After an unprecedented application period in terms of quality and quality, we are delighted to announce the shortlists for London Experience Week 2026.

Voting is now officially open. You have until Monday, 23 February 2026 to get your colleagues and peers to support your application.

Your votes count. It enables us to see what’s popular, what’s trending, what resonating with the experiential community today. It’s a process that shines a new and valuable perspective on the shortlisted applications, enabling us to take the pulse of the Experience Economy today.

We then apply our own lens, looking at the votes but also reviewing applications against our own audience data as well as our standards and requirements (duplication, representation, relevancy, expertise level).

What comes out is a fully curated content programme guaranteed to delight, provoke and inform even the most hardened eventgoer.

How to vote:

• Read all the session descriptions before you vote
• Open the form at the bottom of this page – scroll down or click one of the black ‘Ready to vote? Click here’ buttons
• Indicate your level of interest on all the entries
• Make sure to visit the other pages with separate voting forms for the other sessions – links to come below
• Anyone can vote. All we ask for is name and email so we can check for multiple entries and legitimate votes

Here is the second set of 25 – we hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have.

• Line-up #1: Head here to vote
• Line-up #2: Sessions 26-50 on this page
• Line-up #3: Descriptions and link to come
• Line-up #4: Descriptions and link to come

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Speakers:

Zenon Olenski (Creative Director, designerzen limited)

What it’s about:

“In this talk, Zen will take a whimsical look at how music and music making have danced with technology throughout time, and how a digital imagination could replace the automation of today, and perhaps the humans of tomorrow.

“He will help navigate ways to use artificial intelligence wisely and constructively to create the right tools and rules, so that rather than replacing humans, it empowers them with new abilities, skills, and platforms for self expression. Through co-creation we can hopefully prevent the full automation of humanity, and perhaps preserve the act of creativity and art itself!”

Session takeaways:

• A history of music automation up to the present day with an insight into the future for music, how your relationship and consumption will likely change forever, and what you should do to prepare as a producer or consumer
• Invitation to the regular free accessibility workshops bringing together technology creators and the Disabled community, along with full access to the resources and research we create and communities to test your products
• Full and free access to the fully inclusive Sympathetic Synthesizer software described in the talk which grants you and your family and friends instant music superpowers!

Speakers:

Baylen Leonard (Co-Founder, The Long Road Festival)

What it’s about:

“How do you build a fiercely loyal community around a niche culture in a foreign market? The Long Road has defied the odds, transforming a British country estate into an authentic, immersive slice of Tennessee. Join co-founder Baylen Leonard to unpack the experience design strategy behind the UK’s largest outdoor country music festival (30,000 capacity); exploring how world-building fosters emotional connections, from culinary curation to design details in immersive music venues like The Front Porch. Now in its seventh year, the festival has found a model that doesn’t only entertain, but creates a profound sense of ‘home’ and belonging.”

Session takeaways:

• Belonging: How we use world-building to turn passive attendees into an active community
• Design: How to design intimate spaces (like The Front Porch) that foster connection and community within a large-scale event
• Authenticity at Scale: Practical steps for bridging the “culture gap” when transplanting a niche experience to a new market

Speakers:

Sandesh Somani (King of Games, Visceral)

What it’s about:

“Your pitch deck says it’ll be “unforgettable” – but how do you know that’s in a good way? I’ve used cardboard prototypes to catch broken mechanics, terrible pacing, and confusing flows before they became opening-night disasters. Through real project examples, you’ll learn methods that save expensive headaches! Then we build: create mini-games, playtest each other’s work, and watch real people interact with your ideas. Leave with a testing framework and the proof stakeholders trust. Perfect for pitching to clients or teams who need more than ‘trust me.'”

