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PRESENTED BY
Michael Carducci
Software Architect & Magician
Being a tech leader means balancing vision, strategy, and innovation—yet too often, the administrative burden of the role becomes a persistent obstacle, especially for those who found themselves thrust into leadership accidentally or reluctantly. If you're a technical expert navigating the transition into leadership, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by information overload, endless meetings, follow-ups, and scattered responsibilities.
In this practical, immediately applicable full day workshop, Michael introduces the Digital Knowledge Management (DKM) Tech Leader Toolbox—a proven approach to taming the chaos and reclaiming your clarity, productivity, and sanity. Leveraging Tiago Forte's “Building a Second Brain” methodology combined with powerful tools like Logseq, you'll learn structured workflows to capture, organize, distill, and effortlessly retrieve critical information exactly when you need it.
You'll discover how to streamline meeting notes, simplify administrative tasks, track decisions and outcomes, hold your self and your team accountable, and build your personal leadership knowledge base. With these tools and techniques, you'll not only master the administrative aspects of your role but transform them into a powerful advantage. Join us and take control of your leadership journey today!
Michael Carducci
Michael Carducci spent years learning to see things as they actually are; first as a magician, then as a software architect, now as both simultaneously. And somehow that’s not even the whole story.
He’s the author of Mastering Software Architecture (Apress, 2025) and is currently writing The Semantic Layer (Packt, 2026). He has spent over 25 years following interesting problems; through roles from individual contributor to CTO and back again, across industries and continents.
As a speaker, he applies the same toolkit he uses in close-up magic: attention, misdirection, timing, storytelling, and the instinct to take the long way around when that’s where the truth lives. Audiences at hundreds of conferences across four continents have described his talks as the kind that change how you think about a problem rather than just what you know about it.
He also makes YouTube videos about technology and curiosity with his wife Kate, because some ideas are too important (or too interesting!) to leave only in conference rooms.
More from Michael
ALL SESSIONS ↗Innovation: Why the Majority Is Always Wrong
If everyone agrees with you, you’re probably not innovating, you’re just conforming faster. History’s breakthroughs rarely came from consensus; they came from heretics, hackers, and the hopelessly curious. In this talk, Michael Carducci takes aim at the myth of collective wisdom and explores why the crowd is almost always optimized for the past. Through stories of misfits who changed the world—from computing pioneers to magicians who reinvented wonder; Carducci reveals the hidden patterns of real innovation: discomfort, doubt, and persistence in the face of polite disbelief.
Why AI Acceleration Keeps Slowing You Down
AI is accelerating software development at an unprecedented pace, but many teams are discovering a frustrating reality: faster coding isn’t translating into faster delivery. The reason is counterintuitive. When you accelerate one part of a system, you don’t improve the system... you stress it. More code becomes more review, more coordination, more cognitive load, and ultimately, less flow.
Effective Leadership - The Six Principles of Persuasion
Whether you want to effect culture change in your organization, lead the transition toward a new technology, or simply get more out of your team; you must first understand that having a “good idea” is simply the beginning. An idea must be communicated; a case must be made. Communicating that case well is as important, if not more so, than the strength of the idea itself.
The Innovation Playbook
Statistically speaking, you are most probably an innovator. Innovators actively seek out new ideas, technologies, and mental models by reading books, interacting with a broader social circle, and *attending conferences.* While you may leave this conference with the seed of an idea that has the potential to transform your teams, products, and organization; the battle has only begun. While, as a potential changeagent, you are ideally positioned to conceive of the powerful new ideas, you may be powerless to drive the change that leads to adoption. Your success requires the innovation to *diffuse* outward and become adopted. This is the _art_ of Innovation.
The Semantic Strategy For AI
Gartner just declared the semantic layer a non-negotiable foundation for AI. Most of the industry responded with a blank stare. This presentation is the answer to that blank stare.
Two and a half days with the people writing the playbook.
Insightful sessions, inspiring ideas, and meeting your peers — the skills and methods that take your organization to the next level.