Call for Case Studies
We’re very happy to announce that we will be holding the second Advancing Service Design conference: Advancing Service Design 2025! The conference will take place virtually November 19-20; it is curated by Patrick Quattlebaum and Ben Reason, and produced by Rosenfeld Media.
As with our inaugural event, we will bring together a diverse group of speakers and participants to dialogue on how service design is advancing as a practice to realize value for people and organizations amidst complexity and change.
Our frame for this year’s conversation is service design’s role in creating high-performing organizations that navigate complexity and maximize value creation through adaptivity, innovation, and continuous improvement. We know service design offers principles and practices that can help organizations achieve these objectives and deliver measurable outcomes at varying scales, from individual services to enterprise-wide systems to broader value networks.
We’re interested in hearing new perspectives on how service design is advancing as a practice within this context. Have you demonstrated value to colleagues who focus on improving performance of services, redesigning the organization’s operating system, or integrating multiple organizations into a high-performing network? Have you been able to define or impact business performance—commercial, financial, efficiencies—by creating or bringing in new approaches that push the boundaries of service design practice?
Whether you identify as a service designer or something else entirely, we encourage you to submit a proposal (see form below) to present a short case study at our second Advancing Service Design. Specifically, we’re seeking case studies that demonstrate how service design engages with and impacts performance:
- Organizational performance: Navigating tensions related to integrating service orientation into efforts intended to create a high-performing organization. How have you helped your organization overcome barriers to the performance of service in new and different ways?
- Service performance: Advancing how service design influences and responds to hard business performance goals such as growth, revenue, cost, or other mission-critical factors. Where has your team owned, driven, or been closely aligned with performance metrics when creating or continuously improving services?
We anticipate that these presentations will run approximately 20 minutes (not including Q&A).
Do you have a rich story to tell, or even a formal case study? Then please submit a proposal to speak by completing the form below. Submissions are due by EOD Monday, July 14.
Important notes for prospective presenters:
- Our presentation preparation process is unusual: Our speakers prepare their presentations over the course of 2-3 months in a highly iterative, collaborative process. You’ll be part of a speaker cohort, getting and providing feedback to your fellow presenters with the aid of our curators and a speaker coach. It’s work that requires your commitment (and if it’s not honored, we’ll have to replace you). But it also offers a rare opportunity to delve into your idea with lots of support and the benefit of time. You’ll ultimately be positioned to give a great presentation, maybe your best yet—whether you’re new to speaking or a seasoned presenter.
- Diverse perspectives are required, not a nice-to-have: You don’t advance a field by recycling the same voices and perspectives again and again. So we employ our CFP to uncover people from underrepresented groups and others who, for various reasons, haven’t presented frequently. Whether or not you intend to make a proposal here, please also encourage others who might not ordinarily consider speaking to submit a proposal.
- Our CFP asks a lot. We appreciate your spending time to seriously communicate your case study: its context, problem statement, and outcomes. Also note that we request DEI information as part of your proposal, and employ a double-blind review process–so please don’t include personally identifying information in your submission except where we request it.
- What happens next. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll receive a complimentary ticket to the conference and a complimentary one-year Gold subscription to the Rosenverse after completing your presentation (remember, it’s virtual, so no travel required). We’ll also promote you and your case study, and help you develop it. If your proposal is not accepted, we’ll let you know by mid-August.
Remember that the deadline to submit is EOD Monday, July 14. Contact the Rosenfeld team ([email protected]) with questions.