Session takeaways:

• The Rapid Prototype Framework – A step-by-step checklist for building and testing lo-fi versions of any immersive concept in under two hours, including what to test first and what to ignore until later
• The Playtest Observation Guide – A simple template for watching guests interact with your prototype and capturing the insights that matter: timing data, confusion points, engagement drops, and unexpected behaviors
• The Stakeholder Proof Toolkit – Methods for translating playtest findings into pitch-ready evidence, including how to present what you learned, what you changed, and why it protects their investment

Speakers:

Seth Lieber (Tourism & Experience Development Consultant, Seth Lieber Creative LLC)

What it’s about:

“Most destination experiences live or die in the gap between great storytelling and operational reality. DMOs don’t “own” experiences – but they can be the producer: funding what’s needed, building a partner pipeline, distributing demand, and proving impact in the language of hotel stays, visitation, and community benefit. In this hands-on session, you’ll learn a repeatable Destination–Experience Flywheel (pipeline → readiness → investment → distribution → measurement) that turns local stories into visit-worthy, bookable experiences. You’ll leave with a one-page canvas and a starter ROI/ROX dashboard you can use immediately.”

Session takeaways:

• DMO-Partner Experience Deal Canvas (one-page): roles, boundaries, quality standards, staffing/training needs, and governance so the partner owns delivery while the DMO supports scale
• Experience Readiness Checklist: a go/no-go tool to assess capacity, consistency, accessibility, booking flow, and on-site “performance” requirements before marketing
• Experience Capital Funding Stack Map: what a DMO can fund vs. what the partner funds, plus where grants, placemaking partners, and sponsors fit
• ROI/ROX Mini-Dashboard Template: a simple measurement set linking visitation/room nights/spend to community outcomes and resident sentiment signals
• 90-Day Pilot Plan: timeline and milestones for testing, training, launch, measurement, and iteration – so experiences improve without burning partners out

Speakers:

Nic Kessler (Chief Creative Officer, Hawkmoon)
Kierna Conner (Creative Director, Hawkmoon)
Sage Starkey (Creative Director, Hawkmoon)

What it’s about:

“The Hawkmoon Immersive team (Nic Kessler, Kierna Conner, and Sage Starkey) engage on the dynamic challenges and opportunities in creating immersive experiences within small intimate settings as well as world building experiences in a larger landscape. No typical panel Hawkmoon will discuss experiences from work on Universal Epic Universe’s Monsters Unchained (THEA Best Dark Ride (2025)), Dark Universe (THEA Best Themed Environment (2025)) and Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry (THEA Best New Attraction Installation (2025)) and Hawkmoon’s latest projects like Good Neighbor Game and the Frankenstein-inspired, Laudanum and Ink. And a few interactive moments!”

Session takeaways:

• Immediate perspective on creating in small spaces with impact
• Tools for expanding intimate experiences into more epic settings
• Opportunities for placing the audience at the center of the experience
• How to engage the audience in the feedback loop to make more communal experiences

Speakers:

Terence Leclere (Founder & CEO, MetaforYou)

What it’s about:

“Experience designers refine lighting, projection, and spatial design, but human interactions that determine whether guests immerse or disengage are often an afterthought. I performed in immersive shows for years before founding Metaforyou, where we brought the human interaction layer to life for Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, and Peacock. The insight: it’s your guest who is having an immersive experience of your event, not just something you build around them. Guests seek permission to immerse themselves, and humans grant that permission most effectively. This session introduces Interpersonal Dynamics Design™ (IDD), the framework for designing the layer everyone else ignores.”

