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 are the final set of shortlisted entries – we hope you enjoy reading them as much as we have.

• Line-up #1: Click here to vote
• Line-up #2: Click here to vote
• Line-up #3 Click here to vote
• Line-up #4: Click here to vote
• Line-up #5: Sessions 101-125 on this page

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Speakers:

Jillian Austin (Creative Director, Experiential Innovation, MC²)

What it’s about:

“Audiences don’t want to be told a story anymore – they want to step inside one. This interactive workshop introduces Quantum Storytelling as a practical framework for designing participatory brand experiences across events, retail, B2B, activations, and live environments.

“Participants will team up to design a branded experience in real time, applying quantum principles like choice, multiplicity, and emergence to transform audiences from spectators into part of the brand world itself. Through guided exercises and real-world examples, we’ll explore how story becomes infrastructure, not messaging. Leave with a portable framework, a brand world you helped create, and tools you can use immediately.”

Session takeaways:

• A framework for designing brand experiences as participatory systems rather than linear narratives
• A simple method to identify where audiences can be given meaningful choice within an experience
• Tools for transforming spectators into active participants through design cues, wearables, and environment
• A checklist for moving beyond one-off activations into repeatable brand ecosystems
• Shared language to communicate this approach to internal teams, clients, and leadership

Speakers:

Geoff Fazan (Founder, Fazan & Co)

What it’s about:

“Risk is the engine of creativity, yet the systems designed to support it are widely misunderstood and mistrusted. This session reframes insurance as a tool for enabling bold risk-taking, offering creatives a clear, human understanding of how risk really works, why conflict arises, and how to extract real value from an opaque industry.”

Session takeaways:

• A positive framework for understanding risk as a creative enabler
• Why insurance systems behave the way they do, especially under stress
• A mental model to understand risk, and risk transfer
• Practical ways to engage the system without losing trust or momentum

Speakers:

Eleanor Appleton (Concept and Experience Designer, Puzzle Junction)

What it’s about:

“Digital technologies promise deeper, more scalable immersion – but do they truly match the emotional impact of analogue, real-world experiences? This round-table brings together professionals across design, technology, culture, and experience-making to unpack what immersion really means today.

“Through open discussion, we’ll explore where digital tools genuinely enhance presence, connection, and meaning – and where physical, human interaction still holds the edge. Expect honest perspectives, shared case studies, and critical debate on balance, intention, and audience impact. This session is less about hype and more about insight, inviting participants to challenge assumptions and rethink how immersive experiences are created now and in the future.”

Session takeaways:

• An Immersion Decision Framework – A simple set of questions to help decide when digital technology adds real value – and when analogue or low-tech approaches create stronger emotional impact
• The Presence Checklist – A quick audit tool for evaluating experiences (digital or physical) against key immersion drivers: attention, agency, sensory engagement, and human connection
• Hybrid Experience Patterns Proven examples and templates for blending digital and physical elements effectively – avoiding tech-for-tech’s-sake while increasing meaning and memorability
• Audience Impact Mapping Tool – A lightweight template to map intended emotional, cognitive, and social outcomes before choosing platforms, formats, or technologies
• Shared Case Learnings: Real-world successes and failures from across industries, offering transferable insights on what actually works in immersive experience design today

Speakers:

Michael Pack (Program Coordinator for Student Development, Mays Business School)

What it’s about:

“How Empathy Fuels Creativity: A Design Thinking Workshop for Beginners invites participants to unlock their creative confidence in a lively, low-pressure environment. Drawing on experience design research from Mat Duerden and Bob Rossman (Designing Experiences) and the creativity work of Tom Kelley and David Kelley (Creative Confidence), this introductory session focuses on Creative Confidence and the early stages of the design thinking process: Empathize, Define, and Ideate.

“Participants will practice empathy interviews, build simple empathy maps, and engage in energizing brainstorming activities that transform genuine human needs into imaginative, actionable ideas they can immediately apply in their work and everyday lives.”

