Minneapolis, the start of AGM season, and a reminder that perfect design must work in the room.
AGM season can feel like swimming in slides. As designers, we chase aesthetics and perfection. But an AGM is a live event. People speak, cross a stage, sit in panels, pass mics. Design has to support that tempo.
We drove six hours from Chicago, through the lakes and forests of the Upper Midwest, until the Minneapolis sunset pulled the city into focus. I had one precious evening with Ashley Sakmar Nahmias. A quick cocktail turned into four hours about kids, work, and life.
We used to serve clients together. Now Ashley sits on the client side.
What we do is a strange mix of design and finance. It’s not the world most creatives dream of, yet it’s the one I’ve fallen in love with. Ashley is a big reason why. She humanized it for me. She reminds me that behind every deck, every brand, every website, there are people—intelligent, kind, ambitious people who make this world worth designing for.
The next day was the AGM itself. We led Excelsior Energy Capital’s full rebrand, new website, and investor materials for the event. Design has a job on stage: carry the investor story, reduce friction for speakers, and help a team feel steady. We designed for the back row, simplified what could be simplified, and built beyond the template.
Some choices worked better than expected. Some didn’t. That’s the gift of a real room.
A practical note for anyone deep in decks right now: event rooms are bright. Projectors raise the black point and flatten contrast—an effect called ambient light washout. Add more contrast than you think. Use heavier type. Scale text up. Avoid thin tints. Do a back-of-the-room test before you ship.
Still, all that precision, as proud as I am of it, probably mattered most to me because Ashley was at the heart of the day. As Director of Investor Relations, she kept the room calm and open while a hundred details moved around her. IR professionals are my heroes. You carry the weight so others can focus.
And the Excelsior team carried that same grace. It was great to put faces to names; they became real in minutes.
Grateful for the trust and the invitation 🩶
For those curious what the new Excelsior's brand looks like, link in the comments.
