it.

“You have this small group of what I call the pirates,” she says, referring to the creatives. “But then there’s a need for translation and integration that happens with engineering and operational parts of the organization.”

Without that translation — that shared understanding across silos — the idea becomes vulnerable the moment it leaves the hands of its creators.

A lesson from the inside

Mathas has lived this challenge in real time. While working at a project at a big bank, her team was tasked with launching a product on a shoestring budget.

“We were able to get the initial launch from idea to build in five weeks,” she says. “That was unheard of in the bank at the time.”

The budget was $50,000 and the project was a crowdfunding platform.

It wasn’t just about cost or speed. It was about building the right team early. Her team included visionaries, but also the operational allies who could guide them through constraints, regulatory blind spots, and internal buy-in.

“When it came to actually scaling it within the organization, we already had people who understood what we had built, had been part of what we had built, and were ready to accept it and build on it,” she says.

How to structure for execution

Mathas’s session at mesh is designed for leaders who are tired of innovation theatre. 

Mathas will cover how to build cross-functional teams, manage the handoff between idea generators and execution leads, and identify when an idea deserves more investment — and when it’s time to say no.

“I focus on 100 ideas,” she says. “How to kill an idea, how to pick the idea and stick with it, how to say no. All of those key elements to having innovation happen within an organization that are juxtaposed to how organizations run.”

The session goes beyond frameworks and gets into structure: the people, the relationships, and the decision-making approaches that help ideas survive the organizational maze.

Mathas believes the way companies talk about innovation has become too sanitized.

“We have diluted that to be running innovation like it’s part of our goal structure… fraught with a whole bunch of rules and measures that don’t apply and don’t allow for true innovation to happen.”

And yet, she’s not pessimistic. Her goal is to give people tools that reflect how complex organizations actually operate, not how they look in a slide deck.

A no-fluff debate on what counts as innovation

At mesh, Mathas’ session ends with something most conferences avoid: disagreement.

Mathas will lead a live debate on what really qualifies as innovation in a corporate setting. Some will argue that improving existing systems counts. Others, like Mathas, draw the line at transformation.

“The reason why I’m having the debate at the end is I could be wrong,” she says. “Some people have other viewpoints.”

Expect a candid, no-fluff discussion. Audience questions are welcome. The goal isn’t consensus — it’s clarity.

This session isn’t about frameworks for the sake of frameworks. It’s about getting real. 

Mathas will share the tools she’s used to assess talent, structure teams, and stay focused on execution inside large organizations.

She’s blunt about what doesn’t work — and grounded in what actually does.

See Tina Mathas speak at mesh on April 29. You’ll leave with a new framework for structuring innovation teams and a clearer sense of what to stop doing if you want your best ideas to make it to market.

When the ground shifts beneath your business, what takes root in its place? Margo Purcell wants leaders to stop assuming it will be something they planted, and she wants leaders to stop avoiding the question. Because whether it’s global tariffs or an organizational reorg, the aftermath is the same: exposed soil. And in exposed soil, weeds thrive.

“We’ve seen the results of the ‘fail fast and break things’ mantra,” says Purcell. “When you rip out a plant and don’t put something in its place, dandelions will land and take over.”

This metaphor isn’t just a throwaway line. It’s the foundation of the talk Purcell is bringing to mesh, Canada’s premier innovation and digital transformation event, happening April 29-30, 2025 in Calgary. 

As CEO of InceptionU (a mesh sponsor) she will lead a session titled Sowing the Seeds of Innovation: Creating the Right Conditions for Growth Within Your Organization.

This is not a course on culture or another workshop on managing change. It’s an invitation to dig below the surface and examine the soil your team is growing in. 

Purcell uses landscaping as a metaphor to help leaders understand what lies beneath their organizational performance. Are the nutrients still there? Or has the top layer been stripped and sold, leaving little room for anything new to take root?

This isn’t training — it’s learning how to learn again

“We don’t use the word training,” says Purcell. “Training is what you do with animals.”

Traditional training, she argues, often teaches methods that become irrelevant the moment conditions change. Instead, InceptionU focuses on developing learning capacity, with an emphasis on curiosity, systems thinking, and creative problem-solving.

Most leaders can explain what their business does and why. Fewer know how to build the conditions for innovation from the inside out.

“If everyone had this figured out, they wouldn’t be searching for more creativity,” she says.

In her session at mesh, Purcell will walk through the subtle yet critical differences between technical knowledge and innovation capacity. Attendees will explore what holds their organizations back from adapting, why traditional upskilling often falls short, and how to reframe success in an environment shaped by constant emergence and disruption.