Session takeaways:

• A simple, repeatable way to spark creativity and uncover real human needs
• A practical tool (empathy maps) for gathering insights from qualitative data collection
• Reframe challenges into human-centered need statements that spark better ideas.
• Generate and apply creative ideas with confidence, using low-pressure brainstorming methods you can use immediately.

Speakers:

Jonny Clinkenbeard (CEO and Lead Immersive Designer, UNSHUT)

What it’s about:

“A 4th-wall-breaking lecture about how to successfully break the 4th wall in immersive experiences, demonstrated as audience members experience the talking points for themselves in real time.”

Session takeaways:

• How to create something unexpected
• Knowledge of tools enables better magic moments
• Planning > Execution
• Understanding your Audience provides creative flexibility

Speakers:

Lanné Bennett (Founder and CEO, Lanne Bennett LLC, The Lanné Company)

What it’s about:

“A Q&A open discussion about real estate 101.”

Session takeaways:

• What, where, and when in choosing the correct location for the best success for the concept
• The basics they need to know when talking with a landlord
• What landlords are looking for when talking with and experience, etc. This is still a huge pain point in the “out of home experience” economy

Speakers:

Mel Baxter (Founder and CEO, The Mel Baxter Group LLC)

What it’s about:

“Too many experiences are designed for the moment, not the memory. The real challenge for experience professionals isn’t creativity, but building experiences that people can’t stop talking about after their visit. This session introduces an emerging framework for memorability: Welcome Audaciously, Think Differently, Empower Consistently.

“Using standout examples from across industries, this session explores how teams can design excellent moments that spark conversation and deepen connection to the experience. Through audience engagement, including live polls and guided prompts, attendees will assess their own experiences. Attendees will gain actionable ideas and thought-provoking questions to strengthen the memorability of their visitor experience.”

Session takeaways:

• Apply the “Memorability Framework”: Welcome Audaciously, Think Differently, Empower Consistently within your organization
• Evaluate your own experiences: spot gaps that keep your offerings from being memorable
• Learn from other industries: practical tactics from retail, hospitality, entertainment, and culture
• Gain actionable ideas: thought-provoking prompts to strengthen the visitor experiences you build

Speakers:

Victor Lander (Founder, Secret Society + Landerlander)

What it’s about:

“An experience designer walks up, confesses their project’s aches and pains, and I play the ‘experience healer’. Sitting at a table, I invite them to describe a work-in-progress: what feels flat, what does not land. I then deal three Magic Memory cards into specific positions, read the spread and then translate it into practical design moves, from clearer narrative loci to stronger sensory anchors. It’s playful, fast, fun and at times oddly accurate. You leave with a small prescription to heal the experience through Renaissance magic practices.”

Session takeaways:

• A clear diagnosis of the main experience “fault” (memory, tone, interaction engine, etc.) and why it shows up for visitors
• “Magic Memory” design moves you can apply immediately, mapped to your specific pain points
• A mini “prescription card” summary you can photograph and take back to your team

Speakers:

Robin McNicholas (Creative Director, Marshmallow Laser Feast)

What it’s about:

“In this talk, Robin McNicholas explores how playful research methods at Marshmallow Laser Feast have opened new creative frontiers across immersive art, technology, and performance. Drawing on projects that use tactile props in virtual worlds, Robin introduces the concept of haptic visuality; how touch, movement, and perception shape digital experience.

“The session also dives into audience interaction and the creative possibilities unlocked by markerless motion capture, where bodies become interfaces without sensors or suits. This talk offers a fresh perspective on why experimentation remains essential to meaningful creative innovation.”

