11 Great Conferences for Creatives

There are a lot of great conferences out there for creatives. If money were no object, I would love to go to all of these:

1. STORY

Founded by Ben Arment, STORY is a conference that takes place in Chicago in October. The goal is to inspire great work with captivating talks, meaningful connections and unforgettable performances in the heart of downtown Chicago. The 2014 theme was “Creators, Dreamers and Storytellers.”

2. 99U

Put on by the people behind Behance, “The goal of the 99U Conference is to shift the focus from idea generation to idea execution. Providing road-tested insights on how to make your ideas happen. We bring together some of the world’s most productive creative visionaries & leading researchers to share pragmatic insights on how ideas are brought to life.”

3. Q

Q Ideas is inspired by this quote from Chuck Colson:

“Christians are called to redeem entire cultures, not just individuals.”

With that in mind, Gabe Lyons set out to get Christians back into the broader cultural conversation in America, aiming for both cultural and personal renewal at once.

4. How Design Live

If you’re a graphic designer you’re familiar with HOW magazine. This is the family of conferences they put on. They cover a variety of issues relevant to graphic designers, from design in general, packaging, leadership, in-house design management, and freelancing.

5. Future of Storytelling Summit

The Future of StoryTelling is an invitation-only, two-day gathering of technology, media, and communications visionaries from around the world. The summit is designed to put participants in direct contact with the most vital ideas, people, and technologies that are shaping the way we tell stories.

6. Salt Nashville: The Visual Worship Conference

Salt Nashville wants to bring together the visual worship community in order to equip and inspire one another to use art and visuals as we create contagious environments in  local churches.

7. Weapons of Mass Creation Fest (WMC Fest)

Something of a cross between TED and SXSW, Weapons of Mass Creation is a three-day art, design, and music event in Cleveland, Ohio. It is geared toward creative professionals, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, students, and fans who want to learn, get inspired, collaborate, network, and celebrate their passion for art, design, music, and entrepreneurship.

8. Platform Conference

Michael Hyatt and Ken Davis put on this conference every year to give people in-depth training on building their platforms. “The Platform Conference is designed to give you an unfair advantage in launching or building yours.” It has a pretty impressive roster of speakers.

9. re:create

Randy Elrod first put this conference together 15 years ago to create a safe place for creatives to gather and learn from those who have done those big things we are afraid to do on our own.

10. SUNDANCE film festival

The legendary film festival that Robert Redford started in 1981. Sort of the American version of Cannes.

11. Seeds

A conference dedicated to helping pastors, creatives, kid ministry volunteers, technical directors, anybody, really, recharge the way they do ministry.

What are some great conferences you’ve been to? What do you recommend?