The session will conclude with a practical takeaway: a condensed version of InceptionU’s organizational readiness diagnostic. All attendees will receive access to this free tool to assess their own organization’s innovation conditions and identify where the gaps are. Those who complete the full diagnostic afterward will also get InceptionU’s “Go There model” which is a step-by-step guide to help teams shift from insight to action.

How to know if you have an innovation problem

“Innovation capacity means people can see what needs to be done and do it without waiting to be told,” says Purcell.

She outlines several red flags. Too much silence in meetings. Too many answers and not enough questions. A pattern of doing the same thing under a different name. An aversion to mistakes. These are all signs that innovation might be getting smothered.

And if you’re still clinging to high-performing technical staff who stifle the people around them, it may be time to re-evaluate what you’re actually growing. 

Purcell encourages leaders to consider not just what talent they need, but how to transform what they already have. That means investing in metaskills like communication, collaboration, and self-awareness. These are the skills that don’t burn when, as she puts it, “change is an arsonist.”

“We value technical competence so much that we hold onto people or processes we’ve outgrown,” she says. “But in nature, when something dies, it fertilizes the next thing.”

You can’t wait for things to go back to normal

The session also addresses a common leadership blind spot: the assumption that things will return to normal once the current crisis passes.

“How confident are you that when the tariffs are gone, you’ll be ready for the next change?” Purcell asks. “The world as we knew it is over. Life is emergent. You need to build the capacity to respond to what you can’t yet predict.”

If you’re a leader asking hard questions about the team you’ve built, and whether they’re ready for what’s coming next, this session is for you. Expect to leave with more clarity, more questions, and a pathway forward.

See Margo Purcell speak at mesh on April 29-30, 2025. You’ll leave with a readiness assessment and a deeper understanding of how to grow your innovation capacity before the next disruption hits.

Every business relies on data. It informs decisions about hiring, marketing, pricing, and risk. But what happens when the data is flawed? When algorithms reinforce bias, overlook key factors, or create blind spots that lead to costly mistakes.

Many organizations assume that automated decision-making is more objective and efficient. 

In reality, algorithms can amplify existing inequalities, push businesses in the wrong direction, and create legal and reputational risks. The challenge isn’t just about fairness — it’s about whether companies can truly trust the models they depend on.

This is why the mesh conference is bringing together leaders to tackle one of the most urgent questions in business today: how do we ensure data-driven decision-making helps rather than harms?

Ask the tough questions about AI and accountability

Cathy O’Neil has spent her career exposing the hidden risks of algorithmic decision-making. A best-selling author, mathematician, and data scientist, she’s worked in academia, finance, and tech, giving her a unique perspective on how AI and data models shape business and society.

She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard and taught at Barnard College before moving to the private sector, where she worked as a quant for the hedge fund D.E. Shaw and later as a data scientist in the New York start-up scene. 

Today, she is the CEO of ORCAA (O’Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing), a firm dedicated to ensuring AI and automated systems operate within ethical and accountable frameworks. She is also a member of the Public Interest Tech Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School and a regular contributor to Bloomberg.

Cathy is best known for her book, Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy, a New York Times bestseller that was longlisted for the National Book Award. The book exposes how unchecked algorithms reinforce discrimination in hiring, lending, healthcare, and beyond — often creating systems that reward the privileged and penalize the vulnerable. It was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Wired, Fortune, and The Guardian, among others.

Her latest book, The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation, explores how businesses, social media, and institutions exploit shame for profit, reinforcing power structures while deepening social divides.

At mesh in Calgary this April, Cathy will lead a fireside chat on: The algorithmic trap: how data shapes power, decision-making, and business outcomes.

From hiring and promotions to risk assessments and customer targeting, algorithms increasingly dictate who gets opportunities and who gets left behind. 

This session will unpack how businesses can harness AI and data analytics effectively while avoiding costly blind spots, reputational risks, and missed opportunities. Whether you care about equity, operational efficiency, or long-term business resilience, understanding the impact of algorithmic decision-making is no longer optional — it’s essential.

mesh 2025 is where leaders make better decisions

The mesh conference is where leaders across industries come together to rethink the future of work, innovation, and technology. 

This year’s theme, navigating the next: innovation, adaptation, and impact, focuses on how industries, leaders, and innovators can navigate change in an era of rapid transformation. 

