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Our take on all things experiential.

THE FUTURE SOUNDS LIKE THIS: INSIDE THE RISE OF SOUND-BASED IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
Visual spectacle — the wow-factor visuals, the Instagrammable sets, the larger-than-life projections — has long been the favored child of experiential design. But lately, we’ve noticed a wave of activations, installations, and performances prioritizing audio as their core storytelling device. From meditative listening rooms…
Pro to Pro
Why London Is Winning the Experience Economy
To create a booming experience economy, you need three things: a bold, curious audience, real capital behind the scenes and flexible spaces to bring big ideas to life. And, right now, London is going for a hat trick. The city has officially caught the…
The Recap
The March Recap: What a Small(er) Tennis Tournament, Hyper-Local Music Fest, and Upstart Literary Experience Got Right
Welcome to XP Land’s new monthly series: The Recap. Each month, we’ll spotlight three events that impressed us with their intentional design and thoughtful UX. We’ll dive into how they were ideated, funded, produced, and promoted — plus the attendee buzz and key takeaways.…
Pro to Pro
Amid Rising Ticket Prices, a Donation-Based Immersive Theater Company Is Thriving
Experiencing sticker shock when it comes to Broadway shows? You’re not alone. Reporting on rising ticket prices, the New York Times’s Michael Paulson writes of Shakespeare’s Othello, now playing at the Barrymore Theater, “If you’re among the many people who really, really want to…
Deep Dive
BX vs. CX: What’s the Difference and Why It Matters
If you’ve worked in branding, marketing, or experience design, you’ve definitely heard BX (Brand Experience) and CX (Customer Experience) tossed around—sometimes like they’re the same thing. Spoiler: They’re not. Sure, they’re connected, but knowing the difference? That’s what separates the brands that merely exist…
New + Next
Everything’s Bigger in Texas — Including the Experience Economy
Austin has always been a magnet for creatives, but this year the city is buzzing at an entirely new frequency. SXSW is in full swing. Soho House Austin has become a second home for filmmakers, game developers and the architects of digital experiences. And…
Pro to Pro
How AI Is Making Live Events More Real Than Ever
Artificial Intelligence is both an exciting innovation and a source of fear. Many worry about AI replacing jobs, diluting human creativity, and making experiences feel impersonal. These concerns are valid—after all, live events thrive on authentic, in-the-moment connections. But AI is proving to be…
New + Next
The XP Guide: March 2025
March 2025 isn’t just packed with must-attend events — it’s a masterclass in Newstalgia, where the best experiences remix the past to create something fresh, immersive and deeply personal. Page Break is disrupting Big Book Club. SXSW turns Austin into a future-forward playground, with…
Deep Dive
Newstalgia: Why Today’s Experiences Are Built on Yesterday’s Memories
Gen Z loves nostalgia, and why not? Research shows that nostalgia boosts mood, fosters social bonds and even gives people a greater sense of meaning in life. In a world where the present feels increasingly unstable, the past offers a sense of comfort, even…
Pro to Pro
What It Means to Be an XLISTER—and Why It Might Be You
What do the visionary who started a donation-based immersive theater company in the middle of the pandemic, the marketing force behind Barbie’s global takeover, and the strategist who turned a flailing festival into a full-fledged cultural event have in common? They’re all on the…
Pro to Pro
Experience Pays: The New Marketing Math
In the battle between metrics and moments, brands are losing millions because they’re adding when they need to multiply. By tracking impressions and reach, CMOs are missing something exponential: how exceptional customer experiences transform into unstoppable growth. As someone who helps Fortune 500 brands…
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The Race to Host Sundance and Why It Matters
Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. You know it. You love it. The charming mountain town, the indie darlings, the Hollywood-meets-flannel vibes. But the festival’s organizers are officially eyeing a new location, with Salt Lake City/Park City (as a joint bid), Boulder and…
Ideas + Inspo
The Other Winner of the Super Bowl? Experiential
At this year’s Super Bowl, there were some clear winners: The Philadelphia Eagles. Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar’s jeans. Not on the winning list (besides the obvious): The much-hyped commercials, which over-featured celebrities and under-featured creativity — to the tune of about $8 million per…