Session takeaways:

• A Play-Led Experimentation Framework – A simple structure for using play and rapid prototyping as a serious creative tool, helping teams embrace happy accidents and spontaneity from the realtime workflows and unlock new directions before concepts are fixed
• Designing Tactile Interaction in Digital Worlds Approaches to introducing physical props and embodied interaction into virtual experiences, showing how “haptic visuality” can deepen emotional and sensory engagement without complex hardware
• New Creative Possibilities with Markerless Mocap
• Actionable insights into using markerless motion capture to design participatory, audience-responsive experiences, including when and why this technology meaningfully expands creative expression
• Experimentation Metrics That Go Beyond ‘Success/Failure’ A lightweight evaluation method for creative experiments, helping teams capture learning, insight and creative potential rather than only polished outcomes

Speakers:

Dhruv Davar (CEO, Inextis Events Pvt Ltd)

What it’s about:

“From Awards to Contracts explores how Inextis transformed 150+ global industry awards into real business impact. The session unpacks the psychology behind awards – how clients, investors, and peers actually perceive them, and why recognition doesn’t automatically convert into revenue. Or does it?

“Through honest learnings, it reveals how awards reshape trust, pricing power, and risk perception, change the quality of conversations brands are invited into, and elevate a company from being “good” to being considered differently. It also looks at how sustained recognition led to serious acquisition conversations—and what that signals about brand maturity. This is not about winning awards, but about turning them into leverage.”

Session takeaways:

• Learn how to turn awards into commercial leverage (not just credentials) Understand where and how to use awards in sales conversations to influence trust, pricing power, and client confidence, instead of letting them remain passive brand assets
• Decode how awards actually change client and investor psychology Gain clarity on how sustained recognition shifts risk perception, upgrades the quality of conversations you’re invited into, and moves your brand from being seen as “capable” to being strategically valuable
• Use recognition as a signal of brand maturity, not validation Identify the patterns that made awards trigger larger contracts, repeat business, and acquisition-level interest, and learn how to position recognition as proof of long-term credibility rather than one-time success

Speakers:

Laszlo Puczko (CEO and Experience Atelier, HTWWLife & Budapest City Park)

What it’s about:

“The convergence of the wellness movement, environmental awareness, and human-centered design has given rise to a new dimension of design. This is WX – Wellbeing Experience. WX expands the logic of UX and CX into a more holistic purpose. Designing for human flourishing, not only for usability or satisfaction: It is the evolution of experience itself – from the useful, to the desirable, to the meaningful, and ultimately to the transformational. The proprietary HTWWLife Dial Tool assists the creation of wellbeing experiences with the intended results along the 8 domains of wellbeing.”

Session takeaways:

• Wellbeing Experience Design Tool – Template of designing experiences with the optimal wellbeing impact
• Update on ROX shifting to ROT, i.e. Return on Transformation (as special result of wellbeing experiences)

Speakers:

Aaron McCoy (Creative Director, Visuell Studios)

What it’s about:

“In a landscape crowded with spectacle and branded IP, the next evolution of immersion demands something deeper: meaning. This session explores how to conceive of and design experiences that emotionally resonate, inspire reflection, and stay with audiences long after they leave. We’ll examine how narrative intention, multi-sensory design, and symbolic world-building can transform a space into something profoundly human. Discover practical frameworks for crafting immersive environments that don’t just entertain – they connect, awaken, and matter.”

Session takeaways:

• The “Meaning First” Framework A simple 3-step template (Intention > Emotion > Expression) to guide any immersive concept from purpose to design decisions
• Audience Emotional Map Worksheet A tool for defining how visitors should feel at each stage of the experience, and aligning visual, audio, and physical cues to support those emotions
• Symbolic World-Building Checklist A practical list for infusing environments with metaphor, symbolism, and narrative depth without needing existing IP
• The Multi-sensory Alignment Method A repeatable process for ensuring sound, lighting, motion, scent, and interaction all serve one cohesive story
• A “Why This Matters” Test A quick diagnostic teams can apply to evaluate whether an idea is meaningful or just decorative – and how to elevate it

Speakers:

Felipe Sanchez Luna (Creative Director and CEO, Kling Klang Klong)
Leigh Sachwitz (Founder and CEO, flora&faunavisions)

What it’s about:

“We live surrounded by places, objects, and stories that drift into the past. Memories fade, transform, and sometimes become unrecognizable – not only in our minds, but in the spaces we inhabit. Yet audiovisual art has the unique ability to bring them close again. In this talk, two international pioneers of spatial design explore how carefully crafted works can carry memory, anchor emotions, and trigger experiences we thought were gone. Together, we dive into lost stories and discover the transformative power of storytelling through sound and visual art.”

