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Download the XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and the Metaverse

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Download the XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and the Metaverse
For enthusiasts, the Metaverse is set to create a paradigm shift in how we create and consume experiences. For skeptics, it’s a fantastical pipedream, a place to waste money on imaginary real estate deals, or — even worse — a sign that technology is…
23 experiential statistics 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…
The XP Land Experts’ 2023 Experiential Predictions
If necessity is the mother of invention, then 2023 is ripe — dare we say pregnant? — with experiential opportunity. No other industry brings such creatively diverse professionals together for a common cause: To make life just a little more exciting. In 2022, experiential…
How to invest your surplus EOY brand budget into 2023 experiences
Another year, another budget to spend before the clock strikes midnight on January 1. Of course, we can’t ignore the sweeping tech and media layoffs dominating the business landscape right now. According to Vox, “Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg cut 11,000 employees, or 13 percent…
Rage against the greed: Experiential lessons from the Woodstock ’99 documentaries
Which music festival do you think of when you hear Woodstock? Your perception of the event may be colored differently depending on your generation. That’s right, I’m “talkin’ bout your generation,” cue The Who. Most of us — from Boomers to Gen Z —…
Top Fall 2022 Events and Experiences
Thankfully, there’s no such thing as an endless summer. If there were, all the events and parties might put us into an early grave. This was our first normal(ish) summer since Miss Covid came into our lives, and, man, was it fun… and exhausting.…
Top Experiential Films of All Time
As experiential creators, we’re constantly running from one place to the next. There are venue walk-throughs to conduct, event technologies to test and activation environments to build. Sometimes, you just want to come home after taking 15,000 steps around a site visit, turn your…
XP Land’s comprehensive guide to virtual event platforms
Over the past two and a half years, we’ve seen incredible innovations in virtual event platforms designed to bring aspects of the live experience to virtual attendees. Key players like Notified and Brandlive have completely overhauled their pre-pandemic platforms to improve UX, visuals and…
Defining XP: What it is (and a bit on what it’s not)
The experiential world doesn’t have neatly defined edges. For some, it may represent “party planning” and the custom invitations, floral arrangements and DJ booths that come with that role. For us, experiential (or XP) is the magic that happens at the intersection of art,…
The Coolest Experiential Jobs Hiring Right Now
We are pleased to announce that IRL events are back, baby. With that being said, 2023 is shaping up to be an eventful year filled with great opportunities – for everyone. Don’t believe us? Despite complaining about the cost of everything from a tank…
What the hell is artvertising (and how do we implement it in experiential?)
Marketers love silly naming conventions. Maybe it’s the creative in them — that artistic force that says, why be straightforward, when we could flex our originality and confuse people at the same time. Sales and marketing alignment? Nah, let’s call it smarketing. Displaying ads…
Download The XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and NFTs
When we first thought about the intersection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and experiential, we pictured a bunch of tech bros yelling about their Bored Ape avatars over bottle service in the club. And while we’re sure that scene is, in fact, playing out somewhere…
Earth Day 2022: Fostering experiential sustainability in three (not so easy) steps
Happy Earth Day, but don’t get too comfortable. Put that green-frosted cupcake down! Events and experiences might be one of the least sustainable industries out there. Attendees take planes, trains and automobiles to get on site. Cases of branded water bottles sit unopened. Carefully…
Point / counterpoint: Is the boondoggle dead?
What comes to mind when you think “boondoggle?” A waste of time? A waste of money? Crafts you used to make at camp? While the traditional definition may have fallen out of the lexicon (except on conservative Twitter, of all places), in the experiential…
XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and Social Media
If an experience happens in the woods and no one Instagrams it, did it even make an impact? “Social media has led to the renaissance of events. Today, every design decision is made with the attendees’ phones in mind — we treat every guest…
This just in: Event swag your guests will actually want
We’re not saying we go to events for the swag (*ahem*), but we’re also not saying we don’t. Whether you love it, hate it or fall somewhere in-between, swag is an omnipresent part of the experiential… experience. But please, have mercy, not another canvas…
The intersection of NFTs and XP: Part 1
NFTs and XP go together like pizza and ranch— the combination sounds wacky, until you experience it for the first time. Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are digital assets or collector’s items (like rare baseball cards or Beanie Babies) that gain value over time due…
The XP Land Guide to 2022 Experiential Awards Season
2022: New year, same pressure to submit last year’s work for experiential awards so you can be recognized by your industry and capture new business. Back in the day, we displayed trophies and plaques in our office lobbies. Today, it’s even more important to…
What does FOMO look like in 2022?
In the Before Times, when we increasingly spent money on adventures and travel, experiential pros created FOMO (fear of missing out, an explainer no one needed) as a marketing tool. And damn, did it work. By selling the experience economy, these savvy marketers-in-disguise toiled…
22 Experiential Statistics for 2022
As we all know, XP has gone through unprecedented upheaval in the last two years — and the industry has responded with admirable creativity and resiliency, adapting to the ever-fickle realities and necessary pivots of gather-planning. Yet, the subjective power of face-to-face (or even…
How to invest your surplus EOY budget into 2022 experiences
Choosing where to invest your remaining 2021 budget feels like it requires both a crystal ball and a support group. It’s overwhelming, so let us help — invest in XP. Now, as we climb up onto our soap box to preach the gospel of…
11 XP pros to follow on social
Today, there’s really no “down time” for XP pros anymore — and, after the nearly full stop so many professionals experienced in 2020, you won’t hear us complaining about being too busy. However, traditionally, the last month of the year is a slower time…
XP Land Holiday Gift Guide: The sports fan
As holiday gift buying kicks into high gear early this year (early this year, thanks #supplychain) — your favorite experiential experts at XP Land have put together a series of buying guides for industry pros and fans. We’ll be rolling out our curated gift…
How can the XP community help Save Our Stages?
