event design canvas
Every person experiences the same set of circumstances at the same time, in a very different way. However, there is a bunch of features that as event designers we can twist and turn, enrich and intensify, in order to subtly guide our participants towards the emotion we’d like to evoke.
Focusing only on the aesthetics, or only on the intangible, will probably create an event that is out of balance, and all in all an incomplete experience for the participants. But if we look into the individual facets of an experience, we can understand why some events are just better than others.
Let’s take a look at the canvas. You can download a nicer, working version here.
On the top we find the holy trinity for the event design process:
- Time — When is the event happening and why is it happening then?
- Space — Where is the experience taking place and why?; Does the location matter?
- Story — Meaning doesn’t belong to the past. It’s here and now — how do I relate to it? What is the story and what’s it got to do with me?
Then we go to the second tier and we take a look into the five senses. Widely used in NLP techniques of touching upon sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste, can create emotional anchors and reinforce the overall experience of the participant. Here are some suggestions:
- Visual: pictures, colours, decoration
- Auditory: music, voices, sounds
- Kinaesthetic: textures, feel of physical elements
- Olfactory: smells, chemicals, scents
- Gustatory: tastes of food, drink
We finally get to the five inner senses. There is a lot of space for interpretation here, depending on the type of event you are designing. How you tap upon these senses is really up to your imagination:
- Insight: What does the participant learn (in general and about himself) from the experience?
- Inspiration: How does it kickstart a change and what change?
- Intuition: How does the event shift believes?
- Instinct: How does it change the fixed behaviour and everydayness?
- Imagination: How does it spark our creativity?
Changing the immediate environment and challenging what’s inside the individual, engage them on every level and create a full experience.
If anyone is willing to test this, please give me a shout and let me know about the results. And surely, any suggestions and recommendations on how to improve the canvas are welcome.
