I've been the creative lead on B2B content and event design for IonQ (quantum computing), Verizon, and OPPO. From content (videos, images, one-pagers, etc), stands, booths (big and small), and event pages, to Keynote presentations. For events like MWC, SuperCompute, and the SuperBowl. I'm probably missing a few things. For B2B I've designed, amongst other things, lapel pins and challenge coins to help tell the story and celebrate achievements.

While doing that I've worked hands-on and given direction to agencies, freelancers, and junior/senior designers by making sure that feedback is concrete and actionable. I've presented plans to leadership and defended design decisions. At the same time, I've pivoted and flexed where needed to accommodate new information and other changes. Which, in the case of events, more often than not come fast furious.

I think the key to successful projects in B2B events (and other design projects) is clear communication (err on the side of overcommunication), trust and collaboration, being openminded to possible solutions, and having a clear vision for what story the brand is trying to tell.

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I'm so used to RTBs and KSP that I sometimes forget the value of prose and just dive into the bullet pointed lists. And maybe bullet points help avoid assumptions since you don't have to add your own perspective to it.

Anthropic is appealing to me because it combines a few things that I like: a responsible business, a strong brand, and a complicated tech story.

From a tech perspective I think current LLMs are a huge step towards democratizing knowledge. The internet definitely opened up a lot of knowledge to being shared, but if you're not growing up in circumstances that allow you to understand that knowledge then it's basically still inaccessible. LLMs are a major step towards universalizing knowledge and a step towards solving Stephen Gould's quote: "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."

When I read Dario Amodei's Machines of Loving Grace I think that's a vision that's shared at Anthropic. At the same time, I'm a fan of the fact that he puts some brakes on the wilder flights of imagination that new technologies bring with them. Reminding me of Bill Gates' quote (paraphrasing): we tend to overestimate the changes that technology can bring in the next 5 years and underestimate what changes they can bring in 10 years.

But at the same time that's the benefit. And it doesn't tell the story of the underlying technology. I love digging into the complicated underpinnings of technologies, working with engineers and product managers, to tell the story of amazing technologies that they're advancing. I like working across the organization to collaborate with domain experts. Both learning from them and being able to create access points to their deep expertise. Simplifying knowledge is interesting, but at the same you get a little bit of Lies-To-Children/Wittgenstein's ladder.

From a brand perspective I like that brand carries the human hand in a lot of the brand expressions. In that sense, although I love Dwell magazine and would love to inhabit some of those spaces, I think there's a story value to seeing lived spaces like in Apartamento magazine. To me that will be the interesting part of telling Anthropic's story at events. Having all the technology, the business value and use cases, and then at the same time telling a story of human benefit. Like I read in the FT recently. Part of the power of AIs is empowering people to tell their story in a way that they were never able to before. (I'll have to find the article/author)

That's a little bit of why I like Anthropic and LLMs.

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I've been an all-round designer for a majority of my career, working on web, print, videos, XR, events, and more. I think when it comes to any touchpoint the core elements remain the same. From the visual point of view, typography, art direction, a sense for balance, and a rigorous search for beauty. From the perspective of content, it's a matter of understanding the audience, embracing the company's story, and making sure that the story told is compelling and resonates.

In marketing and branding I think it's important to approach design from the perspective of an audience. An audience that doesn't have much time and is always ready to walk away. When adopting that perspective, it becomes easy to sharpen storytelling, simplify design decisions, and make sure the story connects. I would love to bring a holistic audience-first perspective to Anthropic's events team.