REAL-WORLD ROI: Proving what an Experience is worth
A practical session on measuring the real-world value of experiences – so experience budgets are easier to defend.
Every digital channel reports to the decimal. Experiential still reports in headcounts, photos and a sense that it went well. That gap is why experience budgets are the first to be questioned and the hardest to defend.
This Experience Briefing treats Real-World ROI as a measurement problem with a practical answer.
The goal: give experience-makers a way to show what an experience is worth, in terms a budget review will accept.
The experience may be brilliant. The audience may love it. But proving its value in numbers a finance team trusts is less straightforward.
In this session, James Chester, co-founder and CEO, and Katie Williams, Chief Strategy Officer, of WVN AI – a Fast Company Next Big Things in Tech 2026 honoree – will share how spatial intelligence turns dwell time, movement and engagement inside a space into signals that hold up in a budget review.
Drawing on years of building platforms that capture offline and online data for brands like Google, Meta, Samsung and Stripe, James and Katie will explore where those signals correlate with commercial outcomes – and where the limits still sit.
The session will explore:
- A working definition of Real-World ROI – and the three signal types that feed it
- How spatial intelligence turns dwell time, movement and engagement into measurable signals
- Where those signals correlate with commercial outcomes, and where the limits still sit
- A method for making an activation in one market comparable to one in another
- What should never be reduced to a number and how to protect it
- How to present experience results so they hold up in a budget review
Bring your own measurement war stories for the breakouts.
Who is it for?
- Experience designers and creative directors
- Innovation and technology leads
- Teams running brand activations and events
- Venue, space and retail teams
- Brand and marketing leaders who need to defend experience budgets
- Anyone who has been asked “but what did it actually deliver?”
About James Chester
James Chester is co-founder and CEO of WVN, a platform that measures in-person experience like every other channel in the media plan, scoring each interaction by the attention it earned and reporting cost per engagement and ROI for every activation and location.
Before WVN, he spent a decade at Publicis leading digital transformation in media, measurement and product, then co-founded Gumband, an award-winning, WPP-owned platform that powered experiential activations around the world. He also writes for Inc. and Fast Company about AI, business and culture.
About Katie Williams
Katie Williams is Chief Strategy Officer at WVN, with more than a decade of experience in growth strategy, sales, marketing and data-driven innovation. Her focus is building scalable systems and delivering insights that connect digital and physical environments.
Previously Head of Growth at Gumband, she has driven go-to-market strategies, built partnerships and launched platforms from concept to execution. She also advises startups on go-to-market, business development and sales strategy.
How to watch this Experience Briefing:
- Experience Briefings are available for WXO members only
- To join the WXO, please head to our Application page
- The WXO is a global home for the leaders, shapers and doers in the Experience Economy
- As a member, you’ll get live access to Experience Briefings like this one plus unlock an on demand library of over 100 recordings
Timings:
Session #2 is suitable for those in the US or Europe, but everyone is welcome! Here’s when we kick off in your time zone:
- London: 17:55 – 19:00
- Paris: 18:55 – 20:00
- Los Angeles: 09:55 – 11:00
- Santa Fe: 10:55 – 12:00
- Chicago: 11:55 – 13:00
- New York: 12:55 – 14:00
- São Paulo, Santiago & Buenos Aires: 13:55 – 15:00