Pro to Pro
The Year Ahead: XP Land Council Members Share What They’re Most Excited About
Over at XP Land, we’re all abuzz about our next XLIST — a definitive guide to the creative visionaries turning big ideas into unforgettable moments. The inaugural class of industry innovators, creative masterminds, and ground-breaking leaders will be a tough act to follow. But…
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Experience Required: Nominations Open Now for the Next XLIST
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: 2025 is the year that experiential takes center stage. This year, events will go big and small. Experiences will tap into emerging technologies to produce mind-blowing fantasies. And they will pass on the latest innovations…
Deep Dive
Experiential, Experiential Marketing and Event Marketing Decoded
In the fast-moving world of live experiences, the terms “experiential,” “experiential marketing” and “event marketing” get thrown around like VIP bracelets at Coachella. But let’s set the record straight. These terms may overlap, but they aren’t interchangeable. Wondering what exactly the difference is between…
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The XP Guide: February 2025
It may be the shortest month, but February packs a punch, especially for sports fans. See WWE’s Royal Rumble, the Daytona 500 and, of course, Super Bowl LIX, pitting Taylor Swift’s boyfriend (and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs) against the Philadelphia Eagles…
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Meet the XP Land Council: The Arbiters of Experiential
The experiential world isn’t just evolving; it’s exploding. New ideas, boundary-pushing innovations and unforgettable moments are being dreamed up and executed daily. At the heart of this creative movement is the XP Land Council — a handpicked collective of the brightest minds shaping what’s…
Deep Dive
We Are Living in the Anti-Social Century: Experiential Is the Antidote
The year is 2025, the same year a fictional Theodore Twombly fell for his virtual assistant in Spike Jonze’s sci-fi romance “Her.” While technology connects the world more than ever, we (like Twombly) have never been more disconnected. “Americans are spending less time with…
New + Next
The XP Guide: January 2025
Last week, we began writing about January as the kickoff to the experiential heartbeat of our culture. It started with dispatches from CES and then buzz about Sundance, Davos, the Super Bowl and beyond. But the news about the LA fires puts everything on…
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9 Predictions on the (Near) Future of Live Experiences
The future of experiences doesn’t just happen — it’s imagined, designed and brought to life by the boldest minds in the business. As we hurtle toward 2025, the next wave of experiential innovation is taking shape. Original IP is stealing the spotlight, events are…
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128 Billion Reasons to Go Big in Experiential in 2025
Is 2025 truly the year that experiential takes center stage? Is it finally time to crown it the Year of XP? We say a resounding F*CK YEAH. The Eras Tour has set an entirely new standard. Fans are gathering for lookalike meetups in Washington…
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The XP Guide: December 2024
December is here, and it’s turning the holiday hype all the way up. Forget just holing up with chestnuts roasting on an open fire — this month is packed with next-level experiences that’ll have you embracing the festive frenzy. From dazzling holiday events to…
Pro to Pro
The Best Experiential Moments of 2024
As 2024 comes to a close, we asked leading experiential professionals to share their perspectives on the events that truly defined the last 12 months. This year wasn’t just about capturing audience attention through vibrant visuals (for the most part…) and technology for technology’s…
Deep Dive
AI and the Risk of Mediocrity
Ahhh, the two letters on the tip of everyone’s tongue and already sparking talk of plateauing: AI (either Artificial Intelligence or Apple Intelligence, depending on who’s on the call). In our world, it’s opened up entirely new frontiers in experiential, allowing us to dream…
New + Next
The XP Guide: November 2024
November’s shaping up to be so much more than lounging on the couch watching football and prepping for turkey day. From coast to coast and across the globe, this month is brimming with immersive, cultural experiences to help push us out of the house…
Ideas + Inspo
Get Inspired: Immersive XP Around the Globe