The conference will explore embracing emerging technologies, the necessity of agility in leadership, and the real-world effects of change, from sustainability to long-term economic resilience.

Join us in Calgary on April 29-30, 2025, for two days of learning, conversation, and connection.

Get your ticket now

By Chris Hogg, Co-Producer, mesh conference

Most conferences define themselves by industry. They gather people who already think alike, work alike, and speak the same language.

But real innovation doesn’t happen in silos. It happens when the unexpected comes together.

At the mesh conference, we don’t define attendees by job titles or industries — we define them through a shared value lens. It’s about what you can contribute and what you can take away.

We create spaces where industries converge so attendees gain new ideas, fresh perspectives, and meaningful connections.

Why this moment matters

Canada is at a turning point, and if we want to lead, we need to act now. This is a call for all those who believe innovation happens when industries collide. This is a call for past, present, and future sponsors, attendees, and partners of the mesh conference to create shared value in Canada’s innovation ecosystem.

The world is more unpredictable than ever. Trade wars are reshaping industries. Economic uncertainty is growing. Innovation isn’t keeping pace with the problems we need to solve. From energy security, to AI governance, to supply chain resilience, to economic competitiveness, the biggest challenges of our time don’t fit neatly into one sector.

That’s why mesh exists — because the best solutions emerge at the intersections of industries, perspectives, and expertise. Canada has the talent and the ideas that lead to building a stronger, more competitive innovation economy.

But only if we work together.

And others agree.

“What makes Calgary uniquely positioned to lead in this data economy is what I call ‘cross-pollination intelligence’,” Jon Cornish, Chancellor of the University of Calgary recently said on LinkedIn. “Unlike established tech hubs that grew from a singular industry focus, Calgary brings together expertise from energy, agriculture, finance, the arts, healthcare, and even sports. This diversity of thought and experience creates fertile ground for innovation.”

Diversity, equitable discussion, and inclusion are not separate from innovation. They are the foundation of it. The best ideas do not come from people who think alike or have the same experiences. They come from different perspectives, from friction, and from voices that challenge the status quo.

As some back away from this work, we are doubling down. mesh has always been about breaking silos across industries, disciplines, and backgrounds. The future is not built by one kind of person with one kind of experience. It happens when we create space for all voices. That is not something we will ever compromise on.

Who comes to mesh

If you’re building something, you’ll meet people with a blueprint.
If you’re looking for solutions, someone at mesh has an answer you didn’t expect.
If you’re hiring or fundraising, the right conversations always happen in the hallways.

Unlike other events, mesh isn’t about fitting into a single category. The people who make the biggest difference wear many hats:

• Founder → Chief Dishwasher (handles everything, including the dirty work)
• Intrapreneur → Chief Plumber (fixes problems, keeps things running)
• Researcher → Chief Detective (digs for insights and uncovers the truth)
• Tech Leader → Chief Electrician (powers innovation and connects the system)
• Economic Developer → Chief Gardener (plants seeds and grows opportunities)
• Creative → Chief Magician (turns ideas into reality)
• Consultant → Chief Mapmaker (charts the best path forward)

We don’t put people into boxes. We bring them together as an ecosystem to create impact.

Why everything we do is about creating shared value

Michael Porter defines shared value as generating economic value in a way that also benefits society. That’s exactly what mesh does — not just in theory, but in practice.

At mesh, we create conditions for new ideas, partnerships, and talent to emerge. Over the past two years, we’ve welcomed more than 1,000 people through our doors to do just that.

Examples of shared value in action:

• We’ve built a platform for underrepresented founders to connect with investors and scale their businesses.
• We’ve facilitated matchmaking between entrepreneurs and companies, unlocking new opportunities.
• We’ve hosted curated networking events, dinners, and roundtables that have led to partnerships, hires, and funding.
• We’ve showcased companies solving real-world problems and connected them with decision-makers.
• We’ve helped people find their next hire, next job, or next big opportunity through cross-industry collaboration.

This isn’t about one event. It’s about building an ecosystem that lasts.

How mesh started and why we’re still growing

The mesh conference is produced by Sheri Moore and myself. By day, we run separate companies, but we dedicate ourselves to the mesh conference because we believe in what happens when people and ideas, well… mesh.

As part-time Calgarians, we are inspired by the city’s momentum and spirit of innovation. Founder-led, we moved the grassroots-turned-marquee mesh conference from Toronto to Calgary to create a space where industries could mesh and new ideas could take shape. And we’re committed to growing this platform.

