WXO - World Experience Organization

We're pleased to announce the formation of the inaugural World Experience Council! 🥳 As the WXO - World Experience Organization nears its first 1,000 members, this team of global experience visionaries will play a pivotal role in guiding us into the next phase of our growth – and power the ongoing evolution of the Experience Economy, of course. The World Experience Council brings together a wealth of expertise from both the creative and commercial aspects of the Experience Economy. With centuries of combined experience and decades of pioneering advancements in the science, technology, art, impact, and measurement of experiences, these leaders will provide invaluable insights and guidance. “The collective wisdom of the World Experience Council will not only be instrumental in shaping the WXO’s future, but also help steer it in its mission to enrich the world with exceptional experiences and transform quality of life for all humans on planet Earth,” said the WXO’s CEO, James Wallman. Discover the full list of experience creators, investors, producers, operators, commissioners, professors, scientists and entrepreneurs behind the World Experience Council in the comments below 👇 #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiencenews #experienceeconomy #experiences #experience #worldexperiencecouncil

We're not surprised that our recent Campfire with salutogenic sound specialist Tom Middleton *resonated* with so many of you. Immersive audio is one of the most exciting new technologies shaping how we approach sensory design in our experiences. So we were delighted to welcome another former DJ turned immersive audio specialist and the founder of Swell Studio, Brian d'Souza, to tell us more about his journeys into sound therapy and immersive audio experiences. d'Souza went on a five-year journey to discover if sound therapy and the experience of a real-life sound bath could be distilled into a mobile app to reach people wherever they are, working with the likes of the The British Academy of Sound Therapy, L-Acoustics & Kinda Studios along the way. The resulting app, SwellSpa, helped him develop several principles for designing therapeutic sound experiences: 1. AGENCY. 😌 The individual has to be able to listen in the way that is right for them. To achieve a state of mindful meditation and focused attention, people need to feel at one with the space and in the moment – a challenge in our era of noisy environments and an overcrowded attention economy. 2. INTENTIONALITY. 🎯 We need to meet people where they are, understanding that we are all strange and wonderful, with different triggers. Some people are prone to sensory overwhelm, and some respond to sound in a negative way. One person’s music is another person’s noise. 3. STORY. 📖 We should look to support "patient listening": listening that’s purposeful, meaningful, and active, with a start, middle and end, akin to a storytelling experience. For more insights from d'Souza on how to channel the principles of sound therapy and design immersive audio experiences in your work, hit the link in the comments!👇 #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiences #experience #experiencedesign #wxocampfire #immersivesound #immersiveaudio #spatialaudio #wellness #wellnessexperiences #wellbeing #wellbeingexperiences #soundtherapy #soundhealing

👸 How can measuring leadership make the world a better place – and improve profit along the way? 🔥 According to data provided by The Workforce Institute at UKG, managers have just as much of an impact on people’s mental health as their spouse (both 69%) – and even more of an impact than their doctor (51%) or therapist (41%). Turning more managers into true leaders is the path forward for a better world. Leadership is undoubtedly a key differentiator for IKEA’s success. Jens Heitland led Innovation in IKEA Centres and is now Co-Founder & CEO at WeAreSucceed, a very early-stage start-up set to positively impact the lives of 1 billion people by improving their leadership skills and those of the people around them. Join Heitland & Claudia Ursuleț-Popa 🌸 to discover how to apply these learnings in your business and professional career. 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. ❤️ #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiencedesign #experienceeconomy #experiences #wxocampfire #leadershipeducation #customerexperience #employeeexperience #teamevents #leadership

The unofficial WXO live tour continues! 🥳 Last night saw our very first hybrid, phygital WXO Campfire, live from the show floor at IMEX in Las Vegas. WXO CEO James Wallman introduced the IMEX crowd to our brilliant members, before Creative Director Sermad B. wowed the IRL and digital audiences with his epic E.M.O.T.I.O.N.A.L framework (cute anagram, btw) for making experiences, drawn from more than two decades in the game – full takeaways coming soon. Thanks to Anthony Vade, CED and Encore for hooking up the tech and to everyone who came! Later today, we’ll be having our first West Coast in-person WXO Campfire on how to tell your origin story with the visionary folks at BRC Imagination Arts. Hands up who’s coming? 🙋♀️ All of this is great practice for next year’s World Experience Summit… of which we’ll be bringing you more details very soon 👀 for more on WXO live events and Campfires, sign up to the WXO Newsletter today!

