Introduction to the module. Assessment and key concepts/ideas

1. Events Experience Management
Week 1 - Introduction and Overview

2. Welcome
Module Leader: Tom Lunt t.lunt@londonmet.ac.uk
Office Hours: Wednesday 13:30-16:30, Friday 13:00-15:30
My office is MT2M-12, Mezzanine 2nd Floor.

3. Outline of today’s session
• Module overview
• Assessment programme
• Weekly schedule
• Key concepts: Event, Experience, Experience
Economy and Experiential, Ritual
• Events – the snake-oil of the 21st Century?

4. What is this module about?

5. Key components
• Theory based discussion
• Field work
• Individual and group work
• Guest speakers
• Industry links – with a group assignment co-
designed with experience experts
• International Confex/MOVE IT!
• Creativity
• Pitching of ideas

6. LT7068 Part 1
• Theoretical discussion
• Experience analysis
• Service theatre and processes, service and
experience ”blueprinting”
• Symbolic interactionism applied to events
• Experience design
• Read, observe and analyse (and experience!)

7. LT7068 Part 2
• Group work
• Designing an experiential event experience
• Briefing by an industry expert
• Written event proposal
• Presentation
• Creativity and analytical skill important, but
also planning – be a team!

8. The industry experts
• Sense London – a leading experiential
marketing agency

9. Assessment overview
There are two assignments to be completed as
part of the assessment programme for this
module:
• An individual paper of 2500 words (worth 60%
of the module mark) – identify and visit a
suitable event to analyse
• A group assignment which encompasses a 20-
minute presentation and a written proposal of
2500 words (40%)

10. Preparation for seminars
• Particularly the coming four weeks are theory
heavy, keeping up with your reading will serve
you well later on (and will make the seminar
discussions more interactive)
• Seminar readings (journal articles and book
chapters) will be posted well in advance

11. Literature
Some useful books:
• Berridge (2007) Events Design and Experience
• Bowdin et al (2011) Events Management
• Ferdinand and Kitchin (2012) Events
Management: An International Approach
• Lovelock and Wirtz (2011) Services Marketing:
People, Technology, Strategy
• Pine and Gilmore (2011) The Experience Economy
• Smilansky (2009) Experiential Marketing: A
Practical Guide to Interactive Brand Experiences

12. Weekly schedule

13. What to expect at International
Confex
Week 4 – Wednesday 2 March, Kensington Olympia

14. What to expect at Move IT
18-20 March at Excel

15. Event Experience Management:
Some key concepts and definitions
In small groups, define the following concepts:
• Event
• Experience
• The Experience Economy
• Experiential

16. Event

17. What is an Event?
Temporary occurrence with a predetermined
beginning and end. It is unique, stemming from
the blend of management, programme setting
and people (Getz, 2005)
“An organised occasion such as a meeting,
convention, exhibition, special event, gala
dinner etc. An event is often composed of
several different yet related functions”
(Bowdin, 2006:14)

18. Experience

19. Levels of Experience
• Getz (2007:181): levels of
experience are closely linked to
how memorable an event is
• Customers’ position - active
participants or passive recipients?
Levels of
Experience
Definition
Basal Experience An emotional
reaction to a
stimulus, but with
insufficient impact to
stay long in one’s
memory
Memorable
Experience
Emotions
experienced can be
recalled at a later
date
Transforming
Experience
Resulting in durable
changes on an
attitudinal or
behavioural level

20. Defining experience
Experiences are:
- Private events that occur in response to some stimulation
- Often result from direct observation/participation in events
that can be real, dreamlike or virtual
- Experiences are usually not self generated but induced
- Experiences are ‘perpetually novel’ complex emerging
structures that are never exactly alike.
(Schmitt, 1999:60-61)

21. 5 types of consumer experience
1. Sense marketing – appeals to the consumer through sight, sound, touch,
taste and smell
2. Feel marketing – appeals to customers inner feelings and emotions
3.Think marketing – appeals to the intellect with the aim of creating
cognitive problem solving experiences that engage customers creatively
4. Act marketing – aims to affect bodily experiences, lifestyles and
interactions
5. Relate marketing – contains aspects of 1-4 and relates the individual to
his/her ideal self, people or cultures
(Schmitt, 1999:64-69)

22. The Experience Economy
“An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as
the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way
that creates a memorable event. Commodities are fungible, goods
tangible, services intangible, and experiences memorable.”
(Pine and Gilmore, 1998:98)
The greatest opportunity for value creation comes through the staging
of memorable experiences (Pine and Gilmore 2011)
“Innovation is not in goods – it’s in experiences” (Joe Pine 2012)
Pine and Gilmore (1998:98) argue, "To realize the full benefit of staging
experiences, however, businesses must deliberately design engaging
experiences that command a fee."

23. Economic theories over time
Differentiated
Competitive
Position
Undifferentiated
Market Premium
Pricing
Extract
commodities
Make
goods
Deliver
services
Stage
experiences
Pine, I, & Gilmore, J 1998, 'WELCOME TO THE EXPERIENCE
ECONOMY', Harvard Business Review, 76, 4, pp. 97-105

24. Pine & Gilmore – Experience Economy (1999)
Absorption
Passive
participation
Active
participation
Immersion
Entertainment Educational
Aesthetic Escapist
The 4 Realms of Experience

25. 4 Realms which is which?

26. Emerging Economies
Value Creation
• Emotion / Value Economy
(Sentiment)
• Sustainability & Social
responsibility
• ‘A Living Company
• A community of shared
values & rules
• An open system - everyone
is welcome
• Entertainment / Attention
Economy (Sensation)
• Appealing to 5 senses
• Products, services,
experiences
• ‘memorable’ experience

27. The Experience Economy
• Dream Society
• The value of ‘stories and
heroes’ or theatrical settings
• Experiences
• 4 E’s – the four realms
• Entertainment (sensing)
• Education (learning)
• Aesthetics (being there)
• Escapism (doing)
• Imagineering
• The amalgamation of all
concepts
• ‘engineering for imagination’
• Disneyfication of business –
and culture

28. Lady Dinah’s, London
Vienna Cat Café
Tokyo Cat Café

29. Experiential

30. Experiential
• “Face-to-face” or remote two-way
communication – always interactive
The consumer perspective:
• Trying before buying
• Memorable experiences (the surprise effect)
The brand perspective:
• Memorable experiences – brand association
• Creating and maintaining relationships
• Testing products and marketing approaches

31. Event Experience Management
Is it possible to manage and control
experiences?
• Yes, but it requires a lot of work before, during
and after the event
• Important to possess a deep knowledge of
theoretical concepts and models - and the
ability to use them

32. Event Experience
Management/Interaction Ritual
Ritual Ingredients Ritual Outcomes
Common
action or event
(including
stereotyped
formalities
Group assembly
(bodily co-presence)
Barrier to outsiders
Mutual focus of
attention
Transient
emotional
stimulus
Shared mood
Collective
effervescence
Group solidarity
Emotional energy in
individual
Symbols of social
relationship (sacred
objects)
Standards of morality
Feedback intensification
through rhythmic
entrainment
Righteous anger for
violations
Collins R (2004) Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton University Press. NJ

33. Events – a ”cure all” or the snake-oil
of the 21st Century?
Discuss the above question with reference to:
• Team building and corporate events
• Marketing events
• City festivals

34. Next week:
Lecture: Events as Service Theatre
Seminar: Service processes, flowcharting and
blueprinting the event experience
Readings available via WebLearn