Canada has long embraced the idea that its future is bigger than any one industry. The conference reflects that same belief — a space where energy, life sciences, media, agriculture, finance, technology, and more come together to create something new.

Why you should be at mesh

If you believe Canada needs a stronger, more connected innovation ecosystem, we need you at mesh.

Innovation thrives when people create shared value. The more you give, the more you take away.

What we want you to give:

• If you’ve scaled a company, sharing your lessons can help the next wave of founders.
• If you invest in ideas, your keen eye for opportunity can facilitate partnerships.
• If you’re a corporate leader, your insights can guide others.
• If you’re in policy or research, offering your expertise can shape future industries.

What we can give you in return:

• If you’re growing something, you’ll meet people who have been there before.
• If you’re hiring or fundraising, the right conversations happen (in sessions, hallways, and even after the event).
• If you’re navigating change, you’ll learn from other industries to help unlock solutions.
• If you’re looking for new ideas, mesh is where unexpected connections spark innovation.

How you can support mesh

Sheri Moore and I (Chris Hogg) chose Calgary to grow mesh, recognizing the opportunity to create something bigger. Now, we’re asking you to step up — again or for the first time.

• Buy a ticket. Join the conversation and be part of the movement.
• Bring your team. Invest in learning, collaboration, and new ideas.
• Sponsor the event. Support innovation, talent, and the future of Canada’s economy.

We do this because we believe in it. But we can’t do it alone.

Supporting mesh isn’t just about attending or sponsoring — it’s about creating the conditions where innovation thrives, where industries collide, and where Canada’s next big ideas take shape.

Let’s build something that lasts. Let’s create shared value. Let’s break down silos and unlock the full potential of Canada’s innovation ecosystem. It’s more important now than ever.

The future of work is built on a three-legged stool: HR, IT, and design. 

No longer siloed, these disciplines are intertwined, creating the foundation for how businesses will innovate and thrive in a world that is constantly changing.

Amanda Schneider, Founder and President of ThinkLab, will be a featured fireside guest at the mesh conference in Toronto on October 23-24, 2024, with her fireside session titled “The Future of Work: An Entanglement of HR, IT, and Design.”

When emerging technologies and evolving work dynamics demand new approaches, Amanda’s expertise in process innovation will help leaders break down barriers between these traditionally separate areas. 

Her session will explore how these three fields come together to shape the future of work, with design at the core, supported by IT and human resource strategies that foster innovation, engagement, and sustainability.

Amanda’s session will also delve into the unique challenges and opportunities posed by Generation Z, who are expected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. 

Based on her research, Amanda will share findings around why Gen Z should be viewed as prototypes for the future, not bound by outdated stereotypes. She will share the results of a recent hackathon where Gen Z was asked to solve challenges faced by architecture firms, highlighting how this generation’s natural affinity for hybrid work can drive fresh, innovative thinking.

The core of her fireside chat will be examples of how research-backed design can bridge the gap between current and future workforce needs, ensuring that spaces remain flexible, sustainable, and user-centric.

Amanda Schneider’s Impact on the Future of Work

As the Founder and President of ThinkLab, Amanda Schneider has been at the forefront of innovation in the design industry for over two decades. 

The viral Forbes article on Generation Z in which she was featured, and her #1 article for July 2024 in the MIT Sloan Management Review, and her forthcoming TedX talk are examples of how she’s shaped conversations around the future of work and workplace design. 

Amanda’s award-winning podcast Design Nerds Anonymous, now entering its sixth season, continues to inspire and inform the industry with the latest insights on design, research, and sustainability.

Amanda’s degree in Industrial Design, coupled with an MBA, has positioned her at the intersection of design and business. 

Her expertise allows her to translate complex research into actionable strategies that benefit not only architects and designers but also HR teams, contractors, and business leaders. 

Her session at mesh promises to offer attendees a fresh perspective on how to leverage design to shape the future of workspaces, living spaces, and play spaces in a rapidly evolving world.Join the mesh conference in Toronto on October 23-24, 2024. Tickets are available now at meshconference.com.

After captivating the audience virtually at the Calgary 2024 mesh conference, Kamales Lardi is back by popular demand—this time in person at mesh Toronto.

Hailing from Zurich, Kamales is an internationally renowned expert in digital business transformation and innovation. Her no-nonsense, practical insights have made her a sought-after thought leader in the digital space, and she is set to take the stage once again.

At the upcoming mesh conference in Toronto on October 23-24, 2024, Kamales will be featured in a fireside discussion on “Digital Transformation in the Built Environment: Where People, Place, and Technology Converge.” 