Session takeaways:

• The guest-experience reframe – Understanding that your guest has an immersive experience of your event (singular, individual), not the other way around
• Permission-seeking behavior – Why guests naturally look for hosts, familiar faces, and human guidance to know if they belong and how to engage
• The “missing layer” insight – How undesigned human interactions either grant permission to immerse or pull guests out entirely
• HITs framework introduction – What Human Interactive Touchpoints are and where they occur in live events
• Case study evidence – Stories and examples from Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, and Peacock activations showing this strategy’s impact on engagement

Speakers:

Laura Micalizzi (Experiential Designer, MICALIZZI LAURA)

What it’s about:

“Exhibitions are powerful storytelling tools when space, material, and sequence work together to communicate meaning. This session explores how narrative-driven exhibition design can transform cultural content into immersive spatial experiences. Drawing from a series of exhibitions designed for Tenoha, a hybrid Italian–Japanese cultural platform, the talk reveals how concepts are translated into spatial narratives that guide visitors through space. The session will share insights into process, cultural sensitivity, and design decisions that shape exhibitions which engage, resonate, and communicate beyond language.”

Session takeaways:

• A simple framework for spatial storytelling
• A clear, repeatable method for turning an abstract concept into a coherent exhibition narrative through space, sequence, and material
• A checklist for narrative-driven exhibitions Key questions to test whether an exhibition communicates clearly, guides visitors intuitively, and maintains narrative consistency
• Strategies for designing exhibitions across cultures
• Lessons learned from working within a hybrid Italian-Japanese context, applicable to any cross-cultural design project
• A new way to evaluate exhibition success
• How to assess exhibitions not only by aesthetics, but by how effectively they communicate meaning and engage visitors

Speakers:

Dean Rodgers (Creative Director, Secret Cinema)

What it’s about:

“The impacts of digital culture is going to lead to a boom in the Experience Economy – but only if you’re ready for it. Peak social media was in 2022, we’re on the downward part of the curve. people are craving IRL experiences and connecting with people. At the same time AI slop is going to make it increasingly difficult to make money in media. Commercial strategy will move to live. It will be a time of enormous opportunity and competition within the experiential space – how can you make the most of it?”

Session takeaways:

• Be ready for a cultural shift
• How to create experiences that prioritise connection
• How to reach audiences without social media

Speakers:

Theresa Macaulay (Digital Experience Manager, Science Museum Group)

What it’s about:

“Build a World: Designing for Future Technicians is a fast-paced, interactive workshop where participants team up to create immersive ‘worlds of work’ inspired by real technician roles, from hospitals and urban streets to media cities. Using audience insight as a starting point, we’ll explore how 11-16 year olds like to interact, learn by doing, and navigate playful digital environments.

“Working within clear design parameters, you’ll create a world, prototyping interactive exhibits and live moments that are intuitive, social and skill-building. Expect minimal slides, maximum action, rapid idea-testing and lots of collaborative world-building fun.”

Session takeaways:

• A practical framework for designing in person experiences
• Tools for embedding live human interaction into digital exhibitions
• Fresh inspiration for design that feels playful, credible and empowering

Speakers:

Kyle Kocinski (Chief Event Officer, Less Boring)

What it’s about:

“Here’s the only test that matters: if your event vanished next year, who would actually fight to bring it back? This session is for teams brave enough to admit the answer might be “no one important.” We’ll stop counting bodies and vanity clicks, and start designing for a different outcome: a small, undeniable group of people who will not let your brand go. You’ll put one of your events on the stand, see exactly where you’re behaving like a one‑night stand, and leave with a sharper, bolder blueprint for creating lifelong regulars instead.”

Session takeaways:

• “One‑Night‑Stand vs. Regulars” Diagnostic – A 1-page scorecard to quickly grade any event on whether it creates fleeting attendees or lifelong regulars
• “Would Anyone Miss This?” Event Survival Test – A focused set of questions to decide if an event deserves to come back in next year’s budget
• “Kill the Flagship Bloat” Budget Grid – A simple grid that shows where to cut spectacle and swag, and where to reinvest in moments that drive repeat behavior.
• Post-Event Regulars Follow-Up Flow – A lightweight 30-day sequence to turn warm attendees into identifiable regulars, without spamming them
• CFO-Ready Event Story: From Room Full to Revenue Proof – A narrative outline to translate regulars, behavior change, and deals into language a CFO will actually back

Speakers:

Amy Segreti (Relational Experience Designer, Our Circuitries)

What it’s about:

“This will be a 25-min, 1-2-1 offering to go deeply into designing experiences for a lover. Yes, a lover! Whether this is in the area of communication, sexuality, kink, or any other realm of intimacy, this is the space to talk about it and get real, actionable ideas from someone (Amy Segreti) who makes a living out of creating these bespoke, tailored experiences – and teaching those in couplehood how to do this for each other to create a circuitry of greater connection, eroticism and safety.”

