I have been very lucky over the last two weeks to present in the simply stunning city of Budapest and the smoky metropolis that is London. Both presentations were on the rather wooly concept of “designing learning experiences” rather than “designing events”

I write ‘wooly’ but thankfully most of the industry agrees that designing experiences is a great approach to creating loyalty, increasing enjoyment and improving information retention for our attendees.

Actually I also proudly write ‘wooly’ because I believe a presentation covering something as abstract as an idea of an ‘experience’ has to be pretty loose and particularly general. Or put more directly: how can one really present practically on how YOU can be creative? It is the concept not the application that one has to get across.

Designing learning experiences or learning events – what’s the REAL difference?

After my session in Hungry someone commented (I have a thick skin, it could have been a criticism) that I hadn’t offered any examples. Or put another way, I hadn’t created any ideas for them. Well, that my friend isn’t my job. Being creative means creating things. Not copying things. My job is to help you understand that the business events can be better. And one way to do that is to think of them as experiences not events.

Here’s the difference in a nut shell. When considering your next meeting, if you are thinking about feelings; senses; people; attendee state of mind; their environment and how to make this all different, then you will more than likely end up with an experience.

If you start by thinking about the size of the room; the desired profit; the number of seats around a table; the number of refreshment breaks, and how you can make everything similar to make your life easier, then you will end up with an event.

I will re-emphasise. People makes experiences. As an organiser you are the one person who can really make that event an experience.