She’ll explore how the design of workspaces—whether physical, virtual, or hybrid—directly impacts team dynamics and their ability to innovate, and unpack concepts of neuroscience and how creating brain-healthy workplaces contributes to economic success.

How do workplace layouts influence the digital transformation journey? Kamales will unpack the psychology of space, emphasizing how creating environments of psychological safety is crucial for unlocking creativity and driving innovation.

As workspaces evolve into more personalized, immersive, and tech-driven environments, Kamales will also share insights on managing teams in this new era. She will look ahead to the future, where technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and other immersive experiences will reshape collaboration and innovation.

Building the future — innovating where we live, work and play

In October 2024, the mesh conference will explore how people and the built environment come together to create the future. The event will connect those who design and develop spaces with those who use them, facilitating discussions on talent development, emerging technologies, sustainability, new business models, and how these elements impact society.

The mesh conference will showcase practical innovations and foster connections with leaders who are transforming the places where we live, work, and play. 

This year’s theme, “Building Our Future,” arose from a desire to understand the changing nature of spaces and the need for creators (architects, designers, contractors, and owners) to collaborate with users (employees, leaders, HR teams, remote and hybrid workers, and customers).

While topics like the work-from-home debate will likely surface, the focus will remain on how evolving people, technologies, and processes shape the future of work and living spaces. As transformation and innovation continue, societal demands are shifting, necessitating innovative approaches to how spaces are designed and utilized.

With an emphasis on sustainability, adaptability, and evolving work dynamics, the mesh conference aims to bring together diverse perspectives to shape the future of our built environments.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from Kamales Lardi and other industry leaders as they dive into the future of innovation, technology, and the built environment. 

Join the mesh conference in Toronto on October 23-24, 2024.

The mesh conference takes place in Calgary and Toronto each year.

Day two of the mesh conference provided nothing less than a blueprint for successful digital transformation.

Across nine formal sessions and in countless side conversations over coffee and lunch, “meshies” learned why some organizations realize the massive value from digital transformation while others are left frustrated and floundering.

The effective thesis for the day came right from the first session, a discussion with Kamales Lardi titled: “The psychology of digital transformation: How to manage the core and edge of large-scale change.”

Lardi, who is a globally recognized expert in digital transformation, outlined five of the most common characteristics of organizations that win, including:

1. Being bold enough to take risks.
2. An abundance thinking mindset (which includes thinking beyond traditional limitations and an underlying belief that there’s sufficient resources for everyone).
3. A culture of psychological safety (the ability for employees to take risks and offer opinions without fear of reprisal).
4. The ability to get influencers in the organization (essentially leaders at all levels) onboard to help support the transformation.
5. Putting key success metrics in place early.

Lardi also emphasized the human element of digital transformation, a theme that ran through the first day of the mesh conference and recurred repeatedly on day two.

“Tech has been triggering huge, exponential changes in humans,” said Lardi. “Leadership teams need to recognize these changes have an impact on people.”

Marketing and content creation: What has gen AI wrought?

In a session focused on AI in content marketing, Ann Handley, an author and the Principal at training and education company MarketingProfs, discussed the early impacts generative AI (GenAI) has had on the marketing world. 

“There’s now less of a fear that GenAI will take over all the marketing jobs. It is essentially helping us not create content but be stronger content creators. It’s a wingman who can help us in our roles,” she said. “The more you can support the AI literacy of folks on your team, the stronger your team will be.”

Handley also noted that she is quite specific in how she personally uses GenAI to write.

“I never use generative AI to create a first draft. Writing is thinking and I want to think first. The problem with using it at the first draft stage is that it kind of anchors you in a way of thinking about something. I don’t want that as part of my process. If the writer matters, if the thinking behind the writing matters, don’t use it as a first draft tool.”

What happens when you add GenAI to customer experience and product development

Because customer experience involves dozens if not hundreds of touch points before and after sale, GenAI is a natural tool to innovate across the full customer lifecycle. It can enhance workflows, empower service teams, and, eventually may actually transform brand-customer interactions.

This AI-driven shift in customer experience formed the basis of an afternoon panel discussion featuring Prieeyya Kaur Kesh, an education futurist and the founder of edtech company Our Wave, and Naqaash Pirani, the Head of Digital Strategy for Adobe Canada. 

“When you narrow CX down to creating a service, product or brand, a user-first approach still wins,” said Kaur Kesh. “But you can use AI to scale your touchpoints, learning loops and feedback loops. A lot of big tech has already integrated AI into their tool stack in some way, so in doing that, you’re able to create, launch, and innovate at a much quicker rate than before.”

