Design Lab
Design Lab is a live coaching and design consulting session where Erica Marx works with a guest on an event, workshop, retreat, or stakeholder process they are designing.
The session is livestreamed and recorded so others can observe the process as it unfolds and revisit it later. People who attend live also join a backstage conversation before and after the livestream to reflect on the design choices they observed, ask questions, and apply insights to their own work.
Upcoming Livestreams
Attending live puts you in the room as it happens. After the recording ends, the audience joins Erica and the guest directly, to ask questions, share what landed, and go deeper into the design decisions you just watched get made.
TBD
Past Livestreams
Live Design with Sebnem & Nina
In this lab, colleagues from Cornell's Global Hubs Initiative worked through the redesign of their 2-day network meeting for leaders and colleagues from roughly 20 partner universities worldwide.
The lab moved the conversation from format questions to the design problem underneath them, clarifying what participants need to leave with and what structure makes that possible across time zones. Erica introduced the unconferencing model so participants shape the working sessions themselves rather than sitting inside a fixed agenda, proposed pre- and post-event touchpoints to extend the meeting's value beyond the live days, and pushed the platform decision toward familiarity over features so technical friction doesn't compete with the work.
—Nina Chaopricha & Sebnem Ozkan
Global Hubs Initiative, Cornell University
Nina Chaopricha and Sebnem Ozkan from Cornell's Global Hubs initiative joined this Design Lab to redesign their biennial in-person gathering as a fully virtual event. Global Hubs connects Cornell with international strategic partners across 26 universities in 13 locations, spanning senior leadership, student exchange staff, collaborative researchers, and topic-based affinity groups.
The event moved from in-person to virtual, and the design had to work across time zones, mix synchronous and asynchronous content, and leave 200 people with concrete next steps for collaboration.
Live Design with Robin Fox
In this live design lab, facilitator and coach Erica Marx works with educator and improv actor Robin Fox as she shapes a 10‑week certificate program on facilitation grounded in nervous system awareness and embodiment. Together they clarify the program’s focus, pacing, and arc of learning so participants can truly integrate what they learn. The session explores how to design experiences that help facilitators stay grounded, responsive, and inclusive, while drawing on neurodiversity, applied improvisation, and embodied presence.
—Robin Fox M.Ed.,
Social Emotional Learning Educator, Meditator, and Improv Actor
Robin Fox is a social emotional learning educator, lifelong meditator, applied improvisation practitioner, and professional actor whose work sits at the intersection of nervous system awareness, neurodiversity, mindfulness, and human connection.
Live Design with Alex Levinton
Alex Levinton, writer and facilitator, brought a 3-hour workshop supporting journalists' creativity, mental health, and resilience. Erica and Alex mapped a clear flow, moved key exercises into pre-work, structured three focused segments, and built in concrete on-the-call action steps.