Session takeaways:

• These will be unique, bespoke, one-to-one sessions

Speakers:

Kristina McMenamin (Founder and Chief Experiences Officer, askHUH? experiences)

What it’s about:

“RAGEher is a movement and embodiment experience for women to express anger. A space to talk it out. Punch it out. Primal scream it out. DANCE it out… with other powerful women in community. So we can use our anger – and the relief and power we feel in accessing and expressing it – as fuel for all the things we want to breathe into existence in our lives. And, leave lighter, clearer, and more joyful.”

Session takeaways:

• Understand the purpose of anger and how suppressing it is harmful
• Walk away with multiple tools for moving stuck feelings through the body
• Leave feeling lighter, more present, clear, and direct

Speakers:

Lauren Dyer (Chief Client Officer, Brave Duck And Robots)

What it’s about:

“Technology has optimized experiences but it hasn’t deepened them. This talk explores how the next era of experience design moves beyond tools and platforms, into something more human: emotion, memory, and meaning. Drawing on work across immersive technology, hospitality, and culture, Lauren Dyer examines how experience led organizations are using technology not to overwhelm audiences, but to choreograph feeling through space, narrative, rhythm, and restraint. This session reframes technology as an invisible enabler rather than the hero, and argues that the most powerful experiences of the next decade will be the ones that people feel not the ones they notice.”

Session takeaways:

• The Experience Stack Framework A simple, repeatable model for mapping any experience across five layers: Intent → Emotion → Behaviour → Touchpoints → Technology. Attendees can use this to audit existing products, services, or environments and identify where technology is adding noise instead of value. The “Invisible Tech”
• Decision Filter A set of yes/no questions to assess whether technology should be present, hidden, delayed, or removed from an experience helping teams avoid over engineering and focus on emotional outcomes first
• A Sensory Priority Template – A one-page worksheet to define which sense (sight, sound, touch, smell, pace) should lead an experience and which should deliberately recede to create clarity and memorability
• Experience Governance Rules – Three guardrails for protecting experience quality as products scale, teams grow, or partners get involved particularly useful for organisations struggling with fragmented journeys
• A Board-Ready Experience Narrative – A concise structure for translating “experience design” into language that resonates with leadership, investors, and stakeholders turning emotion into strategic value

Speakers:

Joe Timson (Founder, Cavea)

What it’s about:

“When Elvis Evolution first launched, it faced unexpectedly intense and polarized reactions. In response, Layered Reality initiated a thoughtful redesign and teamed up with Cavea to measure what really needed to change and if those changes worked. By mapping the show’s emotional arc and analyzing second by second audience reactions before and after, we uncovered not just improvements, but also bigger questions about the role and risk of certain IPs in live experiences. Join us to explore these insights and what they mean for the future of IP-led immersive experiences.”