Customer support is another area where AI can add real value — assuming it doesn’t just come off as another annoying chatbot standing between customers and the resolutions of their problems.

“People get frustrated when interacting with AI and still want to interact with a real human. So what do you automate and what do you keep the human touch for?” said Pirani, the Head of Digital Strategy for Adobe Canada. “That’s what lots of companies are figuring out right now.”

In a parallel session, Julian Joseph, Senior Product Manager at TELUS outlined how GenAI (and applications like ChatGPT) are effectively just the tip of the digital iceberg. 

The opportunities for new products crossed all sorts of use cases, from content creation to education to professional support and beyond. 

She recommended that organizations produce bespoke applications, those designed that generate the most value based on your company’s internal data and knowledge.

“Your app needs to answer specific questions your organization needs answers for,” she said.

Digital transformation moves slower in massive (energy) companies

The energy industry — particularly oil and gas — carries a reputation as a laggard with adopting innovative new technologies. This is in part due to the sheer size of the companies, cultural inclinations, and a handful of other factors. However, over the last decade digital transformation has finally taken hold in oil and gas in a meaningful way. 

In a panel featuring John Mortimer, CTO at Computer Modelling Group (CMG), Paul Twigg CTO at Digital Commerce Bank, and Editor-in-Chief of ACCELERATE Sarah Coleman, meshies learned that legacy energy companies still face barriers that impede their ability to fully leverage the power of AI and other bleeding edge technologies.

Why?

The panel revealed a few key reasons:

• Security concerns and risk aversion towards new technologies still exist within energy companies.
• Fewer employees are handling more complex work under pressure, making new technology adoption harder.
• The highly regulated nature of the industry often slows innovation.

Mortimer did note that one advantage energy companies have is the massive amount of legacy data that could help them drive transformation, if it was structured to be accessible by AI-powered tools.

That’s why he said the industry’s “the north star” is making its data accessible and then using it to train AI so it can make the entire industry more efficient.

Ultimately, the panelists agreed the key for the future of the sector will come in embracing new technologies and finding ways for them to add value — rather than seeing them as threats.

Digital transformation ultimately comes down to leadership

The final late-afternoon session of mesh Calgary 2024 — ‘Leadership for the future’ — closed the circle on all that had come in the two days before. 

Meghan Donohoe, co-founder, Pebble and Principal, Humane Leadership and Sabrina Sullivan, Strategic Foresight lead with Foresight Factory tied the ultimate success of digital transformation (if not the fate of entire companies) to great leadership.

They started by painting a stark picture of the crisis in leadership, noting that 56% of CEOs believe their businesses will not be viable beyond the next decade without reinvention (with data via a 2024 PwC Global CEO Survey). 

In their words, “leadership as we know it is unsustainable.”

But then they offered a more hopeful view of the future when they made the case there is no one single way to lead. That means there are a whole range of possibilities about how to lead effectively in a time of exponential technological change and disruption. 

To end this year’s Calgary mesh conference, Donohoe left the leaders and future leaders in the audience with a challenge: Step up, embrace discomfort and drastically change the way they look at and plan for the future.

“It’s about the people you bring around you, and the conversations you have, and the questions you ask,” she said. 

On day one of the 2024 mesh conference in Calgary, a spirited group of tech leaders and unorthodox thinkers discussed how to drive innovation in an increasingly chaotic economic and technology climate.

All without a single PowerPoint deck.

mesh 2024 marked the return of the conference to Calgary, after its inaugural Alberta event in 2023. The conference is proudly PowerPoint-free and characterized by intimate conversations that forego bland corporate-speak for real talk about what’s going on in tech and innovation — and what needs to change.

The day one sessions focused on everything from how to build inclusive, innovative teams, to wild use cases for AI (robo investment advice, anyone?), to upcoming regulatory changes that could address consumer privacy in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

The discussions were particularly pertinent given Canada’s well-publicized productivity challenges and the increasingly competitive global battle for investment, talent, and growth.

There were two broad, interconnected themes that defined the day: 1) the importance of diverse, inclusive teams in driving innovation and 2) the risks and opportunities of a largely unregulated AI landscape.

1. There’s (still) enormous work to be done to build diverse, inclusive workplaces. But it’s important we do it right.

There’s a lingering sense that some organizations might be weary of the conversations about DEI. But April Hicke, Chief Growth Officer at Toast, emphasized its value bluntly, “If we don’t have diversity, we simply don’t have innovation. Period.”