Recently, Meow Wolf, the renowned art collective, took legal action against the UK-based immersive attraction Wake the Tiger, claiming the venue copied its intellectual property. Vince Kadlubek, co-founder of Meow Wolf, addressed the situation on LinkedIn (his post was subsequently taken down), sparking a…
Pro to Pro
Drafting the New Experiential Blueprint
The experiential entertainment industry is on the rise (expected to reach $419.5 billion by 2030), but as it grows, the question remains: how do we balance creative ambition with commercial success? Enter Mikhael Tara Garver and her team at Culture House Immersive (CHI), who…
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How Experiential is Taking Over the Singles Scene
Millennials and Gen Z are collectively over endless swiping on dating apps. Ghosting, superficial connections and the pressure to spark a connection through carefully curated bios have led to a new form of burnout — dating app fatigue. Seventeen years after Zoosk, the first…
New + Next
The XP Guide: October 2024
It’s time to break out the pumpkin spice everything and get those couples’ costumes in order (Taylor and Travis? Deadpool and Wolverine?) because spooky season is officially upon us. Of course, Halloween is the reason for the season, but there are plenty of other…
Deep Dive
The Hybrid Dilemma: When Live Experiences Are Tailored for TV
In today’s digital-first world, live streaming has completely changed how we experience huge cultural events. It’s okay if you can’t fork over $500-$11,000 for Coachella tickets or fly to Paris for the Olympics during peak summer airline pricing because now, everyone with an internet…
Pro to Pro
My Roundabout Road to a Career in Experiential
As back-to-school season finds us again, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the winding paths that led those of us in the experiential industry to where we are today. Some of today’s top leaders discovered their experiential talents in the back of theaters,…
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The XP Guide: September 2024
September isn’t only back-to-school season for the kids, but for the grown-ups as well. The month is packed with conferences and industry-focused festivals, pulling us out of summer’s PTO mindset and back into the proverbial classroom. Of course, with NYFW, NFL kickoff and plenty…
Pro to Pro
How 3 Experiential Worldbuilders Create 3D Storytelling
No one can build a world of their own quite like children can. They’ll dress up as astronauts, using colanders for helmets and backpacks for space suits, while encountering aliens (stuffed animals) and collecting samples (rocks and leaves) from the “moon.” Or they’ll hold…
Deep Dive
Revolutionizing the Game: The Intuit Dome’s Cutting-Edge Fan Experience
The LA Clippers’ new arena, The Intuit Dome, is well on its way to completely redefining the guest experience — XP pros, take note. While the Clippers may have never won an NBA Championship or even appeared in the finals (and now Paul George…
New + Next
The XP Guide: August 2024
While we’re all deep in Olympics coverage — dissecting every second of the Opening Ceremony and suddenly enraptured with Flavor Flav’s love of women’s water polo — there are plenty more experiential happenings in August farther from the Seine. And into the air conditioning.…
Ideas + Inspo
The 4 Keys to Future-Proofing Experiential Trends
Experiential doesn’t happen overnight. It takes months — sometimes years — to brainstorm, plan (and rework, reconfigure, adapt, pivot…) and execute events and experiences. Not to mention the people and money required to make the outcome unbelievable. With big budgets and even bigger expectations,…
Pro to Pro
Netflix House and the Future of Fan Engagement
It’s not every day that experiential news stops us in our tracks. But a couple of weeks ago, we were struck by a big Netflix announcement: The streaming giant will open its first two massive entertainment complexes, called Netflix Houses, in 2025. These venues…
New + Next
The XP Guide: July 2024
We’re deep into the dog days of summer now. School is out; heat waves are setting records, and our inboxes are flooded with OOO auto replies. As we gear up for the Fourth of July and all that comes with it — cookouts, pool…
New + Next
Immersive Experiences Take Center Stage on (and Off) Broadway
New York City’s theater scene is in the midst of a revolution. And, like any good social disruption, it’s because the conditions are ripe for change. Last month, The Broadway League released end-of-season statistics for the 2023-2024 season, which began on May 22, 2023,…
New + Next
The XP Guide: June 2024
Summer has arrived at long last: Memorial Day has passed, New York’s humidity has surpassed 70% and the whole city is dining al fresco. As if this season wasn’t already chock full of experiential opportunities, June is also Pride Month, meaning everywhere from the…
New + Next