Session takeaways:

• A frontline playbook for responding to unexpected audience reaction: How to move from polarised feedback and negative reviews to structured learning, without panic, defensiveness, or overcorrecting creatively
• An introduction to emotion analytics as a diagnostic tool for creative impact: How emotional response data can be used to map the arc of a live experience, test creative assumptions, and validate whether a redesign has addressed the right problems
• Critical lessons on IP, fandom, and risk in immersive entertainment: What this case reveals about how different types of IP shape audience expectations, where immersive formats struggle with emotionally charged fandoms, and how to assess risk

Speakers:

Catherine Turp (Senior Director – Creation, Moment Factory)

What it’s about:

“Creative leaders and experiential designers are asked to create work that has never existed before, while aligning teams and stakeholders who still seek certainty. This participative session explores how creative and production teams navigate the unknown without defaulting to creative complacency or over-process, by treating creative instinct as a shared, cultivated tool. Drawing from Moment Factory’s long-term practice, the keynote introduces the idea of The Compass of Amazing: a way to hold direction when Journeying Into the Unknown, where there is no map and no precedent. The session concludes with a short workshop inviting participants to imagine an experience they’ve never seen before, and reflect on what needs to be held.”

Session takeaways:

• A shared language for creative instinct: A way to name and discuss instinct as judgement and craft, not something subjective or individual, allowing teams to hold direction together without flattening difference or defaulting to consensus
• A repeatable way to sense resonance early: A simple collective practice to recognise what feels honest, alive, and necessary in an idea, before optimisation, feasibility, or habit take over
• Uncertainty as a creative terrain: A reframing of ambiguity not as something to resolve or control, but as the landscape within which experiential design and meaningful experiences are shaped

Speakers:

Hannah Price (Creative Director, Buried Giants)

What it’s about:

“Immersive experiences work best when they are built from a single, clear idea. Know What You’re In is a top-down framework that starts by defining the central preoccupation of a project: the core question the experience is really about. That idea then shapes every decision, from audience agency and tone to technology, format, budget, and narrative structure. This talk explores the framework through five connected lenses: idea, audience, technology, format and commercial reality, and worldbuilding. Using real projects, including The Gunpowder Plot, we show how this approach creates immersive work that feels coherent, intentional, and legible for audiences and teams alike.”

Session takeaways:

• What a “central preoccupation” is, and how to find yours
• A clear definition of central preoccupation, plus a few practical prompts to help identify the core question your project is really about. The key areas where that idea needs to show up
• A simple breakdown of the main places a central preoccupation should be applied: audience experience, tone, narrative, format, technology, and physical design. A way to talk about technology without leading with tools
• A framing for conversations about technology that starts with story needs and world logic, helping teams identify types of technology that fit, rather than defaulting to specific tech. How to tell if an immersive idea is becoming unclear
• A basic test for spotting when a project is drifting: when different parts of the experience suggest different types of show, different tones, or different levels of audience agency. A top-down way to keep decisions consistent
• An approach to making creative and practical decisions by checking them back against the central preoccupation, rather than treating each choice in isolation

Speakers:

Katrina Lat (Curator, No Proscenium)

What it’s about:

“When we talk about immersive experiences, technology can sometimes dominate the conversation. But, after experiencing 800+ immersive works across three continents in three years, Katrina has seen the same pattern repeat: tech alone doesn’t always indicate quality. Using her AURA Framework (Agency, Universe, Resonance, Artistry), Katrina shares a practical way to evaluate and design work that holds together, invites meaningful participation, and lands with audiences. Whether built with cutting-edge tech or almost none at all, this session offers an experience-first approach to creating and understanding work that sticks.”

Session takeaways:

• The AURA Framework (Agency, Universe, Resonance, Artistry) – A practical evaluation and design lens participants can immediately apply to stress-test existing experiences or shape new ones – regardless of scale, budget, or technology
• A clear distinction between technology and experience quality – A sharper way to identify when tech is adding value versus when it’s compensating for weak design, and how to make smarter decisions about where tech actually belongs
• Pattern recognition from 800+ immersive experiences – Concrete, repeatable design patterns that consistently show up in successful experiences, and common failure modes to avoid, all distilled from large-scale, firsthand field research rather than theory
• Language to advocate for experience quality-led decisions – Clear vocabulary and framing to help teams communicate why certain design choices matter, especially when navigating stakeholder pressure around or technology

Speakers:

