2025 IDC Design Symposium

Interior Designers of Canada (IDC) is hosting its eighth Design Symposium this fall. Canada’s design and architecture community is invited to come together to learn, connect, and network.

Participants can expect to attend design tours of notable member projects, connect and network with peers, collect IDCEC credits through panel discussions, hear from incredible speakers, participate in workshops, and celebrate the best of interior design at the IDC Awards Celebration, featuring the prestigious Value of Design Awards (VODA).

IDC attendees can access a special rate at Le Germain Hotel Toronto Maple Leaf Square

SCHEDULE:

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 2025

Time	Commercial Design Programming	Residential Design Programming
8:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.	Registration	Registration
8:15 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.	Networking Breakfast	Networking Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION – Truly Human Leadership: Practical People-First Strategies to Unlock Performance by Hamza Khan	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION – Truly Human Leadership: Practical People-First Strategies to Unlock Performance by Hamza Khan
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.	COMMERCIAL FIRESIDE CHAT – Data, Action, Dialogue: Why Workplace Research Requires a Layered Approach by Teknion	RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP – The Ultimate Resource to Building a Profitable, Thriving Interior Design Firm by Stacey Cohen
11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.	Networking Break	Networking Break
11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.	PANEL DISCUSSION – Surface Matters: Defining Natural & Next-Gen Engineered Stone, Tile & Wood Flooring Trends for 2026 presented by Ciot	PANEL DISCUSSION – Surface Matters: Defining Natural & Next-Gen Engineered Stone, Tile & Wood Flooring Trends for 2026 presented by Ciot
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.	Networking Lunch	Networking Lunch
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.	COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION – How Heavy is Interior Design? by Jack Rusk, C.Scale and Ryan Bruer, Ha/f Climate Design	RESIDENTIAL PRESENTATION – Fashion & Interiors: Common Threads That Shape Our Spaces by Sharon Grech, Benjamin Moore
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.	COMMERCIAL PANEL – Architecting The Modern Retail Experience: from the Shop Floor to the Customer’s Door by the Retail Design Institute	RESIDENTIAL WORKSHOP – Designing for the Senses – Phenomenology in Practice by Erin Jenner, inspirED learning lab
3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.	Networking Break	Networking Break
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.	WORKSHOP – AI as Mentor & Thought Partner to Expand Your Business by Ahmed Mekallach, MYTE Group AI	WORKSHOP – AI as Mentor & Thought Partner to Expand Your Business by Ahmed Mekallach, MYTE Group AI
4:45 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.	Networking, Wrap-up Cocktails	Networking, Wrap-up Cocktails

Symposium schedule is subject to change.

THURSDAY, OCT. 30, 2025

Time	Commercial and Residential Design Programming
8:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.	Registration
8:15 a.m. – 8:45 a.m.	Networking Breakfast
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	PRESENTATION – Research for Practitioners: Can Practitioners Add to the Body of Knowledge for Interior Design? by Lesley-Ann Noel, OCAD University
10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.	Networking Break
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.	WORKSHOP – Loop Em In: Selling Circularity In Interior Design by Benjamin Errett and Kathy Seli, Green Standards
11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	Networking Break
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	PRESENTATION – In Search of a Happier Workplace by John Whitehead
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.	Networking Lunch
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION – Psychology, Neuroscience, and Interior Design by Colin Ellard
2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.	Wrap-up, break prior to Awards
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	DESIGN TOURS (separate registration required to attend)
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.	Awards Cocktails (separate registration required to attend)
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.	IDC AWARDS CELEBRATION (separate ticket required to attend)