Deborah Armstrong, founder of event design company Strong & Co, gives a rallying call to make experiential better

I’m here to encourage you not just try to stay ahead of the game, but to raise the game.  To make the whole thing better. 

To create impact – you have to bring it. Here are a few ideas:

Make it surprising: I want you to pioneer new ideas, to encourage clients to go further, to take risks in radical juxtapositions, to deeply engage in how audiences will feel as they move throughout the space.

It must be meaningful or there’s literally no point.

Think of what is meaningful not just to you or your client but to your audience- after all they are the ones you are communicating with.

Apply quality control at all times. I don’t want to see any unclipped cable tie ends to spoil my illusion.

Choosing partners who can help you to share the information could make all the difference if you are looking for big numbers. Write your narrative and bring partners into it, encourage them to develop their own sub-narratives.

Sometimes we have to be really creative with a smaller budget.

Do that by thinking about how people interact with each other and considering what barriers you want to break down and how.

Think about the before and after. Your event will have a lifespan beyond itself only if you document it well and enable people to share it. Similarly, can the whole lead up to the event be an experience that ties in?

All very well and good you may say but how the devil do I get started?

I’ve been starting every project the same way for at least 20 years. Simple pen and paper and mind map it – name in the middle, ring around it.

Start drawing the aims and ideas. Research, visual and written, and back again, mind map it again…