I recently spent eight days in NYC for the World Experience Summit (WXS), held officially from June 12-14 at the House of Yes in Brooklyn. This was the second annual in-person gathering of the WXO - World Experience Organization. After NYC, I spent six days outside of Washington, DC with family. I finally had the chance to 'plug back in' last night on a very late flight back to San Francisco. While the community’s stories and gratitude have been pouring in since the WXS, my afterglow and appreciation are just beginning to flow.
First of all, a big thanks and congratulations to James Wallman, Olivia Squire, and Fabiën Vlems for orchestrating the first overseas WXS and attracting a sellout crowd of dynamic and exciting experience creators, partners, and pioneers from around the world. Thanks to Kae Burke, Ilan Telmont, and the staff and production crew at the House of Yes for their warm welcome and for accommodating our eclectic community for three jam-packed days filled with networking, sessions, dining, dancing, and demos. Every room, nook, and cranny of the vibrant and colorful club/venue overflowed with activity. Yes, at times it was cold, hot, crowded, loud, or unpredictable, but it was always memorable and a worthwhile adventure for all.
Leading up to the WXS, I tossed a few ideas into the ‘curation hopper,’ figuring a few might gain traction and I’d be asked to hold off on others until another time. Well, this is a reminder to be careful what you wish for, as James and the team gave me the green light on several sessions and extracurricular field trips.
Hooray! Oh s%*t!
I had already sent a few initial email inquiries to various experience-related friends and contacts in the NYC area. I’d like to think I’m just clever, persuasive, witty, and good at forming strategic partnerships (which I am), but it also helped that the WXO is such an interesting and innovative community pushing the edges of cross-sector experiences around the globe. Every single person or group I reached out to was thrilled to connect with, host, tour, or give a behind-the-scenes peek to the WXS attendees.
Hooray! Oh s%*t!
Before it was all said and done throughout the week:
- I gave a keynote about the Transformative Power of Burning Man Project, complete with a gift of disco ball necklaces to the audience, an illuminated skirt, fog machine effects to illustrate a ‘dust storm whiteout,’ and a group dance party ending while “Daft Punk was playing at the Trash Fence.”
- I hosted an “Unpanel” in the form of a game show, “The Venue Dating Game,” where several pioneers from venues and commercial real estate were mock contestants who ‘competed’ while giving their answers and insights about what makes for good partnerships with experience creators (more on the panel in a separate post).
- I presented the award for Excellence in Technology during the first-ever WXO Experience Awards. It was an honor presenting the award to my friend and digital creator girl-crush Leigh Sachwitz, founder of flora&faunavisions , for their inspirational and revolutionary 15-hour cutting-edge interactive digital production of Wagner's 'Ring des Nibelungen' aka 'The Ring Cycle' for Opera Australia.
- I organized a group VIP tour of the American Dream experiential shopping mall and indoor amusement park in Meadowlands, NJ (more on that tour in this post).
- I collaborated with the amazing team at Jamestown to arrange a special meeting and construction tour of the redevelopment of One Times Square (more on that visit in this post).
- I organized a group VIP tour of the visitor experience and behind-the-scenes of the Empire State Building courtesy of the building owner and the Empire State Building Observatory team (more on that tour in a separate post).
- I connected the dots that led to our Members Preview Night and Experience Safari at BEAT THE BOMB in Brooklyn (more on that visit in a separate post).
- I connected the dots that led to our WXS Closing Party and Experience Safari at ARTECHOUSE in NYC. Thank you Sandro Kereselidze & Julia Verbrugge from Jamestown for the introduction!
- I organized a behind-the-scenes experiential tour, early entrance, and the WXS After After Party at The Stranger nightclub and venue. Thank you Randy Weiner and Andrew Katz from Out of the Box Amusements!
- As a bonus and without even being present, I somehow managed to be a catalyst for WXO CEO James Wallman to lose his cell phone in a Lyft after the After Party.
Throughout my time in NYC, in addition to everything listed above, I also managed to check out: BLOOM @HERO at Rockefeller Center, SUMMIT One Vanderbilt, The Great Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island, Mercer Labs Museum of Art & Technology, the 65 ft Hot Dog at Times Square, Dungeons & Dragons by Twenty-Sided Tavern at Stage 42, Game of 1000 Boxes, Beetle House in the East Village, An Atlas of Es Devlin at Cooper Hewitt, Sleeping Beauties at The Met, Wonderland: Curious Nature at NY Botanical Gardens, and caught a panel on Immersive Wellness hosted by Jasmin Jodry at Lincoln Center. Whew!
And on the eighth day, I practically crawled into the wonderful World Spa in Brooklyn for a lovely tour and surprise Burning Man chat with owner Leonid Khanin. After which I camped out for eight glorious hours of lounging, dipping and dining (more on the spa visit in a separate post).
As you can tell, I didn’t just come to NYC for a conference; I was on a world-class experience safari and a mission to explore the experiential side of NYC. As usual, NYC delivered and demonstrated why it is one of the leaders in experiential art, attractions, theatre, and competitive socialization.
Although it was a lot of extra work, organizing and curating the extracurricular group tours around the World Experience Summit was great fun. My apologies to those who didn’t get to join this time. I tried to match interests and opportunities for those who might benefit the most, or in a few cases for those who traveled from great distances to join the gathering. Big thanks to the WXS production team for trusting me and saying “YES!” to every idea I tossed their way, right up to the last minute and disco ball.
My only regret is not having time to connect with even more amazing future friends and collaborators from the WXO membership and WXS attendees. I look forward to meeting the rest of you on a WXO Campfire or a Zoom soon.
I’m already looking forward to the next WXS in London from April 29-May 2, 2025. Especially since I don’t have that many contacts in London, otherwise I would have to sit on my hands next Spring to prevent myself from initiating even more experiences and fun!