Hicke was one of the speakers on a panel titled “How to Build Teams that Fuel Innovation” where the discussion focused on how to create innovative workplaces and teams. Joined by Jodi Kovitz, CEO, Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), Alicia Wight, Co-founder, Pebble, and Avery Francis, CEO of Bloom, the panel mapped out the distance between where most businesses are with DEI — and where they need to go. 

One key insight: Workplace design has to happen at a system level.

“If you do not design for [sustainable, scalable change in your workplace], it will not happen, and it will not move people in the right direction that you’re hoping for, from a behavioural perspective,” said Francis. 

So what should those designs include? 

The panellists had a few key suggestions:

• Understand that it is people’s diversity and divergent perspectives that drive innovation. Kovitz said you must create an environment where you can honestly, openly, and critically debate organizational issues and strategies before decisions are made. 
• Create psychological safety (effectively the ability to take risks and offer opinions without fear of reprisal) for your team members. Hicke said creating a safe space to debate is one of the keys to unlocking high performance in teams. 
• Offer programming to support historically marginalized people in leadership positions, said Francis, and orient around the idea that the best leaders are good at managing and supporting people who have different life experiences. 

The value of this approach was noted in a subsequent ‘Innovation Showcase’ which recognized innovation and digital transformation leaders from under-represented communities across Canada. Many of the people profiled simply didn’t fit the standard issue blueprint of a tech industry leader. 

Claire Dixon is the Founder and CEO of Neuraura, which helps address polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), one of the most common, overlooked and underserved women’s health conditions. As a neurodivergent person, Dixon initially struggled when she immigrated to Canada. Founding her company was a way to find comfort in her own skin. “I started meeting entrepreneurs,” she said. “I found my community and my people.”

Ultimately, as was echoed throughout day one at mesh, a truly inclusive innovation ecosystem is an entirely practical endeavour. There are enormous problems and opportunities in front of us as a country and we need to leverage our entire collective capacity to deal with them.

“We are all born with the ability to figure things out,” says Margo Purcel, CEO of InceptionU, a not-for-profit learning organization that addresses the skills gaps in the digital economy. “How do we approach each other as a society of passion so we can actually solve the challenges we’re facing?”

2. The AI landscape is basically the wild west with few guardrails for consumers or companies — but that might be changing.

The long-standing focus on digital transformation for both private and public organizations has been amplified by the sudden rush to embed artificial intelligence (AI) in almost every sector of the economy. Every organization is now looking at AI for an almost unlimited number of use cases.

As a result, almost no government has been able to keep up with the privacy, regulatory, and innovative implications of the technology.

As just one example: We may actually be on the verge of AI displacing not just routine, repetitive white collar tasks, but high-leverage activities like providing consumer investment advice.

“One of the things that I think is really exciting about what some of these tools around you, call it AI, applied to the robo advisory space, is the ability to actually get personalized financial advising, personalized tax planning, personalized risk management, at a cost that you typically wouldn’t be difficult to achieve,” said Ben Reeves, SVP, Data Science & Engineering at Viewpoint Investment Partners.

AI is eventually going to be deployed in some form, in every country on earth. Without the right frameworks or guardrails, this runs the risk of furthering inequality or harming poorer countries in the interest of wealthier ones. Especially in the near term.

“As AI models are deployed, people from underserved or minority communities need to have a voice and say when AI development is incorrect or harmful to their community,” said Kate Carter, a Manager at Mission Impact Academy, which helps women develop AI skills. “And then companies need to actually listen to them.”

Closer to home, in Canada, more stakeholders – from government to the private sector to academia are putting energy into modernizing the way we think about privacy and AI. 

Canada’s consumer privacy protection act — Bill C-27 — continues to wind its way through the parliamentary process, with the possibility of becoming law sometime in the next 18 months (the bill would ‘die on the order paper’ if the expected federal election is called in late 2025, which would necessitate the new government either reviving it or starting over). The bill would be a critical step in modernizing federal laws around individual privacy and the overall regulatory oversight of technologies like AI, whose impacts we are only now starting to understand. But not everyone is in favour of the government’s approach.

“I’m pretty cynical about the government’s approach to a lot of digital policy, and one of the reasons for that is that it has tended to establish very high level standards and then left it to somebody else to figure out all the details,” said Dr. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law, University of Ottawa. 