Session takeaways:

• Audiovisual art can reactivate memory by reshaping how we perceive spaces
• Sound is a powerful carrier of emotion and narrative structure
• When sound and visuals work together, they create new worlds that bridge past and present

Speakers:

Carolene Méli (Entertainment Industry Ghostwriter)

What it’s about:

“You’ve got years of experience creating unforgettable moments for audiences. But talking about your own expertise to win new business? Blank screen. Blinking cursor. Nothing. If you’re not showing up online right now, you aren’t unforgettable, you’re completely invisible. Invisible to your dream client. Invisible to your dream investor. Invisible to your dream employer. The secret to building industry-wide influence? Being clear, not clever. This session will show you how. No more blank screens. No more hiding. No more watching everyone else land the opportunities that should be yours. Just you, finally unforgettable.”

Session takeaways:

• How to position yourself online to attract dream clients, investors and employers
• What to write about to stay top of mind with the right people
• How to write LinkedIn content that actually gets results (without sounding like everyone else)

Speakers:

Cecile Andreu (Live Experiences Consultant and Creator, Le Brouillon)

What it’s about:

“Most experience creators pitch ideas that feel exciting but lack the structural clarity investors need to say yes —resulting in concepts that die in decks, not because they’re weak, but because they’re not ready yet.”

Session takeaways:

• How to Structure an Experience Blueprint™ – A one pager proven format to communicate your concept with clarity. Investors, partners, and teams will instantly understand what you’re building and why it matters
• The Experience Scorecard™ (Tool) – A 10-minute audit template you can use immediately on any concept. It reveals where you’re strong, where you’re weak, and what needs fixing. No more guessing

Speakers:

Minna Taylor (Applied Play and Thought Leadership Consultant, Energize Your Voice)

What it’s about:

“Belonging isn’t the warm glow at the end of an experience. It’s the engine at the center. In this session, we reframe belonging as an infinite game: a living system participants actively shape through behavior, risk, and co-created meaning. Instead of designing for comfort, we’ll explore how to design for aliveness: the playful tension that turns strangers into collaborators and spectators into culture-makers.

“Through the lenses of embodiment, improvisation, and the trusted-player model, we’ll challenge the industry’s default settings and experiment with new ways of engineering connection that don’t flatten difference, but activate it.”

Session takeaways:

• Belonging as an infinite game: A shift from designing outcomes to designing ongoing conditions for trust, adaptability, and creative risk
• The Aliveness Principle: Why belonging grows not from ease, but from shared participation in uncertainty and play
• Embodied cues as cultural design tools: How breath, pace, and presence shape group dynamics faster than content ever can
• Improvisational structure: Using “Yes, And” and calibrated constraint to transform attendees into co-authors of the experience
• The Trusted Player model: A framework for designing experiences where people don’t just feel included, they feel essential

Speakers:

Arthur Zards (Founder, Lab Z)

What it’s about:

“AI is not just new technology. It’s driving a shift in meaning across work, play, art, and experiences that most people are missing. As the co-founder of a 90s ISP that helped build the groundwork AI runs on, I’ve lived through this kind of transformation before. You’ll learn how to see the patterns behind meaning shifts and why they matter for the experience economy. You’ll learn how to spot them early enough to design experiences that create new categories instead of improving old ones. You’re in the best position to guide these shifts into new products, services, and markets. This moment is your rare chance to shape what comes next.”