XP Fronts 2024: Shaping the Future of Experiential
Our collective longing for connection (coupled with the fact that live experiences are getting better and better through innovation) has never been more apparent than during last week’s XP Fronts. From May 21-23, 2024, we gathered the gatherers who dream up, perfect, launch and…
Pro to Pro
Pophouse Entertainment Voyages Beyond ABBA
Pophouse Entertainment is on a roll. It all began when the company “took a chance” on ABBA, turning what could have been a simple retrospective into a beacon for pop music lovers worldwide with ABBA the Museum in Stockholm. Now, celebrating over a decade…
New + Next
The XP Fronts Guide to Montreal’s Culture, Cuisine and Creativity
The XP Fronts at C2MTL are just two weeks away, so secure your pass, book that flight and get excited to explore everything this très génial city has to offer. Known for its vibrant cultural scene and diverse culinary landscape, Montréal comes alive in…
Deep Dive
How the Best Festivals Shape Their Cities — and Vice Versa
Cities and their landmark festivals share a symbiotic relationship. When events plant their flags on downtown soil, they gain that city’s culture, infrastructure, and bustling [insert exciting tourist attraction here] scene. And the city gains a guaranteed annual influx of thousands of visitors, plus…
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The XP Guide: May 2024
Now that Mercury Retrograde is over and the stars are back on our side, the weather had better be in good spirits as well, because May’s calendar is packed with festivals, sporting events and culinary experiences designed to take us outside. As long as…
New + Next
5 Reasons You Don’t Want to Miss the XP Fronts
Pack your bags and your brightest ideas, because the XP Fronts are coming to C2 Montréal May 21-23, 2024. From riveting talks by visionary experiential thinkers to unparalleled opportunities to learn from the best in the biz, the XP Fronts are a springboard into…
Ideas + Inspo
Luxury Brands: Experiential’s New Mavericks of Storytelling
The scene was spellbinding: ice skating through the steam of a frozen pond, country animals out to pasture, even tightrope walking in a circus big top. This spectacle wasn’t just another event, it was a master class in experiential marketing — without the marketing.…
Deep Dive
Montréal: A Global Nexus of Experiential and Creativity
Bonjour, hi! Home to the world’s coolest street and fifth coolest neighborhood, Montréal, Quebec, has been a hotbed of experiential innovation since the launch of Cirque du Soleil in 1984. There’s also a vibrant music, theater and dance scene with endless street art and…
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The XP Guide: April 2024
There’s plenty to keep us busy and inspired throughout the cruelest month, including an astronomical marvel. On April 8, during the total solar eclipse, the moon will completely cover the sun, making it look and feel like evening. Fingers crossed for cloudless skies for…
Deep Dive
Meet the Fire Behind the Fandom
How do you take an iconic doll with an anti-feminist reputation and turn her into a modern-day role model? For starters, says Lisa McKnight, Mattel’s EVP and Global Head of Barbie and Dolls, you think about your customers as fans. “We’ve always been very…
New + Next
SXSW 2024: The XP Recap
The XP Land team descended on Austin for SXSW 2024, and we immediately immersed ourselves in the controlled chaos. For us, it was an opportunity to connect with fellow experiential creatives, brands and experience makers. There was also more XP industry content on the…
Deep Dive
Meet the New Media Artists
Daniel Iregui, founder of the Montréal-based digital art studio Iregular, is a programmer who thinks in 0s and 1s, a coder who appreciates the order of algorithms, and a software designer who uses technology to create objects that exist in the real world. But…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Émilie F. Grenier
In a world constantly seeking innovation and unique experiences, Émilie F. Grenier stands as a pioneering force in experiential design. As Principal at TAIT / Thinkwell in Montréal, Émilie has honed a creative process that centers on the end user while questioning and exploring…
Deep Dive
Meet the Architects of Awe
From May 10 to October 1, 2023, more than 2.7 million fans donned their favorite sparkly silver looks and poured into open-air arenas around the world for the Renaissance World Tour experience. Attendees shared videos and touching moments from the show nonstop on Beyoncé’s…
New + Next
The XP Guide: March 2024
We’ve made it to the last stretch of cold weather, according to everyone’s favorite rodent meteorologists, Chuck and Phil, who both declared the early arrival of spring. The unofficial end of winter also means the unofficial end of awards season as we head into…
