Cancel your RSVP to that V.I. Lenin birthday bash and reserve your May 4th for this year’s D-Crit conference, a half-day public forum organized by graduating students of the MFA Design Criticism Department at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Moderating the confab will be BBC director, producer, and interviewer Adam Harrison Levy, and the keynote speaker is journalist and murketer Rob Walker. Then come the fast n’ fascinating thesis presentations (10 minutes each), including Sarah Cox‘s look at resident-led urban design initiatives in Detroit, Kim Birks on playground design, and Amelie Znidaric‘s “Listen to Your Chair: Design and the Art of Storytelling,” which is sure to keep attendees glued to their plush red SVA Theatre seats. Come for the new contributions to the design discourse, stay for the panel discussion. Design minds including Paola Antonelli (MoMA), Linda Tischler (Fast Company), and John Seabrook (The New Yorker) will join Levy and Walker on stage to debate the future of design criticism. Seats are filling fast, so hurry up and register here. We hear that there are Walker Design-designed Baggu bags and other limited-edition treats in store for those who arrive early.