Serve up design at Ringling

The International Service Design + Tourism Conference, which launched last year in Austria, will make its U.S. debut in Sarasota Nov. 7.

The conference, at the Ringling College of Art and Design from Nov. 7-9, includes speakers from 15 countries who will focus on brand design topics, conference spokeswoman Michelle Bauer says. “We are in the age of the empowered customer,” Bauer tells Coffee Talk. “It is no longer OK to develop the near-perfect customer experience.”

The road to that perfect experience includes keynote presentations from two global leaders in service design: Simon Bradley, vice president of marketing, North America, for Virgin Atlantic, and Hyatt Hotels Corp. Vice President of Global Innovation Jonathan Frolich. Bradley will talk about how Virgin designed a world-class air travel experience, while Frolich will talk about how to design new experiences in hospitality. The presentations are scheduled for 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 9.