Deep Dive
Meet the Brand Builders
If you count the decade he spent throwing parties in his parents’ Detroit basement, Geoff Renaud has been organizing events of some kind for 30 years. And while his early career was focused on music — he toured with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir,…
New + Next
The Ultimate Experiential Guide to SXSW 2024
SXSW is calling all experiential creators to Austin starting on Friday, March 8. While XP pros will be behind the scenes activating everything from pop-ups and panels to film screenings and comedy shows, they’ll still find there’s a plethora of experiential festival content to…
Deep Dive
Meet the Placemakers
For many, a trip to Boston is a chance to take a real-life walk through American history, visiting monuments and architecture from the nation’s colonial past. But Ariel Foxman knows his city is also dynamic and future-focused. So when he became vice president of…
Ideas + Inspo
The Healing Power of Experiences
Music was always a part of Gen Cleary’s life. From attending live concerts with her family to her immersion in dance and choreography at an early age, Gen could feel the power of rhythm and music. But it wasn’t until later — after a…
Deep Dive
Meet the Storytellers
Debi Wong didn’t set out to disrupt Western opera. In fact, the classically trained mezzo-soprano was skeptical that the opera she knew, dominated by white male composers, was for her at all. “There are so many stereotypes,” she says. “The women always die; the…
Deep Dive
Las Vegas: Experiential Juggernaut
Last weekend reminded us XP pros that nowhere in the world compares to Las Vegas. The city buzzes nearly 24/7 with an atmosphere that blends glamour, excitement and a hint of debauchery (who are we kidding, more than a hint…). Where else can you…
New + Next
The Apple Vision Pro and the Future of Experiences
Last week, Apple released its much-anticipated Vision Pro, a mixed-reality headset (the marketing blah-blah calls it “spatial computing”) that blends the digital and physical worlds. Early reviews are in, with a mix of awe around the immersiveness of the experience and cynicism around the…
Deep Dive
Meet the Tastemakers
It started with jelly. In 2007, childhood friends Sam Bompas and Harry Parr were inspired to reevaluate traditional British foods and flavors, especially those that time had forgotten. Combining their expertise in PR, real estate and architecture (just wait), Sam and Harry launched Jellymongers,…
New + Next
The XP Guide: February Events & Experiences
We may be embarking on the shortest month of the year (sorry Leap Day, you can only do so much), but February is jam-packed with events, experiences, and art, with Frieze LA entering its fifth year and Fashion Month kicking off stateside. But, really,…
Deep Dive
Meet the Curators
Phoebe Greenberg’s story begins in the late 1980s in one of the best places to have a life-defining revelation: Paris. The Ottawa native spent the better part of her twenties living in the French capital, filling her days by admiring art and taking courses…
New + Next
The Best Experiential Stadiums in the World
Is this the best time of year for sports? We think so. The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, NCAA, PGA and even tennis are all in full swing in the US — while across the pond, the Premier League, La Liga and UEFA are keeping…
Pro to Pro
Announcing the 2024 XP Fronts
Welcome to the XP Fronts — the first-ever experiential upfronts, agenda-setting program and meeting of the minds for the experiential industry — May 21-23, 2024 AT C2 Montréal. From immersive experiences to music and culinary festivals, from sports spectacles to metaverse fashion shows, every…
Deep Dive
Mercer Labs: NYC’s First (Truly) Immersive Museum
I’m sitting on a clear, swinging bench suspended in midair. All around me, grassy tunnels swirl and give way to millions of rocks — asteroids, or maybe grains of dirt? Could be either. Could be both. At Mercer Labs, the art is in the…
New + Next
The XP Guide: January Events & Experiences
January is always a jam-packed month for events and experiences. Even though we’ve barely recovered from the holidays and end-of-year celebrations, there’s no rest for the exhausted. Now, anticipation is in the air as awards season kicks off, conferences get underway, and major sporting…
Deep Dive
Meet the Activists
Benjamin Von Wong never considered himself an environmentalist growing up. He wasn’t even a fan of being outdoors, and forget about camping or hiking. But that changed in 2016 when he found himself craving more meaning. “I wanted my work to do more than…
Deep Dive
The Art of Experiential: Our Take on Miami Art Week 2023