“Future medicine will be the medicine of frequencies.” Albert Einstein Former DJ and sensory designer Tom Middleton is also the Co-Founder of White Mirror, a multisensory lab and innovation studio. His journeys into immersive and spatial sound have given him a strong belief in the power of salutogenic sound and "audio therapeutics": intentionally designed audio experiences that can help boost human health. The 4 kinds of audio therapeutics are: 😴 Audio-hypnotics: sounds and music to aid sleep, like the Calm and Sleep Better apps or Nissan Leaf EV lullaby ☺️ Audio-analgesics: sounds and music to reduce pain, like the Moonai (Techstars '23) app or XRHealth cold environments project 😌 Audio-anxiolytics: sounds and music to alleviate anxiety, like the Breathonics app 🤩 Audio-nootropics: sounds and music to boost cognitive function and performance Crucially, many of these experiences borrow from nature to help us use technology and screens in a more positive and healthy way, connecting to other people, our environment, and ourselves. How might you use audio therapeutics in your experiences to increase the wellbeing of your guests/participants/audience/users? Get more ideas from Middleton via the link in comments 👇 #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiences #experience #experiencedesign #wxocampfire #salutogenic #salutogenicsound #immersivesound #immersiveaudio #spatialaudio #wellness #wellnessexperiences #wellbeing #wellbeingexperiences

🤔 Can we interrogate the commonalities between creating experiences? 🔥 At the WXO, we definitely think there are processes and frameworks that can be transferred between experiences and sectors. But what does it look like when you take more than 20 years of creating standout experiences and attempt to codify it in one framework...? Creative Director Sermad B. has been making experiences for over two decades. In this week's Campfire, he'll share some of what he's learned in spearheading experiences for Icons (The Up House, Polly Pocket House), Squid Games: The Trials, Bravocon, & many more, and use it as a jumping-off point to interrogate how we design our own experiences. He'll share his E.M.O.T.I.O.N.A.L framework for creating experiences, broken down across a previous experience. The first three stand for Empathy, Motivations, and Obsessions – but you'll have to join us to hear the rest... WXO Members can RSVP now on Circle – or apply now to join us for this and future Campfires. #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiencedesign #experienceeconomy #experiences #wxocampfire #experienceframework

Our Extraordinary Experiences around the globe for October are here – and this spooky season we're asking... do you wanna play a game? 😈 If you want to go full horror, scare experiences from the likes of Phantom Peak, Mercer Labs, Overnightmare & Black Lodge will have you quaking. But if you're more of a scaredy cat, playful experiences from Meow Wolf, AREA15, Lego & The Museum of Candy are keeping things light. Here's October's Extraordinary Experiences worldwide: 21. Shocktober Fest (Sussex, UK) 20. Squid Game: The Experience (Netflix - NYC, US) 19. Museum of Candy (Dubai) 18. Overnightmare (Peacock, Blumhouse – Colorado, US) 17. Cabaret Rive Gauche (Sculpteurs de Rêves, Tempora S.A. – Paris, France) 16. The Call (Serpentine – London, UK) 15. Black Lodge (CAP UCLA, BETH MORRISON PROJECTS, INC. – LA, US) 14. Dark Matter: Nightmare Before Midnight (Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology – NYC, US) 13. Lego Play Tour (the LEGO Group – global) 12. Tomorrowland Immersive Experience (XR Music Hub – Madrid, Spain) 11. Hallowed Peak: The Lunar Festival (Phantom Peak – London, UK) 10. Dopeameme Institute for Pleasure Research (AREA15, SUPERPLASTIC® – Las Vegas, US) 9. Berlin Festival of Lights (Berlin, Germany) 8. Tintin, The Immersive Experience (Montreal, Canada) 7. Making A Rukus (Somerset House – London, UK) 6. House of Spirits (Fever, MEYER2MEYER ENTERTAINMENT, LLC – San Francisco, US) 5. Anemoia (Dazzle – Tokyo, Japan) 4. Underground: The Summoning (Super Productions, Theatre of Wonder – Singapore) 3. Riyadh Season 2024 (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) 2. Marilyn - The Exhibition (London, UK) 1. Meow Wolf Radio Tave (Texas, US) As always, let us know what we've missed – and what you'll be checking out – in the comments, where you'll also find the link to the full article 👇 #experiences #experienceeconomy #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiencedesign #experiencetrends #immersiveexperiences #extraordinaryexperiences #experiential

