Earning Influence: Why Strong Design work doesn't move the room

Welcome Back CCX Sydney to our events for 2026 from myself, Lydia, Sylvia and James and we are planning a bumper selection of speakers for this year. Our next event on August 18th will feature two unique presentations from Designers Dan Whelan and Ariel Blackman
both from Commonwealth Bank.
We will be hosting by the Team at Hipages special thanks to Carlos Guedes and Natalia Furtado.

Our first Talk from CBA Product Design leader, Dan Whelan:
Earning Influence: Why Strong Design Work Doesn't Move the Room

About Dan's Talk
You're doing great work. Decisions move on without you anyway. Here's why — and
what has to be true before that changes.

It's easy to assume that if the work is good enough, it earns its own influence. It doesn't.
Design gets described, by default, in process terms — what was explored, tested, shipped —
while the room is listening for risk, revenue and consequence, meaning how we describe the
work to each other isn't the value our stakeholders want to see. Good work can fail to move a
decision, because how it's described isn't connected to the decision's value.

This talk covers the two things that usually get in the way of making your work land.
First, the translation problem: why the same piece of work, described two different ways, gets
two completely different receptions from your non-designer stakeholders.
Second, the gap underneath: work that fails to land because it was never linked to key
behaviour to start with, it was built around untraceable best practice.
This talk covers both, so the next time you do good work, it doesn't get ignored.

About Dan
Dan Whelan is a design leader with 20 years across companies including Intuit and CommBank,
and some of Australia's most complex financial products. She writes and speaks on decision
quality and behavioural design, helping designers close the gap between doing strong work and having it influence the room.

Our second speaker also from CBA will Ariel Blackman, User Experience Designer on Neurodivergent Strategies

About Ariels talk
Neurospicy Awareness, Acceptance & Strategies
An honest look at life as a neurodivergent designer. Through personal stories and practical strategies, Ariel shares what she's learned about managing overwhelm, working with her brain instead of against it, and embracing self-acceptance along the way. Expect a mix of lived experience, useful tools, and a healthy dose of neurospicy chaos

About Ariel:
Ariel Blackman is a Product Designer with over 10 years of experience creating digital products and experiences. Alongside her design career, she's spent years learning how to navigate life as a neurodivergent person, developing practical tools and strategies to better understand herself, manage overwhelm, and work with her brain rather than against it.

Passionate about sharing lived experiences with honesty, humour, and vulnerability, Ariel enjoys creating spaces where people feel seen, understood, and accepted. She believes that while everyone's experience is different, there is immense value in sharing the strategies and lessons we've learned along the way.

Please note that we will be back at Hipages for our August Event so please familiarise yourself with The location and Start Time. We hope to See you in August and are really looking forward to Hearing from both Dan and Ariel.