Session takeaways:

• You’ll see how AI isn’t just changing tools, it’s changing what things mean, and why that shift matters more than any feature or platform
• You’ll understand the difference between incremental tech upgrades and true meaning shifts, and why only meaning shifts create new categories and markets
• You’ll learn how to spot the patterns behind meaning shifts so you can get ahead of them instead of reacting after the fact
• You’ll see how meaning shifts open the door for completely new products, services, and experiences
• You’ll understand why experience designers are uniquely positioned to guide these AI-driven shifts, and how to leverage that advantage right now

Speakers:

Randy Silver (Managing Director, Out of Owls)

What it’s about:

“Are you a business leader tired of feeling out of your depth when discussing AI adoption? How do you distinguish between “Magic Pixie Dust” and real business value? Stop feeling overwhelmed by the relentless wave of new models, apps, and vendor hype. This hands-on workshop is your AI Playbook.

“We’ll provide a practical, framework-based approach to gaining ownership of your organization’s AI future. Learn to use your existing expertise to cut through the noise, focus discussions on measurable value, and prioritize initiatives that deliver genuine ROI. You will leave with a clear, actionable plan to drive immediate, meaningful change.”

Session takeaways:

• A practical Cynefin-based framework for classifying opportunities, moving from hype to measurable strategy.
• The ability to immediately deconstruct vendor pitches and internal requests into a non-technical, ROI-focused strategic discussion.
• A clear understanding of which technology to use for which problem based on process complexity.
• The AI Playbook template for achieving organizational alignment and successfully stewarding an AI initiative from Chaos to Clear value.

Speakers:

Shaena Harrison (Founder, Wing People)

What it’s about:

“What if you could prove the impact of belonging in real time? The Connection Lab turns the audience into a live experiment, showing how fast, intentional micro-interactions spark trust, boost engagement and directly improve ROI and ROX. With live polling visualising the room’s “belonging pulse,” Shaena reveals the behavioural principles behind connection that performs. Backed by data from IMEX, TechBBQ and Reuters, this session delivers evidence, energy and a practical playbook for designing experiences people remember and return to.”

Session takeaways:

• The Belonging Metrics Map – A simple measurement model to track connection density, emotional engagement and ROX. Includes what to measure before, during and after an experience
• The 10 Minute Connection Design Sprint – A repeatable mini framework for designing intentional moments of trust, serendipity and collaboration at any event, workshop or activation
• Three Behavioural Prompts – That Always Work Evidence backed scripts participants can use immediately to reduce awkwardness, spark conversation and create meaningful interactions
• The Wing People Micro Rituals Toolkit – Portable rituals and facilitation moves that take less than a minute and can shift a room from passive to connected without extra tech or staffing
• The Connection Playbook (QR download) – A concise checklist to embed connection by design into upcoming projects, from planning questions to on the day execution steps

Speakers:

Emma Oliver (Narrative Director, Emotion Creative)

What it’s about:

“Guests aren’t returning. Merchandise isn’t moving. Social buzz fades fast. Your experience is impressive, but it’s simply not transformative. This talk breaks down the non-negotiables of transformative experiences – the narrative fundamentals that turn one-time visitors into loyal advocates.

“Learn how a clear message; defined guest role; and accessible, intentional design work together to drive emotional impact, repeat visitation, and organic marketing. This session offers practical tools for use during development to help create experiences that stick – long after guests leave the venue.”

Session takeaways:

• A clear set of narrative elements to help build a transformative experience that drives return visits, merchandise sales, and social sharing
• Practical ways to define what the guest is doing in the experience — and why that clarity increases emotional investment and memory
• Examples of small narrative changes that significantly increase perceived value, engagement, and shareability without increasing scope

Speakers:

Bernd Gibson (Immersive Learning Designer, The Immersive Theatre of Learning)

What it’s about:

“The Case of the Missing Story is a mix between a noir detective mystery and a sensory walk. Participants will become detectives in search for the Here and Now that has gone missing in a world of remoteness and distractions. It is a discovery trail to slow down, sharpen out senses and find awe in everyday situations.