Miami Art Week is a wrap. The XP Land team spent a few days immersed in art — from iconic works, like Art Basel’s showing of Ai Weiwei’s massive Washington Crossing the Delaware constructed totally in Legos, to a video installation by the artist…
New + Next
Change Can Be Invisible: How Experience Makers Can Positively Impact the Environment
More than 100 countries attending the COP28 UN Climate Summit — currently in its second week in Dubai — have committed $420 million to triple renewable energy capacity worldwide by 2030. It’s a salient reminder that the experiential industry has much to do to…
Pro to Pro
The YOLO Economy Is a Movement, Not a Moment
From as far back as I can remember, gathering people has been my thing. At 14, I was put in charge of (well, put myself in charge of) my eight-year-old sister’s birthday party — which, of course, I turned into a talent show, where…
Deep Dive
Meet the New Gatherers
There were a number of things working against Cassidy Davis on Valentine’s Day 2022. First off, she was, as she describes it, “tragically single.” And dating apps hadn’t unearthed anything approaching love. So she decided to throw a party. Unfortunately (for her), Valentine’s Day…
Pro to Pro
Reflecting on the Legacy of “Sleep No More”
Sleep No More, the theatrical experience that pioneered immersive theater and forever transformed New York City will close after a nearly 13-year run. Those who have yet to wander the haunted halls of the McKittrick Hotel to witness a Jazz Age spin on Macbeth…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Louisa St. Pierre
A gymnast, a poet and a talent agent walk into a tanning salon… No, it’s not the start of a bad joke, but a snapshot of the many lives and evolutions of Louisa St. Pierre, Global Director of Art at MA+Group and XLIST 2023…
New + Next
The 8 Most Innovative Cities for Experiential Right Now
When it comes to influential North American cities, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco have been the most prominent breeding grounds for innovation. However, monstrous living costs, increasingly demanding housing crises and coastal climate change have made these cities less desirable. With…
Deep Dive
Experiential Grows Up: 5 Brand-Side Takeaways For XP Creatives
Experiential is everything, and now it’s everywhere, too. Even taking up space at large-scale brand-first events like Advertising Week New York (AWNewYork for those in the biz). Last week, XP Land was on stage at Advertising Week New York presenting an “un-panel” called Experiential…
Pro to Pro
The Business of Being Together: Why Experiential Is More Powerful Than Ever
February 20, 1989, is forever burned in my memory. With my hair sky-high and my adrenaline even higher, I headed to the Forum in Inglewood, CA to see The Purple One, His Royal Badness, The High Priest of Pop… Prince. Obviously, the arena’s gold…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Jess Stacey
You don’t have to talk to Jess Stacey long before you know one thing for certain: when it comes to experiential, she is passion personified. Stoking passion — hers, her team’s, her community’s — is Stacey’s raison d’etre as the Senior Vice President of…
New + Next
Introducing the First-Ever XP Land XLIST
Welcome to the new XP Land. We’ve been counting down the days until we could share what we’ve been manifesting over the last few months. But first, a short history: XP Land was born in early 2021 as a resource for the experiential industry.…
Pro to Pro
The Future is Experiential: Seven Experts on What’s Next
In today’s experiential ecosystem, it’s getting harder to tell reality from imagination — and no one’s more excited to keep blurring those lines than the storytellers behind the scenes. Motivated by technology, creativity, and maybe just a sprinkle of masochism, we’re embarking on a…
Pro to Pro
10 Industry Leaders on the Best Experiences of Their Lives
Some experiences just stay with you forever. The first stamp in your passport. Being moved to tears in a dark theater. Or that electric, out-of-body feeling while dancing and scream-singing at a sold-out concert. The gift of working in experiential is having these experiences…
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Welcome to the Live Music Renaissance (Now Pay Up)
This past summer, everyone you know either posted Aperol Spritz pics from Europe or meticulously curated outfit pics from their idol’s concert (not that Idol, please). They return with a sun-kissed glow from the Amalfi Coast or an XXXXL t-shirt from the two-hour wait…
Pro to Pro
XP Land XLIST 2023: Meet the Council
Over the past three challenging years, what was the single thing we all missed the most? The experience of being together. We missed concerts and festivals and sporting events and every single form of gathering. But during that time, the visionaries of the experiential…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Lesly Simmons
