New year, new ways, new thoughts! My first New Year’s resolution of 2018 is to implement another term for what I work with (experience management), as I introduced back in August 2017.
Back then, I talked about how ‘experience’ is a misleading word since it has many connotations. If you meet a famous rock star, you might say it was a great experience. Or if you visit the pyramids of Egypt, you might think “Wow, this is a once in a lifetime experience”. However, the experience I talk about has nothing to do with these kinds of experiences.
When I work with experience, I combine all the elements that an experience consists of with the purpose of the conference (remember, the purpose of the conference is always the most important element to consider), so that we meet the objectives of the conference by making it an experience for the attendees. If you have forgotten what these experience elements are, check out the article “Back to school: Experience Management” to learn more.
What is the word’s name?
The comments I got from the post about the misleading word show that people would understand using ‘immersion’ instead of ‘experience’ – and it makes good sense: What we really want from our attendees is for them to immerse themselves in the point of attending the conference, whether that is learning, getting motivated, meeting new people (networking) or decision making.
We also want them to immerse themselves in the experience elements we add to our event like incorporating the senses and involving the attendees as well as having each participant feel the relevance and uniqueness for himself.
And we know that being an integrated part of something (when you get to listen, be heard, partake, and be creative) enhances the experience, so we could state that adding an extra level to an experience is to immerse yourself. Hence, we want to talk about immersion instead of experience…because that is in fact what we strive for when we design our events: immersion!
All beginnings are hard
As with all new things, it can be difficult to adjust to them – and I have to say that I cannot guarantee you that I will never speak of experience management again. Experience management is still what is being taught, and if you Google immersion economy nearly any results will show.
But changes are necessary, and I believe in beginning 2018 with a change of mindset: From experience to immersion.
Want to join me?
