Soren West, CEO, Sierra Whiskey Entertainment (13 Nov)
Amber Case, Founder, Calm Tech Institute (27 Nov)
Amy Segreti, Relational Experience Designer (20 Nov)
Martha Newson, cognitive anthropologist (6 Nov)
James Dakin, Executive Director, Sargood (30 Oct)
Ana Brzezińska, Immersive Curator (18 Sept)
Brett Bagenstose, Baron of Pixels, NeoPangea (11 Sept)
Nancy Duncan, Experience Designer & Creative Consultant (11 Sept)
We’ve designed 6 types of Campfire to best showcase emerging trends and insights from across the Experience Economy, and invite collaboration and connection. Here’s what to expect when you join us.
Techniques & Frameworks often – but not always – are insights from an experience design professional sharing emerging research that suggests directions for experience design. They might apply to a specific sector, multiple sectors, or all sectors. However, even if they appear to only apply to one sector, we try to abstract them to see how they might be applied elsewhere.
These are top-level principles that can apply to all experiences across all sectors of the Experience Economy. Some might be obvious; some might be overlooked.
Tools are where experience designers share the specific ways in which they design great experiences. They might not apply in every situation, but all add ammo to your arsenal that can be deployed in the appropriate places. Because the more tools we have – and the more precise and calibrated they are – the more likely that we’ll be able to build better experiences.
Real-world examples of how any of the above had an impact on how an experience was designed. Case Studies are where we get our hands dirty!
Rather than being led by a specific experience expert, on Open Mic nights we throw the floor open to members – to share their passion projects, challenges, or workshop solutions to a specific problem.
This is an IRL Campfire at the home of WXO member Pixel Artworks.
WXO Campfires are usually digital, but they have the same collegiate atmosphere and friendly, collaborative energy.
WXO Members have access to the recordings of all previous WXO Campfires. There are currently 110+ videos featuring iconoclast storytellers, digital pioneers, costume designers, operations masterminds, CEOs, magicians, professors and performers, on topics from making money to making merch, designing for inclusion to designing for superfans – see a small selection below.
They contain essential insights, tools, and techniques (creative & commercial) for anyone who wants to stage better experiences that make people feel more alive, make more money, and that have a positive impact on people and planet.
Of course, nothing beats full access to the archive, and the chance to connect with experience innovators around the world in our live Campfires. But you can also read top takeaways in the full archive of WXO Campfire Reports.
Ben Witten, placer.ai
Matthew Cross, OE Experiences
Donnacadh O’Briain, story architect
Michael Collins, Leisure Development Partners
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For the latest news and views about the Experience Economy and WXO community
Soren West, CEO, Sierra Whiskey Entertainment
It’s the killer question: how do you get funding for your experience? Experience investor Soren West will deliver both a beginners and advanced class revealing how to prepare for a funding round, how to position your offer in the spectrum of offers investors are looking at, how to decide on your financial model, and how to prove to the investor that they will get their return.
Amber Case, Founder, Calm Tech Institute
Why does tech still seem like a finicky, alien being, and how can it be a better experience? Join Amber Case to learn how to design tech that knows its place: enhancing experiences, not hijacking them.
From taming pesky notifications to tuning jarring sounds and blinding LEDs, we’ll explore how to create tech that whispers, not shouts, applying the Principles of Calm Technology in the return of this highly rated Summit session and PlayLab.
Amy Segreti, Relational Experience Designer
Can you apply experience design principles to create better relationships, whether long-term, intimate, or business? Relational Experience Designer Amy Segreti believes that “devotional design” can amplify meaning and connection in our personal relationships.
She’ll share learnings from the small-scale, intimate, consent-aware encounters that make up her immersive work, inspired by the likes of Odyssey Works, Ida Benedetto, & Enrique Enriquez.
Martha Newson, cognitive anthropologist
Cognitive anthropologist Martha Newson previously wowed us with her “5Ds of enhanced liminal ritual design”. She returns to explore the human need for belonging, both evolutionarily and in subcultures.
Learn how shared transformative experiences unite individuals, and the deep cognitive processes behind personal and collective change.
James Dakin, Executive Director, Sargood
Inclusive design isn’t an add-on: it should be fully integrated into your experience from the start. Sargood, a spinal cord injury retreat in Australia’s New South Wales, is a perfect example of an environment being planned for full inclusiveness from conception.
Join Executive Director, James Dakin to learn how we can all become Extremely Accessible and champion fully inclusive design in our experiences.
Sophie-Alicia Shaw, Co-Founder, Stormjar Studio
In September Stormjar, an experience studio specialising in darker experiences, pulled off an overnight, hybrid, immersive horror experience on an island off the Bristol coast.
Stormjar’s Co-Founder Sophie-Alicia Shaw will share learnings that you can take into your next experience, from how to co-create (and co-fund) with your community to creating from inspiration, not commercialisation.
Jens Heitland & Claudia Ursulet-Popa, We Are Succeed
Leadership is undoubtedly a key differentiator for IKEA’s success. Jens Heitland led Innovation in IKEA Centres and is now CEO at We Are Succeed, a start-up set to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people by improving their leadership skills and those around them.