Session takeaways:

• A variety of ways to use our five or more senses
• A blend of immersive theatre, role play and mindfulness practice
• A low or no-budget way to engage participants in any form of urban or natural environment

Speakers:

Claus Raasted (Director, The College of Extraordinary Experiences)

What it’s about:

“Immersive is amazing, but immersive is expensive. How do you create immersive experiences on shoestring budgets? One way we’ve found is to create miniature worlds and bring the participants inside them. It’s not the same as bringing everyone to a castle in Poland, but it means we get to bring the castle to them – and that’s a LOT cheaper! In this interactive presentation, you’ll get to experience the magic of miniatures, and maybe even pick up a trick or two that you can apply at home!”

Session takeaways:

• Understanding the power of framed experiences in an immersive world
• Getting tips and tricks for how to present your magic in a tiny pop-up format
• Learning why the alibi for interactions sometimes matters even more than the interactions themselves
• And of course, you’ll get to take on the role of generals in the Napoleonic Wars, and what’s not to like there!?

Speakers:

Arlo Howard (Interactive Theatre & Game Maker)

What it’s about:

“In this active workshop, we will use a rapid game generation process to explore how big ideas can be distilled into playable mechanics or guest activities. We’ll experiment with how these actions can function as metaphors, amplifying the purpose of a piece and creating deeper resonance. Working in small groups, participants will put these ideas to practice and create scratch versions of new play-driven experiences.

“This workshop focuses on analog, collaborative making, so no technology or previous experience with games is needed. Come exactly as you are.”

Session takeaways:

• How to ground experience and game design in meaning making
• How to connect what people do in an experience to how you want them to feel at the end
• An understanding of iterative game design processes You will have made a playable game!

Speakers:

Brent Turner (EVP, Strategy & Solutions, Opus Agency)

What it’s about:

“The world’s fastest-growing markets are opening new frontiers for business impact. As organizations expand internationally, event strategies must evolve to capture this growth.

“Join Brent Turner, EVP Strategy & Solutions at Opus Agency, alongside a panel of senior leaders from the world’s top brands, to unpack the “why, where, and how” of global scaling. Learn to adapt formats, target emerging hubs, and build a globally scalable playbook that resonates locally. Future-proof your footprint for the next era of growth.”

Session takeaways:

• The Emerging Map: Identify the key global markets and hubs that brands cannot afford to ignore in the next five years
• Global vs. Local: Strategies to balance global brand consistency with the necessity of local cultural relevance and adaptation
• The Scaling Playbook: A strategic framework for extending event portfolios into new regions without losing impact or efficiency
• Future-Proofing: Practical steps to evolve U.S.-based models into a truly resilient, borderless global presence

Speakers:

Anam Ahmad (Founder and Chief Creative Officer, The Hanging House)

What it’s about:

“We design unforgettable experiences for audiences – but most agencies leave their internal culture to chance. In practice, a creative culture is either carried by a few loud personalities, or switched on only when there’s a brief, a budget, and an expected outcome. Anything outside that system is treated as indulgent, inefficient, or irrelevant.

“This session explores a different model: designing an agency culture where creativity exists by default – before briefs, beyond deliverables, and without needing permission or justification. Using real practices from The Hanging House, this talk breaks down how rituals, environments, and systems create conditions where curiosity, experimentation, and cultural awareness become inevitable – not optional.”

Session takeaways:

• A clear distinction between creative people and creative systems
• A simple framework for designing environments where creativity exists without needing an outcome
• Why ‘creativity with no goal’ is not inefficient – it’s a leading indicator of future relevance
• How rituals (not values decks) quietly determine whether creativity survives inside an organisation
• A practical way to audit whether your culture actually supports creativity – or just consumes it

London Experience Week 2026: Line-up #5