Many of us didn’t dream of becoming experiential pros. Maybe we knew, growing up, that we had a knack for throwing birthday parties, or we discovered that our favorite part of working at a tech start-up was preparing for industry events and trade shows.…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Harry Julmice
For many, a walk in the woods is a way to connect with nature. But for Harry Julmice it is also a chance to strengthen community and help people tap into their power. This focus on uplifting people — and the ability to design…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Azamit
Like Cher, Madonna and Beyoncé, Azamit is a singular name with an indelible point of view. The Eritrean-Canadian creative director and curator recently moved to Milan with her husband and dogs, from their longtime home in Montréal. You’d think uprooting her life to move…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Joe Killian
Before Burning Man, before Coachella, there was (and still is!) SummerStage. Since 1986, New York City’s Central Park has hosted the performance series, which has welcomed musicians, poets, and dancers including Patti Smith, Celia Cruz, and Jason Moran in shows that are usually free…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Charlie Melcher
It’s hard not to be riveted when Charles Melcher speaks. He doesn’t simply tell stories — he weaves them, tucking the sights, sounds, smells and all the feels into the open spaces, creating a tapestry so inviting and tight that you couldn’t escape even…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Dan Pelson
In the surreal, hurried hyperreality of Las Vegas, AREA15 fits right in. To attempt to describe the experience inside is futile — though the website calls it “a wondrous mash-up of experiences, art and entertainment with axe throwing, art galleries, virtual reality and so…
Deep Dive
The Funflation Economy: Rising Experiential Spending is Here to Stay
The first truly maskless summer in four years had consumers ready to see and do it all, baby. Expensive dinners! Flights to Europe! Concerts! Music festivals! Money is just energy and capitalism is king! With post-pandemic inflation only slowing slightly, its impact is reaching…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Johan Vakidis
Johan Vakidis — an award-winning global creative professional who has worked across communications, technology, entertainment and gaming — was born curious. Not only does he have 25 years of experience under his belt, but he continues his obsession with education. “I’m a firm believer…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Alexa Carr
Alexa Carr is just one of those people who is always ahead of the curve. She’s an IYKYK person. Oh, and she knows. Trust us. A seasoned pro with over a decade of experience in XP, editorial, PR and marketing roles, Carr has worked…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Jordan Fogle
In his mid-twenties, Jordan Fogle created a five-day/night pop-up lounge during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). While the city he calls home hosted screenings all day, Fogle negotiated deals with Hollywood studios to host their after-parties at night and worked with brands to…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Lou Murray
The next time you attend a Cirque du Soleil show, I highly recommend you sit next to Louise Murray. With an impressive background in the experiential industry, Murray has held key leadership positions in renowned organizations such as Thinkwell Group, the Walt Disney Company,…
Pro to Pro
XLIST Council Spotlight: Ana De Archuleta
The best curators of creativity are often creatives themselves. And no one fits the center of that Venn diagram quite like Ana De Archuleta. Throughout her life, she has been involved in many facets of the performing arts world. As an instrumentalist, dancer, operatic…
Ideas + Inspo
23 Experiential Stats for Your 2023 Events
We don’t want to jinx it, but… Could 2023 be the first year of maskless, full-capacity events without vaccine checks since 2019? Since the onslaught of the (unprecedented!) COVID-19 pandemic and through its ups and downs, the experiential industry has responded with admirable creativity…
Deep Dive
It’s an OddKnock Life: Denver’s Immersive, Participatory Storytellers
When thinking about what an immersive production can and should be, OddKnock Productions is leading the way. The Denver-based theatrical troupe was formed by Brendan Duggan, Parker Murphy, and Zach Martens — New York actors who met working at Sleep No More (the OG…
Deep Dive
What Could the Future of Austin Events Look Like?
