Event Experience

Event Experience: A Case Study of Differences Between the Way in Which Organizers Plan an Event Experience and the Way in Which Guests Receive the Experience

Graham Berridge

As the event industry has matured and developed as a tool for not only entertainment and participation but also learning, communication, and promotion, the interest in the nature of the event experience has evolved.

 Events present the visitor with unique perspectives and with an opportunity to engage with a collective experience where novelty is ensured because events are infrequent and time differentiated (Tassiopoulos, 2010). Gleick (2000) adds that events are also time precious and should be moments that are savored as special moments to appreciate.

Events are designed and created for guests to have great experiences, and as Getz (2007) suggests, "People create their own experiences within event settings" (p. 23).

Shedroff (2007) describes the experience as "the sensation of interaction with a product, service, or event, through all of our senses, over time, and on both physical and cognitive levels. The boundaries of an experience can be expansive and include the sensorial, the symbolic, the temporal, and the meaningfril" (p. 11).

Goldblatt (1997) agrees, arguing that "to provide more than just a passive viewing experience, the event designer must create an environment that allows the guests to participate, to be actors in the decorators dream world" (p. 86).

The recognition of theme here provides a key to creating experiences...Theming a space results in it being layered with amenities (props) that, in tum, give nonverbal cues to the audience about the event. Such props must be utilized so they do not give negative cues to the guests.