There’ll be a lot of WXO expertise at IMEX next week 🙌🙌 With thanks to the support of WXO Founding Member Tahira Endean, MsC, CITP, CMP, CED & WXO super supporter & founder of the Google Experience Institute Megan Henshall

What's Your Origin Story? And how would you turn it into an extraordinary experience? Join our first ever, live, IRL WXO Campfire on the West Coast at the headquarters of one of the world's original experience creators, BRC Imagination Arts. Founded in 1981, BRC Imagination Arts are masterminds at creating brand experiences that matter and telling stories with purpose. They launched Johnnie Walker Princes Street and have worked on projects for Ford, the Las Vegas Raiders, Talisker, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and many more. They've also led two "storydoing" masterclasses at the World Experience Summit in 2023 and 2024 :-) With a presentation led by BRC's Maya Guice, Kat Reinbold and Christian Lachel, we'll dive into case studies of how BRC discovered origin stories, and then turned them into compelling experiences. With the Campfire moderated by James Wallman, there'll be plenty of opportunity to ask questions, share your ideas, learn tools and techniques, and make great connections - useful for your work today, and your career in the future :-)  In anticipation, ask yourself: 1 What's your personal origin story? 2 How might you tell that as a walk-through IRL experience? (Or, would you? Or, what sort of experience would it be? No need to get stuck in an experience genre silo!) 3 Which brands do you know that use their origins story well / badly / at all?  4 What brands / experiences have you worked for / on that we focused on their stories now... & how might the experience changed if they worked with their origin story? Numbers are strictly limited. We expect demand to outstrip supply, so confirm your place as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. This IRL WXO Campfire is for WXO members, the 'WXO curious' and the wider experience community. (Of course, priority for WXO members.) 

“We’re in the business of emotion: and to get to the heart, a good narrative has to come from the heart.” Margaret Chandra Kerrison Want to design a compelling immersive narrative? Kerrison's S.T.O.R.Y Method outlines the 5 questions every experience designer should ask themselves to get there: 1. Share: Why Share this story with the world? Finding the why is the centre of any narrative. When this comes from a place of honesty, it’s more likely to resonate universally. 2. Theme: What’s the Theme of your story? Theme drives narrative thrust. It contributes to the building of the main story beats, those moments of change that move it forward. 3. One-Of-A-Kind: What makes your story One Of A Kind and unique? The competition for attention is immense. Has it never been told – or are you telling it from a different perspective or medium? 4. Reflect: Why are you the best person to tell the story? Knowing who you are will help give a perspective and unique take to the story that makes it worthy of attention. 5. Yearn: What is the visitor Yearning to experience? What do you want your audience to feel, both when they walk in, and when they walk away? What’s the transformation or emotional takeaway you want to lead them towards? Read the full article for more immersive storytelling tips from an experience pioneer in the comments below 👇 #wxo #worldexperienceorganization #experiences #experiencedesign #immersive #immersivestorytelling #storytelling #immersiveexperiences