Balpreet Mangat (Head of Clients, TRO)

What it’s about:

“This session explores how TRO and BMW create real-world impact in the UK. Drawing on 20 years of relationship intelligence data, it shows that deep, trusted partnerships, invested in as rigorously as creativity, are a true superpower for growth, particularly when retention is five times more cost-efficient than acquisition. The session will unpack work that shifts perception and builds brand energy people actually feel, while helping BMW stay relevant in a fast-moving, culture-driven UK landscape. It breaks down how experiential work becomes a brand-building engine when agencies move beyond delivery into strategic vision and business understanding. These are the traits data shows separate high-performing partnerships from the rest. Attendees can expect honest insights on partnership, retention, and organic growth, framed through the lens of impact: what moves people and what makes a brand matter.”

Session takeaways:

• How to design experiences that create measurable brand and business impact, in a context where impact is the new currency
• How TRO helps BMW stay culturally relevant in the UK by combining flawless delivery with strategic direction and social-first, creator-ready experiences
• How long-term partnerships, underpinned by business understanding and a prevention mindset, unlock bigger, braver ideas that shift brand perception while reducing churn
• How to spot and grow opportunities by solving real audience needs, identifying early risk signals before they affect revenue
• How trust, transparency, and a clear point of view fuel impactful work that feels effortless to clients, even when efficiency and collaboration are top concerns

Speakers:

Christopher Morrison (Writer, Director, and Producer, Reality+, LLC)

What it’s about:

“A case study on a totally indie project that leveled up to national level funders and visibility. Focusing on story and talents first, presenting under-represented groups into non-traditional spaces, utilizing crip-time and disability justice as creative drivers, and using off-the-shelf tech to bring an entire art-form to people who usually cannot attend. A purpose driven project that has actual, demonstrable impact. The project has acquired seven figures in funding allowing for a three year iterative creation process and is an official Doris Duke Foundation project.”

Session takeaways:

• How to center purpose and available tools to create purpose driven work
• No quick fixes… it’s all long-term relationship building. How to maximize your long-term relationships and when to do the BIG ASK
• Use what’s around you… you don’t need to build something “brand new” whether that’s tech or talent
• I will share our solution for bringing live events to the Metaverse
• How a project moves forward with four Creative Directors and a Consensus mindset

Speakers:

Andy Ayim (Director of Learning Experiences, Ayim Limited)

What it’s about:

“In the Experience Economy, the product is you. Andy Ayim MBE breaks down his Service-Based Sales framework, four organic, relationship-driven methods that transform how consultants, freelancers, and agencies win high-value clients. Discover how to attract prospects through valuable content, activate your network for warm introductions, showcase expertise in curated gatherings, and master the art of thoughtful outreach all without burning cash on ads.”

Session takeaways:

• The Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Worksheet – Framework + validation questions
• The “Bookable Profile” + Nearbounding Script Bundle – LinkedIn setup + network activation templates
• The 4-Pillar Sales Audit + 30-Day Action Plan – Self-assessment tool with immediate next steps

Speakers:

Rob Paul (Design Director, LCI Productions)

What it’s about:

“When Port Lympne Safari Park launched its first seasonal light trail in 2025, it wasn’t just creating an event, it was expanding the brand. In this case study, Tony Kelly (Port Lympne) and Rob Paul (LCI Productions) share how the team delivered a large-scale, after-dark experience that respected animal welfare, protected natural terrain and activated entirely new guest behaviours. From creative development to operational delivery, learn how the safari park scaled its offer through immersive design, smart infrastructure use and thoughtful storytelling, all without compromising its conservation ethos or overstretching resources.”

