Yesterday, I had the chance to get back on stage — properly, after quite a while — at The Outlook 2025 conference in Melbourne. The last time I spoke on a big stage like this was back in Warsaw in 2018. Since then, aside from a panel at Friends of Figma earlier this year, I hadn’t truly stepped back into the energy of a design conference.
It turns out, I missed it more than I realised.
Outlook is a day built around inspiration, possibility, and connection — the kind of event that reminds you why you fell in love with product and design in the first place. And, for me, why I love sharing stories and experiences with an audience.
How This Came Together
Alex Burke and I connected back in January. I didn’t know his full background at the time, but the conversation just clicked — we bounced around topics of industry maturity, leading transformations, moving countries with our families, and growing design and research practices. Before long, 45 minutes had flown by, and we had to wrap up.
A few months later, Alex reached back out:
“Want to do a fireside chat at Outlook?”
I paused. I’d just signed on as Director of UX at Cochlear, and Outlook was in the second week of my new role. Plus, I had already booked unpaid leave for a holiday straight after. It felt risky. But my leader gave me the green light, and I’m so glad he did.
One of the best moments of the day came when I met a cochlear implant recipient — he received the cochlear implant in the mid-1980s and the 10th person in the world to receive it — who shared how the implant changed his life. He talked about the challenges of finding a suitable place to receive one, and how it eventually brought him to Melbourne. He also showed me an app he had created, SignHow, designed to help the deaf community communicate more easily. (The app was created by Nikhil Bora.) Meeting him was incredibly inspiring, and his encouragement about my new role at Cochlear meant the world.
The Rest of the Day
The conference itself was buzzing — Grant and the entire Outlook team put together an incredible program. The rooms were packed to standing-room-only, for both the product and design streams. Huge credit to Grant for orchestrating everything, and to the whole crew who made speakers feel so supported and well-prepped.
I’d planned to catch the opening product talks, but they were full, so I slipped into Simon Bank’s talk, “Curiosity Killed the Cats.” It was fantastic — he walked us through his process as a creator, pausing at two paintings to unpack not only what the artist meant to convey, but what he perceived, and how hidden narratives shift if you look closer. One was The Bacchanal of the Andrians by Titian, the other Nighthawks by Edward Hopper. It was a living example of curiosity, something I deeply believe is a crucial leadership skill.
After that, I watched Tim and Vivian — both former interns from Atlassian whom I had the pleasure to work with — which is always amazing to see. Their talk, “Embracing Uncertainty: Experimentation as a Design Superpower,” was a standout. They explored how experimentation goes beyond just A/B testing, tying it back to being clear on your goals, learning from experiments even if you don’t fully achieve them, and staying curious about how ideas resonate. One of the highlights was their own live experiment: testing if playing a song during a key point would help it stick in people’s minds. It worked brilliantly and was a proud moment to watch them own the stage.
Next, I caught “Is Design Dead? The Commodification of Design and Building for Love” by Figma Advocate Corey Lee, which really challenged how we think about differentiation and emotion in our work. Corey made a compelling point about love — about building for emotion and not letting design become purely a commodity. That really got me thinking about how, while we all admire leaders like Apple, many people follow their patterns not just by choice, but because marketplace rules, human interface guidelines, and platform requirements often push teams to align. That isn’t always a bad thing: reusable components and familiar interactions help people move faster and make experiences easier to learn. Reinventing the wheel for the sake of a “vibe” alone can sometimes undermine trust.
On Stage
After those inspiring sessions, it was finally time to step on stage myself for our fireside chat, “The Path to Leadership: Authenticity, Visibility, and Impact.”
This whole conversation came together thanks to Alex reconnecting after our January chat. He suggested we take that conversation — about leadership, transitions, and visibility — to the Outlook stage. I couldn’t resist, even though it meant stepping away from my second week at Cochlear, and I’m so glad I did.
The chat was short but powerful. We covered what it means to grow from being heads-down on the tools to leading people, products, and processes. We explored how to stay visible, how to keep evolving, and how to be authentic — not by oversharing, but by aligning with your values and guardrails.
Alex is an approachable, humble CEO, and his openness throughout our prep and on stage really stood out. He reinforced that storytelling is critical to leadership, whether with your team or your board. I know he’ll be someone I reach out to again for advice in my new role or future roles, given his experience navigating the spotlight and steering complex organizations.
A Fun Reunion
A highlight was bumping into former Atlassian colleagues I hadn’t seen in years — swapping stories and catching up on where life had taken us. We even stepped out for a jasmine tea to get some fresh air, which was the perfect pause before diving back in. Plus, I jumped into the photo booth for a quick snap to capture the energy of the day.
Looking Ahead
Coming back to a conference like this made me realise I’d stepped away from it partly because I felt my old talks had lost relevance. The industry moved on, and so did I. But being there reignited a spark. There are new stories to tell. New ideas to shape. And a new generation of designers, researchers, and product folks ready to engage in those conversations.
I’m excited to start working on those next topics — maybe even inspired by this blog itself.
If you were there in the room — or even if you weren’t — and have ideas or themes you’d love to hear me speak about, please reach out. Let’s build something together.
And once again, huge thanks to Alex, Grant, and everyone at The Outlook for making this such a meaningful return to the stage.