Why global and cross-sector connections are essential for the experience economy

Authors:
Fabiën Vlems did the Master of Science Leisure and Tourism Studies at BUas and now works as operations & marketing executive for the WXO.
James Wallman is CEO and founder of the WXO. He studied at Oxford (MA, Classics), Cambridge (Diploma, Business), and London (MA, Journalism).

History illustrates that idea exchange is a catalyst for societal progress. The Pax Romana, Mongolica, and Americana facilitated this exchange, uniting diverse people across the Mediterranean, Eurasia, and the world. This convergence of ideas within a civilisation sparks innovation that benefits all. As people with different thought processes interact, their ideas give birth to new ones. While not all ideas succeed, a few emerge victorious from the multitude of experiments, symbolising progress and innovation. The safety of the Pax Mongolica, for instance, opened up a vast superhighway for people, ideas, and goods to flow from East to West and West to East. As caravans brought horses, porcelain, jewels, silk, paper, and gunpowder along the Silk Route, they also brought new ways of thinking and doing. From the Far East came brilliant ideas like paper-making and printing. From the Islamic world came unheard-of approaches to maths, astronomy, and science. 

Thanks to today’s caravans and ships - emails, the internet, Zoom, and the planes and trains that connect us in real-life meetings and conferences - we are able to flit around the globe and make the sort of connections that will lead to ever richer innovation. Where will this innovation lead us in the 2020s? That is the magic of innovation; you never really know where exactly it will lead. But since we know that it leads to progress that has been unprecedented and was hard to imagine in the past, it is easy to believe (if not picture!) how it will lead to improvements in the future.

Evolution of living standards
Materialism and the Consumer Revolution, which gathered pace after the Industrial Revolutions from the 1920s on, lit a fuse that led to an unprecedented increase in standards of living. As creators of radios, cars, shoes harnessed the magic of the industrial revolutions, and turned them into meaningful products and services for humans, sharing ideas across sectors, they produced better stuff. All that stuff added up to lots of better stuff - and that is the vertiginous rise in standards of living. That is what many believe is happening in the 21st century, particularly in the realm of experiences. You can see it in the rise of experiences, and the early flowering of the Experience Economy. 

Influenced by macrotrends such as social media, ‘stuffocation’, post-materialism, environmental concern, and economic progression, many posit that today’s innovators are harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s magic for human progress. To carpe this diem, we must emulate our predecessors: connect and share across sectors and geographies. This is occurring rapidly and extensively.

World Experience Organization
Many immersive and experiential events and organisations have launched in recent years. The Experience Research Society (EXPRESSO) and the UK’s Immersive Experience Network (IEN) were both founded in 2021. The Denver Immersive Group (DIG) has been operating since 2018. The VR/AR Association, since 2015. Singapore’s first-ever Immersive Summit was held in 2023. And then there is the World Experience Organization (WXO), founded in 2020. While many of these are local - oriented around a city or a country - or focused on a vertical market, such as immersive industry events - what makes the WXO different - not necessarily better - is that it is deliberately global and cross-sector. 

This brings tension. Can a customer experience expert really learn from a themed attraction operator? Is it worthwhile for a sound designer for events to connect with a brand activation expert? Would it not be better to focus on their specific markets and challenges? We should all learn from people in our own sector, but you might like to think of this as fishing. If you fish in the same water as your peers, you will catch the same fish. And the fish (ideas! You get the analogy?) will soon run out. For fresh, wild, or different fish, you have to fish in different waters. Innovation works like this too: in order to design, build, stage, operate better experiences in your sector, the best idea is to look in adjacent and even opposite experience sectors (see Edward de Bono’s concept of ‘rivers of thinking’).

And that is exactly what the WXO does. Weekly, we bring experts from various sectors to share and encourage conversation and connection around those ‘tent pole’ ideas - and for the experience experts to think about how to apply this to their own world. We do this online, in Zoom calls we call ‘campfires’ - because experience design involves expectation, and sitting around the campfire is not only ancient and quintessentially human, but we have all done it, we all know how informal campfires are. They are also levelling and anti-hierarchy: we believe deeply in expertise, but we also know that hierarchy can stifle creativity.

World Experience Summit
Once a year, we bring experts together at our World Experience Summit (WXS). After successful events in 2023 and 2024 we are running WXS 2025 in London. These events enable us to showcase brilliant, strange, useful ideas. Wim Strijbosch from BUas shared insights based on his PhD research into a specific dark ride that challenged the arc of the hero’s journey. Moniek Hover and Licia Calvi from BUas shared research on how the use of singular hero and ensemble heroes impact the design of vacation design. And we have hosted creators like Christopher Morrison and Stephanie Riggs arguing against the old hero’s journey. But this is not only about creativity: we believe in better experiences, and by better experiences, we mean the ones that: 1) make people feel more alive, 2) make more money, and 3) do good for society and the planet.

We also focus on the financial side and the business model canvas of your experience. If it does not turn a profit, it will not continue and cannot have an impact. In arts, culture, or non-profit sectors, success measures may differ. But as shown at Kronborg Castle, Peter Holst Beck’s work on Hamlet increased admission prices by 50% and tripled visitor numbers. Great experiences can support other work. The National Museum of Denmark’s Director Rane Willerslev has called this ‘the Museum’s golden egg’.

Neat ideas, do they work? 
With the support of key Experience Economy pioneers, including The Experience Economy author Joe Pine, Brigham Young University’s Mat Duerden, Burning Man’s Heather Gallagher, we have gone from a handful of people in 2020, via opening our doors to members in 2021, to around 750 members in June 2024 in 39 countries. Our members come from large and small brands, including Walt Disney Imagineering, Meow Wolf, Industrial Light & Magic, Deloitte, Excel, and Phantom Peak. Some reflections indicating the magic of when the network comes together:

“Such an amazing, talented, and fun crowd! We had genuine discussions on experience design from various angles - investment, gaming, design, production, transformation, and academia. Bring the right people together, let them co-create, and the result is mesmerizing.” (Jasmin Jodry)

“Experience design is a home for ‘misfit toys’. I always considered myself one of those - and I have recently been singing from the top of my lungs that the more varied perspectives and backgrounds we bring into the industry, the better. The WXS just reiterated to me that our different perspectives can come together to make beautiful experiences, and further...” (Mallory Schlossberg)

“The experience industry is at an inflection point and how we are building towards a more sustainable and financially viable future is top of everyone’s mind. There are some really interesting ideas buzzing around but we need to create systems and frameworks that allow us to create not just amazing experiences but successful business models as well.” (Nasya Kamrat)

Do your part
Be innovative by exploring unfamiliar territory. As an experience innovator, seek ideas from your sector, adjacent fields, and opposite experiences. Engage, connect, and share insights. Then enhance experiences that invigorate people, are financially viable, sustainable, and benefit both humanity and the planet. Let’s collaborate and contribute to the 21st-century experience revolution!

This article was published in Uncover Magazine - Internationalisation. You can read the complete magazine via this link.