Professional Development Sessions - POP into Excellence

Exceptional dealer designers brought far more to the table than technical expertise. They led conversations, solved complex challenges, communicated across teams, understood the business behind every project, and continued growing throughout their careers. Professional development remained the foundation that transformed talented designers into trusted advisors and influential leaders.

During the first week of POP into Excellence, attendees explored the skills that drive long-term success—from teamwork and financial literacy to onboarding, communication, personal branding, and creative renewal. These sessions helped designers strengthen their impact, elevate their careers, and create greater value for their clients, dealerships, and the industry as a whole.

Design Under Pressure: How Top Teams Deliver When It Counts

PANELISTS:

• Alena Fizudeen, Account Manager at CI Group
• John Toups, VP of Design at Frost Barber
• Kelly Bone, Senior Project Designer at Hyphn 

FACILITATED BY:

• Ali Oxley, Senior Director of Sales Success at OFS
• Alexandra Tseffos, Founder of The Design POP + Silent T Consulting

Behind every successful project is a team navigating tight timelines, shifting expectations, incomplete information, evolving client needs, and constant collaboration across roles. While every dealership experiences pressure, the strongest teams have learned how to work through it together—with better communication, clearer processes, and a shared understanding of what success looks like at every phase of a project. Just as importantly, high-performing teams don’t simply react to challenges as they arise—they anticipate them early, identify potential gaps before they escalate, and proactively create systems that keep projects moving forward.

During this opening panel discussion, sponsored by OFS, we bring together voices from across the dealership ecosystem to explore what really happens behind the scenes—from the initial sales conversation to design development, specification, ordering, installation, punch, and client follow-up. Rather than focusing on where projects fail, this discussion will highlight how strong teams create alignment across departments, navigate complexity together, and deliver a better experience for both clients and internal teams.

Financial Literacy for Dealer Designers

SPEAKER: Charles Zulli, Principal Consultant at Unalome Consulting

If you attended POP into Excellence 2024 or 2025, you probably remember Charles Zulli’s memorable message about protecting designer FLOW — the uninterrupted creative focus designers need to do their best work. Charles is back for another candid and insightful conversation, this time tackling a topic that directly impacts every dealership and every designer: financial literacy.

Designers influence far more than aesthetics and specifications. From workflow efficiency and accuracy to product selection and project execution, design teams play a critical role in the financial success of a dealership. Yet many of the financial terms and operational decisions designers encounter every day are rarely explained in a meaningful way.

In this practical session, we’ll unpack concepts including furniture leasing, depreciation, margin vs. markup, GP, gross vs. net, and net installed margin — including why these numbers matter to designers. We’ll also discuss why dealers participate in buying groups and how processes like double-checking, workflow management, and accuracy directly affect profitability, risk, and client satisfaction.

More importantly, this session is designed to help designers better understand how dealerships operate financially so they can make stronger decisions, communicate more strategically with sales and leadership, and increase their influence inside the organization. Along the way, we’ll answer some of the bigger questions designers often ask themselves every day, including: Why are we really doing so many double checks?

From Hire to High Performance: Dealer Designer Onboarding That Sticks

 PANELISTS:

• Becky Pippenger, Design Director at MOI
• Lisa Selan, Senior Design Operations Lead at Young Office
• Rebecca Beauchamp, Senior Designer/Account Manager at Apex Facility Resources
• Sarah Farag, Design Team Lead at Office Revolution

FACILITATED BY:  Alexandra Tseffos, Founder of The Design POP + Silent T Consulting

Bringing on a new designer takes far more than handing over logins and scheduling CET training. Great onboarding is a deliberate process that blends HR essentials, technology training, mentorship, cultural integration, and skill development—while adapting to where each new hire is starting.

In this panel discussion, dealer design leaders will share how they onboard designers across a variety of scenarios.  We’ll explore how teams assess skill levels, determine what training comes first, balance systems training with real-world application, and create onboarding experiences that accelerate confidence, productivity, and long-term success.

Values-Driven Design: Aligning Your Career with What Matters Most

SPEAKERS: Aga Artka & Jenny Rebholz

Authors of The Brand of You - The Ultimate Guide for an Interior Designer’s Career Journey

This mini-workshop helps participants uncover their core values and explore how those values can inform their own unique personal brands and guide their career decisions. As a vehicle to assist in moments of transition and life changes, The Brand of You can be critical in pursuit of happiness and professional success. Through reflection and storytelling, and practical exercises, attendees will be inspired to align their professional lives with what matters most to them.

Conscious Communication: Skills to Create Strong Professional Ties

SPEAKER: Dr. Kibibi Springs, Vice President of Workplace Experience at Hightower

This personal development session will explore the fundamentals of a Conscious Conversation, covering active listening, emotional regulation, and empathy. Attendees will learn techniques to truly hear and understand others, manage emotions effectively, and foster deeper connections. The goal is to elevate communication skills and transform daily interactions into meaningful exchanges that build trust, collaboration, mutual understanding, and purpose.

In the Margins: A Creative Reset for Designers

SPEAKER: Rebekah Jacobi Design Director at Pivot Interiors & Artist at Lavender Canyon Co.

Not every designer gets to fully tap into their creativity at work. Deadlines, customer expectations, and production demands can leave little room for creating simply for the joy of it — but that creative part of you still matters.

Join Rebekah Jacobi, Design Director by day and painter by night, for a creative reset designed to help you reconnect with creativity outside of work expectations. As we close out the first week of POP into Excellence, this session invites you to slow down, experiment, and create without pressure or the need for perfection.

 What You’ll Need

• Colored pencils, markers, or even your kids’ well-loved crayons.
• A comfortable place to relax and create.
• An open mind! This isn’t about perfection, but experimentation, play, and reconnecting with creativity. 

Included With Registration

• The first 50 registrants will receive three printed cards featuring Rebekah’s artwork mailed directly to them (you will be asked for your address at check out). 
• All additional registrants will receive downloadable versions to print and use during the session.