The theme of the conference is a bottom-up question, not a top-down command. “What Happens Next?” is the impetus for every great story. J&J leadership aims to inspire its employees to ask the same question every day to become a culture of anticipation, not reaction.

The venue at Manhattan’s South Street Seaport is reconfigured for intimacy and participation. Audience members will see themselves as well as the presenters.

Instead of hermetically-sealed “break-out” rooms, the designers envision a series of tented lounges that are both separate and connected. They are designed to surround the conference hall.

Something new on the Manhattan skyline. The size of a house, this hovering question gets event participants thinking when they’re still blocks away from the venue. The story starts in the street.

Everybody is part of the story of “What Happens Next?” J&Jers weren’t asked to sign a pledge to achieve a new goal at the end of the conference. They signed their names to the question when they walked in.

Conference concierges kit up participants with meeting materials and any back-office help they need. The question mark T-shirts say “Ask Me!” – and also remind J&Jers of the larger question: “What Happens Next?”

Rapid-fire sessions with 25 thought-leaders in communications, design and storytelling began at 20-minute intervals. We wanted J&J people to gather as many provocative ideas as possible. [Clockwise from upper left: J&J Chief Design Officer, Chris Hacker; Nike’s Michael Tchao; School of Visual Arts student, Jennifer Panepinto, whose products are featured at Target; and National Public Radio’s Ira Glass.]

Between rapid-fire presentations, the tented lounges serve as casual “decompression chambers” where people relax and talk over ideas. Big hassocks and gossamer curtains encourage informality.

The team designs non linear ways of presenting data to provoke attendees into making serendipitous connections. The factoids aren’t the point. “Digital” isn’t the point. Thought leadership is putting 2 + 2 together in new ways. Animations like this along with books and films provided constant stimulus for the participants.

A handbook was given to participants to record key learnings and moments of inspiration. It also provided a visual system for the audience to give instant feedback to the speakers. An exclamation point signaled “got it!” A question mark suggested “…huh?”

The whole conference summed up on T-shirts. All 500 attendees wrote their personal stories and wore them. Sparking conversation among unfamiliar colleagues is an evergreen corporate meeting goal. But for J&J, the sum of all T-shirts answered the CMO’s challenge: How should we use digital technology? Answer: By helping nurses, doctors and patients share their stories and connect with each other.