Leadership Summits

LOCATION & DATES

  • Atlanta, GA | January 30, 2025
  • San Francisco, CA | February 27, 2025
  • New York, NY | March 20, 2025
  • Chicago, IL | April 24, 2025
  • Pittsburgh, PA | Coming Soon
Apply for summit

Your Sponsor and Host

Knapsack summits are one-day meet-ups for a small group of engineering, product, and design leaders who want to connect with and be inspired by peers and experts. Share challenges, develop relationships, and learn from the people whose work you admire in a shared safe space. Attendees will go home with the know-how to affect change and lead their teams towards achieving what used to feel impossible, a fresh perspective, new relationships, and actionable insights to make their efforts support other strategic imperatives, including:

  • Create a high-performing team culture

  • Attract, onboard, and retain top talent

  • Ensure teams are shipping consistent, accessible, on-brand products and features across complex product ecosystems

  • Improve collaboration across design, engineering, and product orgs working in different locations and timezones

  • Support company’s growth targets and metrics

Is the Leadership Summit for you?

Leadership summits are for engineering, product, and design leaders—not frontline managers or makers. With less than 30 spots available at each summit, everyone will be part of the conversation and everyone's voice will be heard.

How to attend

Leadership Summits are by application, nomination or direct invitation only and is intentionally limited less than 30 attendees. This event is carefully and exclusively curated for engineering, product, and design leaders. Once your application is approved, you’ll receive a confirmation email.

Registration details

Your attendance is of NO COST and includes catered snacks and happy hour.

You or your company will be responsible for accommodations and transportation costs.

Past & Future Speakers

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Dan Mall

Founder, Design Systems University and Author of Design that Scales

All
Future
LinkedIn
Chris Strahl

CEO at Knapsack

All
Future
LinkedIn
Nathan Curtis

Design system consultant at Directed Edges

All
Past
LinkedIn
Dana Lawson

CTO at Netlify

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Past
LinkedIn
Ben Callahan

Founder of Sparkbox

All
Future
LinkedIn
Jennie Yip

Design Architect at Atlassian

All
Future
LinkedIn

What to expect

Designed to be a relaxed, fun, and vulnerable day of conversations, not a conference. Our intention is to create a safe space that's conducive to honest discussion and learning from our peers.

Expert insights

Summit attendees are all experts in their field. You can expect to learn from and be inspired by EPD leaders with many years of leadership expertise.

Authentic connections

Get to know other engineering, product, and design leaders. Create connections and community that will thrive well beyond your time at the summit.

Experiences to renew and refocus

Designed for relaxed networking, wine tasting and happy hour following a day of meaningful discussion promises an evening to unwind, socialize, and connect with fellow leaders.

Moderated workshops and discussions

Share challenges and co-create solutions with peers in workshops and discussions guided by thought leaders and seasoned experts.

Location & Dates

  • Atlanta, GA | January 30, 2025
  • San Francisco, CA | February 27, 2025
  • New York, NY | March 20, 2025

  • Chicago, IL | April 24, 2025

  • Pittsburgh, PA | Coming Soon
Apply for summit

Sample Agenda

30 minutes

Introductions

90 minutes

Opening Panel led by Chris Strahl

30 minutes

Networking, Snacks, and Drinks

45 minutes

Presentation with Guest Speaker

60 minutes

Knapsack Presentation

90 minutes

Closing Workshop

60 minutes

Happy Hour and Networking

What previous attendees say

I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from such talented peers. Engaging with fellow design system leaders continually reinforces the importance of both people and process in scaling sustainable front-end design and development.

And that event was great! I learned a lot and connected with some great new folks in the industry.

The Knapsack team provided a great experience!

Multiple conversations ongoing post event!

I loved how small and focused it was - great opportunity to connect with and learn from others who are dealing with the same problems

I’m not alone in the challenges I’m facing!

A lot of validation that it’s good to slow down and take your time. It was great to connect with so many people!

The event was awesome… Can’t wait for the next one!

A chance to spend all day in a room with design system leaders and trade stories? Yes please!

Stepping outside your box and gaining perspective can work wonders. Not only did I make some amazing new connections, I gained confidence and learned that my knowledge of design systems can be applied to Strategy and Operations roles on design systems teams at an enterprise scale.

Huge shoutout to the team at Knapsack: Chris Strahl, Evan Lovely, Lindsay Jones, Andrew Rohman and team absolutely knocked it out of the park. I highly recommend getting out and attending one of their upcoming events!

Meeting like-minded individuals passionate about design systems was pretty energizing.

That summit was like popping into a room of professional soulmates.

Frequently asked questions

What can I expect?

This day is intentionally designed to provide an extended period of concentrated discussion, dialogue, and strategic thinking. Unlike a conference, attendees can expect to be fully engaged and involved in every aspect of the conversations.

What will I learn at the summit?

Attendees will come away with a fresh perspective, new relationships, and actionable insights to make their digital production efforts support other strategic imperatives, including:

  • Create a high-performing team culture

  • Attract, onboard, and retain top talent

  • Ensure teams are shipping consistent, accessible, on-brand products and features across complex product ecosystems

  • Improve collaboration across design, engineering, and product orgs working in different locations and timezones

  • Support company’s growth targets and metrics

When and where is it?

The leadership summits take place monthly in every major city in the US. On the application, you'll be able to specify which event you'd like to attend. If your city is not listed, reach out to us at hello@knapsack.cloud to request we come to you.

Are you able to accommodate guests with accessibility needs or dietary restrictions?

Yes. Once your application has been accepted, we will be in touch to confirm any accessibility needs or dietary restrictions.

Can I take work meetings during the summit?

If you aren’t able to be present for the entire time, we encourage you to leave that spot for someone who is invested in attending the full summit.

Can I invite other leaders from my company?

If you'd like to bring 1-2 additional peers from your company, we are allowing this on a case-by-case basis. Reach out to hello@knapsack.cloud with your request.

Did we miss something?

Reach out to hello@knapsack.cloud for any other questions or concerns. We’d love to hear from you!

Still have a question?

Reach out to us to learn more about our events or platform.

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Ready to learn how Knapsack can help your team create a single source of truth?

Knapsack listed as a trusted vendor in 3 Gartner Hype Cycles

A design system is one of the most important strategic assets for an organization that builds and configures digital products.”

-Gartner, Hype Cycle for User Experience, August 10, 2023

Knapsack listed as a trusted vendor in 3 Gartner Hype Cycles

A design system is one of the most important strategic assets for an organization that builds and configures digital products.”

-Gartner, Hype Cycle for User Experience, August 10, 2023