Two practitioners.
One stage.
They
publicly disagree.

An evening built on the one thing most conferences avoid. Real practitioners taking opposite sides of the questions shaping AI, design, and product, in front of a room that came to think harder.

Thursday, August 2026 Chicago Dinner Included Limited Seats

WHAT IS DUEL?

One topic. Two practitioners. No safe answers.

Most conferences put experts on stage to confirm what the audience already believes. The Nivan Duel does the opposite. We put two practitioners on stage to challenge each other, in the open, on the questions there is no clean answer to yet.

No keynote theater. No safe answers. Just two people willing to be wrong in public, and a room sharp enough to keep them honest.

Duel 01

AI Overhyped vs Underestimated

Are we promising too much, or missing what is already here?

Duel 02

AI Ethics vs Growth

When the model gets better the more it knows, where do you stop?

Three different people speaking and listening at a conference with a 'Nivan' banner that reads 'Step Into Nivan. Where we connect past, present, and future.'
Digital illustration of two human faces facing each other with glowing lines and dots, representing a debate or conversation about AI. Large text reads 'Creative Duels, Not Monologues' with smaller text below about perspectives and design tensions. Two podiums with microphones are in the center on a circular stage, surrounded by a crowd in a dark futuristic setting.
The evening

An intimate room, a real argument, and a winner the room decides.

Live, head to head

Each duel is a real exchange between two practitioners taking genuinely opposing positions, not a panel that quietly agrees.

The room picks a winner

You are not a spectator. The Nivan community weighs in, pushes back, and votes on who made the stronger argument. Every duel ends with a clear winner.

Built for builders

Made for the people shipping AI, design, and product work, the ones who live with these tradeoffs every day.

Stay for the table

The conversation does not end on stage. Over dinner, the room keeps debating long after the last duel is called.

Pick a side. Then come change your mind.

Seats are limited and the room is built to stay intimate.

Step Into the Duel

Nivan Duel is where bold thinkers go head to head over the ideas shaping Tech, AI, UX, and Design. We are looking for speakers who can hold a position, challenge a room, and make a great argument over dinner. If you have a point of view worth defending, this is your stage.