Geist suggested corporate responsibility and industry self-regulation may be useful levers to addressing valid public concerns about data privacy and AI.

A final word: Human potential and AI capability are inextricably linked.

As you might expect at a conference focused on innovation, there were skeptics in the audience, particularly with respect to AI. But there were no luddites.

Almost every speaker echoed the need for people to wrestle with AI and how it will impact our society, our jobs and our ability to build the world we want to live in. 

The question that was implicit in seemingly every conversation was “How can we ensure technology — and technology companies — serve people better?”

In the final session of the day, that point was driven home in a keynote discussion with Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee and whistleblower who, in 2021, revealed thousands of documents that made clear that Facebook knew its products were damaging the mental health of teenagers, instigating violence in southeast Asia and Africa, and spreading disinformation. 

Of course, there are just some of the impacts of pre-AI technology. But now the stakes have been raised.

Transparency and accountability advocate Frances Haugen announced as featured speaker for mesh conference, taking place June 11-12, 2024 in Calgary

Social platforms wield significant influence over society as a whole, yet they function with limited transparency. While billions of people use these platforms, only a small fraction really know just how they work on the inside. 

This lack of transparency leaves regulators, concerned citizens, and researchers in the dark, unable to apply their expertise to address the various challenges and harms arising from social platforms.

This important topic will be front and center at the mesh conference, with Frances Haugen taking the stage as a featured speaker.

Renowned whistleblower and advocate for ethical technology, Frances Haugen will join industry leaders, innovators, and stakeholders to explore the intersection of technology, ethics, and society.

Haugen gained international attention for her courageous actions in exposing internal documents at Facebook, revealing critical information about the platform’s impact on society and its handling of user data. Her insights and advocacy have sparked important conversations about the responsibilities of tech companies and the need for greater transparency and accountability in the digital age.

As a featured speaker at the mesh conference, Haugen will share her experiences, insights, and vision for a more ethical and responsible tech industry. Attendees can expect thought-provoking discussions on topics such as privacy, misinformation, algorithmic accountability, and the role of technology in shaping our future.

Focusing on real opportunity, and honest conversations around challenges

The mesh conference is a two-day event that will feature a series of inspiring talks, interactive workshops, and panel discussions that delve into how technology and innovation can be used to augment human capabilities to improve our world.

With a focus on four threads — business, media and technology, society, and marketing — the mesh conference hosts Canadian digital transformation leaders who will meet to connect, share, and inspire others to think about changing the way we think, organize, operate and behave.

Taking place June 11-12, 2024 in Calgary, this year’s theme is focused on “How to spot the opportunity, when to jump, and where to bail,” offering leaders an opportunity to have open and honest conversations about opportunities and challenges.

Haugen will speak to the society thread where mesh will explore the possibilities and challenges of a tech-enabled world with a focus on ethics and impact.

The importance of transparency and accountability in innovation

As a transparency and accountability advocate, Haugen is currently the founder for Beyond the Screen, a non-profit driving systems-level change for social platforms by building an ecosystem of accountability for the industry.

Born in Iowa City, Iowa, she is the daughter of two professors and grew up attending the Iowa caucuses with her parents, instilling a strong sense of pride in democracy and responsibility for civic participation.

Haugen holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Olin College and an MBA from Harvard. She is a specialist in algorithmic product management, having worked on ranking algorithms at Google, Pinterest, Yelp and Facebook. She was recruited to Facebook to be the lead Product Manager on the Civic Misinformation team, which dealt with issues related to democracy and misinformation, and later also worked on counter-espionage.

During her time at Facebook, Frances became increasingly alarmed by the choices the company makes prioritizing their own profits over public safety and putting people’s lives at risk. As a last resort and at great personal risk, Frances made the courageous decision to blow the whistle on Facebook.

The initial reporting was done by the Wall Street Journal in what became known as “The Facebook Files”.

Since going public, Frances has testified in front of the U.S. Congress, UK and EU Parliaments, the French Senate and National Assembly, and has engaged with lawmakers internationally on how to best address the negative externalities of social media platforms.

Frances has filed a series of complaints with the U.S. Federal Government relating to Facebook (now named ‘Meta’) claiming that the company has been misleading the public and investors on how it handles issues such as climate change, misinformation, and hate speech, and the impact of its services on the mental health of children and young adults.

Frances fundamentally believes that the problems we are facing today with social media are solvable, and that we can have social media that brings out the best in humanity.

Don’t miss your chance to see Frances Haugen at the mesh conference, June 11-12, 2024 at Platform Calgary.