Post-Covid, what do people want from experiential events now, and what are the trends we’ll see more of in the next few years? This summer, the headlines about Austin, Texas, covered more heat waves than Covid waves. So Austinites (and millions of visitors) said…
Deep Dive
Sticking It to the Man for 75 Years: The Best and Worst of My First Edinburgh Fringe Festival
On a stage in Scotland’s capital city, a Cockney-accented actress playing a parody version of Ariel from The Little Mermaid stands next to a statue of Prince Eric with one *large* difference from the film (yeah, it’s exactly what you think). This is just…
Ideas + Inspo
The Magic of the Minor Leagues
Major League Baseball gets all the attention. Sure, there are World Series games on the line, but with the average ticket to an MLB game going for $35 (and that’s before $18 beers, $10 hotdogs and $30 merch to look the part), where do…
Deep Dive
High Seas and Higher Demands: Post-COVID Cruising Culture
The first rule of cruising culture, I learned last week, is that you always talk about cruising culture. It was all anyone would ask on Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady — my first cruise since I boarded a rickety Carnival ship to various Señor Frog…
Deep Dive
A Tale of Two SXSWs: An Austin Transplant Reflects on the Festival’s Return
When writer Jillian Anthony visited Austin, Texas, for her first SXSW in 2019, she loved it so much she eventually moved there. In 2022, she tells us what SXSW — back in person after three long years — looks like from the eyes of…
New + Next
Horizon Worlds Isn’t the Metaverse, but Its a Start
Facebook, er, Meta’s first version of its VR-based software, “Horizon Worlds,” feels more like a rough draft. The platform shows incredible potential with sandbox tools for users to create VR experiences like hangout spaces, games and immersive art. But in actual reality, Horizon Worlds…
Deep Dive
Art Basel Miami? More Like Art Basel Silicon Valley
In December 2021, Art Basel Miami was a spectacle unlike any other art fair, Because it’s not really an art fair anymore. The week-long event celebrated the intersection of art, design and fashion. And, especially notable this year, technology. Miami’s growing startup scene was…
Ideas + Inspo
Reading the Book Tour Revolution Through the XP Lens
Is this a book tour or a rock concert? Or wait, is this a virtual conference? One could be forgiven for not quite knowing the difference. Book tours, a publisher-funded promotional mechanism for new releases, are a bit all over the place these days.…
Pro to Pro
Meet the Audacious Mind Behind Meow Wolf: Vince Kadlubek
Meow Wolf is incredibly difficult to describe, and perhaps that’s part of the point. The art collective has made a name for itself over the past decade-plus creating destination-specific, immersive installations that truly elevate the very definition of experiential. There are certainly comparisons that…
Ideas + Inspo
MLB’s ‘Field of Dreams’: Is This Hybrid Heaven?
Finally, the first truly great hybrid event of the pandemic In 2019, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of “Field of Dreams” (Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, “If you build it…,” you know the rest), the MLB announced…
Pro to Pro
The Art of Being Together Apart With Priya Parker
At the beginning of Covid, XP Land Erica Boeke and Priya Parker, the author of “The Art of Gathering” and host of the New York Times podcast, “Together Apart,” had a wide-ranging conversation about what it means to “guest,” the ubiquity of Zoom amid…

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