Session takeaways:

• Learn how to scale into new formats (like nighttime experiences) without losing your core identity
• Discover how to embed environmental and ethical responsibility into creative expansion
• Explore strategies for using existing infrastructure to maximise impact with minimal new build
• Understand the importance of local partnerships and site-specific design when expanding immersive offers
• Gain insight into how to future-proof scalable experiences through modular content, reusable assets and collaborative planning

Speakers:

Jasmin Jodry (Creative Director, MOTO)

What it’s about:

“I design immersive experiences as gifts. Audiences deserve real value. I embed aspiration inside entertainment. Audiences may come for the spectacle, but they remember how the experience made them feel. When experiences shift from spectacle to catalyst, they create joy, real connection, and belonging. In an age of anxiety and loneliness, these experiences act as social remedies. They maximize time well spent and elevate quality of life.

“In this keynote, I share a clear framework for designing outcomes, not spectacle. When we embed aspiration into entertainment, we transform passive consumers into emotionally invested audiences. Emotional resonance becomes ROI. When people perceive real value, they return, they share, they stay.”

Session takeaways:

• How to shift experiences from spectacle to catalyst
• How emotion drives ROI
• How to design for audiences, not consumers

Speakers:

Brett Bagenstose (Founder & The Baron of Pixels, NeoPangea)

What it’s about:

“For beginner to intermediate AI users; experience designers, creative technologists, producers, and strategists Many designers are adopting AI tools quickly. The result is often more concepts, more outputs, but less clarity. Instead of accelerating decision-making, AI can create noise that weakens creative direction and human judgment. This session reframes AI as a design assistant, NOT a shortcut or replacement for craft. Through real-world case studies, Teresa Van Wagner and Brett Bagenstose will show how AI is intentionally integrated into NeoPangea’s experience design workflow to support clarity, alignment, and better decision-making across IRL projects.

“The session will walk through when and why AI is used during concept development, narrative framing, and internal alignment, and when it’s deliberately not used. Along the way, the speakers will share honest examples of failed experiments, abandoned approaches, and lessons learned. Attendees will be introduced to a simple, repeatable framework for using AI with purpose, preserving authorship while benefiting from emerging tools.”

Session takeaways:

• A practical framework for integrating AI into experience design workflows
• Clear guidance on where AI adds value, and where it erodes craft
• Real examples of successful and unsuccessful AI use in IRL projects
• Greater confidence using AI intentionally, not reactively

Speakers:

Amr Ellaithy (Co-Founder and Creative Director, TCS)

What it’s about:

“Cultural Context as a Narrative Map explores how local culture is not a decorative layer in experience design, but its primary structure. Every place carries histories, rituals, values, and shared memories that shape how people perceive, feel, and interpret experiences. This talk argues that meaningful experiences emerge when designers read cultural context as a narrative system – one that guides decisions, behaviors, and emotional flow. By mapping culture before form, experiences become more authentic, legible, and resonant within the communities they are created for.”

Session takeaways:

• Cultural Context Canvas – A simple framework to identify local values, rituals, symbols, tensions, and temporal patterns before any experience design decisions are made
• Narrative Mapping Method – A step-by-step approach to translating cultural insights into experience arcs, spatial sequencing, and emotional flow
• Context-to-Design Checklist – A practical checklist to test whether an experience genuinely reflects local culture—or merely applies aesthetic references
• Cultural Misalignment Red Flags – Key signals that indicate when an experience risks cultural flattening, misinterpretation, or loss of meaning
• Experience Localization Principles – Actionable guidelines for adapting global formats into locally resonant experiences without compromising authenticity

Speakers:

Stefan Weil (Chief Creative Officer, Atelier Markgraph)

What it’s about:

“Music has a wide potential far more than to entertain. Music triggers our emotions and can act as a stimulant. Music has the potential to balance, even to heal. Music as therapy. Music connects us. Music creates Unity. Music can change, can direct and redirect.”

Session takeaways:

• Music as a tool
• Entertainment
• Get inspiration for your next projects
• Discover a range of experts
• Deep dive in popular culture
• A global language to trigger and emotions

London Experience Week 2026: Line-up #2