If you’re into leadership education, customer experience, employee experience, team events, want to advance your career, or just care about the world, this Campfire is for you.
Sermad Buni, Creative Director
Creative director Sermad Buni has been making experiences for 20+ years for the likes of Icons (The Up House, Polly Pocket House), Squid Games: The Trials, & Bravocon.
He’ll share his E.M.O.T.I.O.N.A.L framework for creating experiences – the first three stand for Empathy, Motivations, and Obsessions, but you’ll have to join us to hear the rest…
Brian Hill, XD Professor, BYU, & Ida Benedetto, Design Strategist
We’re all in thrall to extraordinary experiences – but “ordinary experiences” are often overlooked.
Leisure research reveals that family connection and coping are built on “core activities” (ordinary experiences) and balance activities (extraordinary experiences). Both are important to building bonds, but the most important are actually the core activities.
In a continuation of their conversation at this year’s World Experience Summit, Brian & Ida will discuss the importance of evidence-based design in creating meaningful experiences and the importance of grounding creativity in evidence, applying some of their insights into extraordinary, transformative experiences to those that we go through every day.
Brian d’Souza, Founder, Swell Studio
Sound baths are now everywhere – even on your smartphone…
Ramy Elnagar & Tom Middleton, Co-Founders, White Mirror
In an ever-evolving wellness landscape, the fusion of arts, technology, and sensory sciences introduces a transformative therapeutic approach: Experience as Medicine.
Founded upon empathetic, salutogenic, ethical, and inclusive design principles, Ramy & Tom will examine the new wellness paradigms emerging from global behavioral shifts and commercial demands, emphasizing the role of neuroaesthetics in designing environments that offer profound mental and physical health benefits and illustrating how art and technology converge to enhance wellbeing.
White Mirror’s work includes developing digital therapeutics, from Unicorn mindfulness apps to XR platforms, and creating large-scale immersive experiences that foster connection and collective healing. By establishing interdisciplinary Experience Labs, they bring together artists, scientists, and technologists to design products that transform every interaction into an opportunity for physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Margaret Kerrison, Immersive Storyteller & Author
Immersive storytelling places the visitor at the heart of the narrative, turning passive audiences into active participants. Margaret, a creative lead and former Imagineer, explores the art of bringing stories to life in her acclaimed books, “Immersive Storytelling for Real and Imagined Worlds” and “Narrative Placemaking for People, Play, and Purpose.”
Drawing on her extensive experience, Margaret will offer invaluable insights and practical tools like The S.T.O.R.Y. Method and the ISQ Wheel. She’ll guide you from the spark of inspiration to the creation of fully realized worlds, and impart how to transform an idea into an immersive experience that captivates and engages.
Ana Brzezińska, Immersive Curator
Has the word “immersive” been compromised?
Wobbly projection mapping and pop-up attractions have caught the public’s attention, but do they truly represent what the immersive industry has to offer?
Are we already facing ‘immersive-washing,’ or is this just a temporary craze? Or is there another way…?
Ana Brzezinska is a Polish-French-American curator and producer specialising in digital and emerging formats, with a focus on AR/MR/VR technologies. She’s also Immersive Curator for Tribeca Festival and was responsible for delivering Tribeca Immersive 2024, an in-competition section for spatial and digital storytelling considered one of the most prestigious in the world.
Using learnings from the experience, Ana will explore what steps are needed to evolve immersive media from an emerging field into a recognised creative discipline, independent of traditional arts and media sectors.
She’ll discuss audience development and its role in shaping the future of immersive experiences, the challenges of designing for large-scale, open immersive venues, and the fostering of new creative formats like spatial sound.
Make Your Audience The Main Character With RFID
Implementing accessibility, personalization, and localization can be a pain point. It’s expensive. It’s hard. But what if it doesn’t have to be? What if we could personalize, localize, and make exhibits more accessible without any friction for the visitor?
NeoPangea’s Emmy-nominated work for clients including Disney, National Geographic, Paramount, McCormick & Company, NBCU, Smithsonian, Hershey’s and many more make it one to watch in the immersive space. They asked, what if RFID could be used to create custom exhibits and make attractions that transform the visitor experience? What if it could magically bring exhibits and attractions to life? And what if, at the same time, we could use the same RFID tech to simplify your team’s life a little?
You’ll learn how Harry Potter: The Exhibition personalized the visitor experience without any friction for the visitor using RFID tech, diving into the storytelling beats and technology integrations throughout the experience. You’ll also get an overview of the technology that allows RFID to invisibly enable personalization, what challenges RFID can solve for your visitors and staff, and see a prototype that turned a client’s $200,000 accessibility challenge into a $200 solution.
Nancy Duncan, Experience Designer & Creative Consultant
Want to win 80% of your pitches? Nancy wins 80% of hers, having secured work for Meta, Google, Diageo, Samsung, Adidas, and Porsche, among other big hitters. This session on how to do the same was one of the most in demand at our 2024 Summit, so we’re thrilled to welcome Nancy back to our Campfire.
She’ll share the secrets of her structured yet flexible approach to help you win more often and make more money. You’ll learn just how important team chemistry, budget & execution, understanding the brief, creativity & innovation, and the presentation itself are when it comes to getting your pitch over the line.
