GEL Conference

Creative Good

The world's best customer experience conference. Since 2003.

Gel 2016 will be Wed-Fri, May 11-13, 2016 in New York.
Sign up / Agenda / What is Gel? / Videos

Since its first event in 2003, Gel has always introduced attendees to customer experience innovators — first. Gel was the first major stage for Wikipedia, Marissa Mayer, Khan Academy, Improv Everywhere, Ze Frank, among others. Other notable speakers include Ira Glass, Craig Newmark, Seth Godin, and more. Sign up here for Gel 2016.

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Gel 2015 Speakers

Gel 2015 was Thur-Fri, April 23-24, 2015 in New York.

Our theme for Gel 2015 was "impact": we explored people, projects, and teams that go beyond the intent or idea of creating a good experience - they actually do it. What are the aspects of good experience that make for real-world success? We learned from the brilliant speakers below.

  • Jonathan Wegener

    Jonathan Wegener,
    CEO, Timehop

    Creator of a wildly successful mobile app and community.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Nancy Lublin

    Nancy Lublin,
    CEO, Crisis Text Line

    Leading and growing a vital program that counsels teens through crisis - via text message.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Andy Baio

    Andy Baio,
    Writer, entrepreneur, host of XOXO Festival

    An acute observer (and creator) of technology with a unique perspective on digital experience.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Lou Shapiro

    Lou Shapiro,
    CEO, Hospital for Special Surgery

    Leading one of the top-rated hospitals in the world - and creating a world-class patient experience.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Jordyn Lexton

    Jordyn Lexton,
    Founder, Drive Change

    Building and running food trucks with formerly incarcerated youth.

     Watch Gel Video

  • David Segal

    David Segal,
    "The Haggler" columnist, New York Times

    Exploring how companies treat customers well, or not - and what to do about it.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Nikki Sylianteng

    Nikki Sylianteng,
    Founder, To Park Or Not To Park

    Sharing her vastly improved design of parking signs with cities worldwide.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Paul Murphy

    Paul Murphy,
    CEO, Dots

    Leading the team that created one of the most successful iPhone games in history.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Jason Saenz

    Jason Saenz,
    writer and comedian

    Adding surprise and delight to the urban landscape.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Omar Ishaq

    Omar Ishaq,
    Radiation Oncologist, NYU

    Bringing the patient experience into better focus.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Leland Maschmeyer and Brett Renfer / Collins

    Leland Maschmeyer and Brett Renfer,
    Founder and Director of Experience Design, Collins

    Reinventing how brands are built in an experience-driven era.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Michael Hearst

    Michael Hearst,
    composer, musician, and author

    Writing music to cure the fear of flying, spotlight unusual creatures, and improve the ice cream truck.

     Watch Gel Video

  • Mark Hurst

    Mark Hurst,
    Gel conference founder and host; Creative Good founder and CEO

    Curating Gel since 2003.

Friday Deep-Dive Experiences

On Friday at Gel 2015, attendees participated in the experiences below, hosted at venues around New York City.

  • betaworks

    Succeeding in mobile: hosted by Betaworks' creative director James Cooper (@koopstakov), and featuring Kuan Huang (@huangkuan), CEO of Poncho, and Adam Leibsohn (@adamcl), COO of Giphy.

  • The Hired Guns

    Impact at work: A discussion about applying Gel learnings when you get back to work, hosted by Allison Hemming, founder and president of The Hired Guns.

  • Prehype

    Problem-solving workshop: Harvard Business Press author Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg taught participants a powerful new problem-solving tool and gave them the chance to apply it to one of their own current business (or personal) challenges.

  • Etsy

    Creativity workshop hosted in Etsy Labs, and led by Noah Scalin. Past attendees called this workshop "compelling and eye-opening" and said, "I learned how to get my team on a mission to discover their creativity daily."

  • Noah Scalin

    The creator of Skull-A-Day, and a past Gel speaker (see video), Noah Scalin hosted the workshop at Etsy, exploring how creative practice at work can change lives and build resilient organizations.

  • Centre for Social Innovation

    Unlocking the potential of a network: This interactive exercise showed participants how to identify and empower the potential within a community or network. Presented by Eli Malinsky, Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation NYC.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

Gel was made possible in part by our friends at Slack and Dropbox.

  • slack

    Our opening party on Wednesday at Gel 2015 was sponsored by Slack.
    Twitter: @SlackHQ

  • Dropbox

    Lunch on Thursday at Gel 2015 was sponsored by Dropbox.
    Twitter: @Dropbox

More: Sign up for Gel 2016 / Agenda / What is Gel? / Videos

Sponsorship inquiries: emailus@creativegood.com