The Alchemy of Experience. Rooted in Humanity. Forged by Innovation.

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Recordings
May 19-21, 2026

Santa Fe, NM
The Assembly

A One North Event

Theme

Where the

Elements Inspired

Progress rarely happens in a single moment. It builds through perspective, connection, and a willingness to challenge how work gets done. In a moment defined by rapid technological change, the challenge isn’t just to keep up, but to create work that remains grounded, intentional, and human. At The Assembly 2026, we set out to explore that tension.

One North convened leaders across marketing, design, and technology in Santa Fe to examine how meaningful work takes shape in an AI-driven era. Framed through the lens of alchemy and the five elements, the experience focused on how ideas, systems, and people come together to create something entirely new. Through shared insights, hands-on exploration, and moments of reflection, Assembly became a space to slow down, connect, and reimagine what transformation can look like in practice.

Revisit the Elements

Earth
The Foundation

of Clarity
Air
The Breath of Imagination
Fire
The Spark of Transformation
Water
The Flow of Connection
Ether
The Force of Synthesis
Slide to explore

Key Takeaways

In a landscape shaped by automation and constant evolution, this year’s conversations centered on how transformation actually happens. Across sessions, one idea surfaced again and again: meaningful change is not instant; it’s the result of the right elements coming together, shaped by intention, interaction, and time.

Element Sessions

Lightning Talks

Panel Discussion

From Earth to Ether: How AI Is Reshaping Teams, Culture, and the Human Pace of Work
As AI continues to reshape how work gets done, our panelists explored what it takes to integrate these tools in a way that strengthens teams and culture. The conversation focused on balancing speed with intention, building strong foundations before scaling automation, and creating space for experimentation and learning. Across perspectives, one idea remained clear: the true impact of AI isn’t just in what it produces, but in how thoughtfully it is applied within human systems.

Workshop

Alchemy in Practice
Earlier in the day, attendees were introduced to The Assembly's elemental themes and encouraged to begin reflecting on a challenge they wanted to explore. During the workshop, participants gathered in small groups and used the element cards, each offering a deeper look at an individual element and its connection to real-world behaviors, dynamics, and decision-making, as practical lenses for examining their challenges.



Guided by One North's UX Strategy leaders, attendees collaborated with peers to explore their problems through different elemental perspectives, uncovering new insights, challenging assumptions, and generating fresh possibilities. By grounding the conversation in the elements, participants gained new perspectives and left with practical approaches for tackling complex challenges within their teams and organizations.


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Interested in bringing this experience to your own team? Explore the workshop materials and element cards below.
Download the Worksheet
Download the Element Cards

Testimonials

Paul Bonner
VP, Marketing and Business Development, Venable LLP
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Danielle
Wuschke Paige
Chief Marketing
and Growth Officer, Nixon Peabody
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Heidi Munc
VP, User Experience and Human-Centered Practices, Nationwide
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What Attendees Are Saying

“I wish I could come back next week.”
“This event felt like an intellectual hug.”
“Best conference I've ever attended.”
“Next year is already on my calendar.”
“My favorite event of the year.”
“I didn’t realize it coming into it, but this is exactly what I needed to reignite that fire and passion in my soul.”
“I left genuinely inspired by the creativity behind the experience.”
“The event content was fantastic - so much of it is applicable in other areas of business and personal life.”
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Montage

About The Assembly

The Assembly is One North’s invite-only gathering for leaders shaping the future of strategy, design, and technology. It brings together a small group of peers to step away from day-to-day demands and engage more deeply with their work, each other, and the ideas shaping what comes next.

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Designed to be intimate and intentional, the experience balances thoughtful content with space to reflect, connect, and recharge. Over the course of three days, sessions, conversations, and shared experiences are curated not just to inform, but to create the conditions for new perspectives to emerge.
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Set in carefully chosen locations, The Assembly is as much about the environment as it is about the ideas. It is a chance to slow down, gain clarity, and return to the work ahead with renewed energy, stronger connections, and a broader sense of what’s possible.

About One North

One North is a digital experience agency that combines curiosity, scale, and agility to shape the future. As part of TEKsystems, a leading provider of business and technology services, we offer boutique solutions to solve complex problems.

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Our multidisciplinary teams of strategists, designers, and technologists excel in research and discovery, experience strategy, design, experience management, and technology implementation. Whether clients are establishing a vision for an experience or optimizing an existing one, we help businesses understand their audiences, design experiences, maximize technology, and bring their digital ideas to life.

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The world’s most successful companies rely on us to forge the future through electrifying work that sparks innovation and drives results.

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© 2026 One North,

A TEKsystems Company
© 2026 One North, A TEKsystems Company

Earth

The Foundation of Clarity

Earth is the core. Strong brands guide decisions, align teams, and help organizations move faster without losing their center as markets and technologies shift.

Key Learnings

Brand isn’t expression — it’s infrastructure for decision-making.

Shared frameworks create alignment that scales beyond individuals.

Speed comes from closing the gap between insight and action.

Air

The Whispers on the Wind

Air shapes how meaning travels. In a world that behaves more like conversation than documentation, understanding is built through storytelling, repetition, and shared interpretation — not static information.

Key Learnings

Story functions as a cognitive tool for memory and sense-making.

Meaning emerges through repetition, context, and interpretation.

Shared understanding matters more than perfect transmission.

Fire

The Spark of Transformation

Fire is energy shaped by intention. Creativity is messy and instinctive; innovation gives it form. Fire lives in the tension between chaos and order — where ideas become action.

Key Learnings

Creativity and innovation are distinct but inseparable.

Divergent thinking expands possibilities; convergent thinking focuses them.

Psychological safety is the oxygen that sustains creative energy.

Water

The Flow of Connection

Water reflects how people learn and adapt. Change happens when organizations create space for curiosity, experimentation, and flow — rather than forcing compliance.

Key Learnings

Creativity is a way of operating.

Open mode explores; closed mode executes.

Fear shuts down learning and adoption.

Ether

The Advantage of Cohesion

Ether is unifying by design. It’s the intentional force that binds strategy, story, people, and systems — and turns coordinated activity into sustained momentum.

Key Learnings

Cohesion doesn’t emerge automatically; it must be intentionally built.

Rituals and shared systems turn parallel efforts into shared direction.

Enterprise systems, like design systems, reinforce cohesion at scale.