Deep Dive

Tech Maximalism Is Over. So Are Charm Bracelets.

For a while, more was more. Experiential became a showcase for what technology could do, and everyone leaned in hard. Then the pendulum swung the other way — toward the human, the tactile, the analog. But we're not going to be making charm bracelets forever. So where does experiential tech go from here? The answer taking shape across the industry is surprisingly consistent: Tech as utility. Tech that serves the experience instead of trying to be the experience. Tech that makes it easier to gather. Lauren Austin, XLISTER and chief creative officer at MKG, has watched the arc firsthand. "There was a long period, from about 2010 to 2019, where every brief I got wanted a never-before-done tech experience: 3D projection mapping, holograms, drone shows," she told us in a recent Pro to Pro interview. "And now, post-Covid, in the world of AI, people want things that feel handmade, things they can touch, things that feel human. They want to, metaphorically, touch grass." Behind the curtain Randy Weiner has never been a tech guy. The impresario behind The Donkey Show and Sleep No More (plus XLISTER) built his career on the most flesh-and-blood form there is: bodies in rooms, actors...