Drawing together the relationship between event design and the experience of consumers and participants, this book explores and analyses the event experience of the individual and how this can be controlled by design. It also includes many chapter summaries, review exercises and topics for discussion to consolidate understanding.

Events are becoming more complex as their range of functions grows, as meeting places, creative spaces, economic catalysts, social drivers, community builders, image makers, business forums and network nodes. Effective design can produce more successful business models that can help to sustain cultural and sporting activities even in difficult economic times. This process requires creative imagination, and a design methodology or in other words ‘imagineering’. This book brings together a wide range of international experts in the fields of events, design and imagineering to examine the event design process. It explores the entire event experience from conception and production to consumption and co-creation. By doing so it offers insight into effective strategies for coping with the shift in value creation away from transactional economic value towards social and relational value which benefit a range of stakeholders from the community to policy makers. Mega-events, small community events, business events and festivals in eight different countries are examined providing an international view of social issues in event design. A wide selection of current research perspectives is employed, integrating both theoretical and applied contributions. The multidisciplinary nature of the material means that it will appeal to a broad academic audience, such as art and design, cultural studies, tourism, events studies, sociology and hospitality.

For the first time Events Design and Experience draws together the relationship between event design and the experience of consumers and participants. It explores and analyses the event experience of the individual and how this can be ‘controlled’ by design. By drawing upon ongoing research conducted over several years into the experiences of groups and individuals who attend events this text will ask questions such as: What was the rationale behind a particular event being designed in a certain way? What was the actual experience of consumers? How was the event materially delivered and did the experience created provide a satisfactory outcome? How can experiences be understood (via semiotics) especially the physical elements of an event? Structured in four sections, Events Design and Experience discusses: * What are events? An overall view of the industry, its definitions and market demand. It also covers an analysis of previous literature, and draws upon real life events such as Wembley plc, Leapfrog Corporate events and the British Cycling federation * What is an event experience? An explanation of the nature and stages of experience, and the emergence of the experience industry itself. Cases such as the Proms, London Fashion week ands the Nike Fun run are used to illustrate. * Designing Experiences. Considers how design itself can impact upon the experience, in some cases fundamentally changing the nature of experience. It asks the question of how experiences are designed and what do they signify to the customer once complete. * Analysing Event Experiences. Considers how experiences can be analysed and evaluated looking at the artificiality of the event and how this reflects in the experience of consumers. Also includes a review of the psychological processes of perception and interpretation and how meaning and experience can be analysed, and how we may begin to unravel the meanings attributed to certain events. With international case studies throughout, Events Design and Experience has a coherent user-friendly structure including chapter summaries, review exercises and topics for discussion to consolidate understanding.

The Fundamentals of Event Design aims to rethink current approaches to event design and production. The textbook explores the relationship between event design and multiple visitor experiences, as well as interactivity, motivation, sensory stimuli and co-creative participation. Structured around the key phases of event design, the book covers all the critical dimensions of event concepting, atmospherics, the application of interactive technologies, project management, team leadership, creative marketing and sustainable production. The concepts of authenticity, creativity, co-creation, imagineering and storytelling are discussed throughout, and practical step-by-step guidance is provided on how to create and deliver unique and memorable events. The chapters include industry voices offering real-life insight from leading international event practitioners and individual and/or team assignments to stimulate learners’ creativity, visualisation and problem solving. This is the first textbook in event design that integrates areas of anthropology, social psychology, management, marketing, graphic design and interactivity. Focusing on bringing theory into practice, this is essential reading for all Events Management students.

Event Design Handbook allows teams to code and decode success and failure of events using the ground breaking #EventCanvas.

Experiences are an important part of our lives and increasingly represent a crucial topic to address for businesses and professionals. This book focuses on designing, staging and managing experiences within the context of the events, tourism and hospitality industries. It also illustrates current and future developments in these industries and wider society, with an emphasis on sustainable development. The book offers an innovative approach for successfully creating experiences for (potential) customers that is based on combining insights and methods from the world of design and the social sciences. Moreover, it shows how the experience economy and sustainable development both reinforce one another and create challenges that businesses and professionals can address through this approach. Critical thinking questions, practical examples and international case studies are integrated throughout the text. Combining a design science and a social sciences perspective in one inclusive hands-on approach to designing, staging and managing experiences, this is essential reading for all students of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, but also related fields.

"Hosts of all kinds, this is a must-read!" --Chris Anderson, owner and curator of TED From the host of the New York Times podcast Together Apart, an exciting new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together—at home, at work, in our communities, and beyond. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker argues that the gatherings in our lives are lackluster and unproductive--which they don't have to be. We rely too much on routine and the conventions of gatherings when we should focus on distinctiveness and the people involved. At a time when coming together is more important than ever, Parker sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering that will help everyone create meaningful, memorable experiences, large and small, for work and for play. Drawing on her expertise as a facilitator of high-powered gatherings around the world, Parker takes us inside events of all kinds to show what works, what doesn't, and why. She investigates a wide array of gatherings--conferences, meetings, a courtroom, a flash-mob party, an Arab-Israeli summer camp--and explains how simple, specific changes can invigorate any group experience. The result is a book that's both journey and guide, full of exciting ideas with real-world applications. The Art of Gathering will forever alter the way you look at your next meeting, industry conference, dinner party, and backyard barbecue--and how you host and attend them.