Hopping off of their bikes outside Times Square’s St. James Theatre last week, New York Senator Chuck Schumer and “American Utopia” creator David Byrne posed under the marquee to commemorate the return of live theater and the success of Save Our Stages. The Schumer-led…
XP Land Holiday Gift Guide: The conference crowd
As holiday gift buying kicks into high gear early this year (early this year, thanks #supplychain) — your favorite experiential experts at XP Land have put together a series of buying guides for industry pros and fans. We’ll be rolling out our curated gift…
XP Land Holiday Gift Guide: The immersive enthusiast
As holiday gift buying kicks into high gear early this year, the experiential experts at XP Land have put together a series of buying guides for industry professionals and fans. We’ll be rolling out our curated gift guide suggestions through Black Friday, so stay…
XP Land Holiday Gift Guide: The music festival-goer
As holiday gift buying kicks into high gear early this year, the experiential experts at XP Land have put together a series of buying guides for industry professionals and fans. We’ll be rolling out our curated gift guide suggestions through Black Friday, so stay…
XP Land Holiday Gift Guide: The producer
As holiday gift buying kicks into high gear early this year, the experiential experts at XP Land have put together a series of buying guides for industry professionals and fans. We’ll be rolling out our curated gift guide suggestions through Black Friday, so stay…
XP Land’s Guide to Measuring FOMO: Part 1
The brands that don’t invest in experiential aren’t confused about its power. They absolutely understand the impact it has on consumers and how it establishes connection to foster lasting trust. They know the magic of experiences. But, what they don’t know is how to…
Are virtual platforms finally catching up to Gen Z creators?
There was a brief period in 2020 where low production value video was deemed acceptable at virtual events — the world was falling apart, so did it really matter that we were having such a rough time of it at online meetings, conferences and…
Nix the small talk – get to know the platforms that are changing up virtual networking
Zoom fatigue was so 2020. It’s fall 2021 and the title du jour is victims of virtual networking fatigue. The rise of virtual and hybrid events and the associated constantly evolving technology has turned us all, by necessity, into online networking pros. But at…
Centering accessibility in XP is a boon to all attendees — here’s how to get started
Accessibility: It’s not just a buzzword or a legal requirement. Accessibility for in-person, digital and hybrid events should be front-and-center in every phase of your planning. Making your XP accessible to all will make your XP better. Period. It shows that you’ve put deep,…
Top 10 list of XP essential end-of-summer reads
We’re feeling reflective as summer ends and guessing that, maybe, you are, too? It’s been a weird few months and as we head into fall, uncertainty around how we’ll share experiences, and create them, persists. This isn’t exactly the entrance to autumn we were…
Influencer agencies are your entry key to leveraging today’s top XP talent
Here’s a bold prediction — the influencer agency will be to the 2020s what the modeling agency was to the 1990s. Thirty years ago (say it ain’t so), our favorite celebrity was the supermodel. Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford were…
The best mobile event apps for on-the-go virtual and hybrid XP
Aaaand here we are again — fall events that went all-in on in-person gatherings are suddenly faced with tough decisions as the Delta variant surges. You know what that means, right? Right. Hybrid is the only way to go. For those of you saying,…
These immersive platforms will take you to a new dimension (really)
Ready to take the next step with your virtual XP? We think you are. We’ve explored platforms that allow for meaningful digital networking and those that are best for virtual table-based events. We’ve also given you a primer on the metaverse, which is the…
Download The XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and NFTs
When we first thought about the intersection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and experiential, we pictured a bunch of tech bros yelling about their Bored Ape avatars over bottle service in the club. And while we’re sure that scene is, in fact, playing out somewhere…
Download the XP Land Field Guide: Experiential and the Metaverse
For enthusiasts, the Metaverse is set to create a paradigm shift in how we create and consume experiences. For skeptics, it’s a fantastical pipedream, a place to waste money on imaginary real estate deals, or — even worse — a sign that technology is…
Here’s what you need to know about the metaverse
Add “removing the limitations of physics” to Facebook’s, cough, ambitious plans for the future. No, the social media behemoth does not plan to upend the work of Isaac Newton et al, but it is plotting a major entry into the metaverse, as you may…
Better late than never? Zoom enters the virtual event platform field
Mere days after Zoom became, for a brief-ish period, basically our only portal to the outside world in March 2020, the company was contending with a lawsuit over “zoombombing,” a practice in which hackers interrupt meetings with offensive visuals and/or messages. This week, the…
Meet your match: Meaningful networking on virtual platforms
Meaningful event networking is difficult — attendees often come from different industries, have different interests, and, when trying to figure out who to connect with, there really isn’t much to go on aside from a name, maybe a company and a profile pic. Plus,…
Rage against the greed: Experiential lessons from the Woodstock ’99 documentaries
Which music festival do you think of when you hear Woodstock? Your perception of the event may be colored differently depending on your generation. That’s right, I’m “talkin’ bout your generation,” cue The Who. Most of us — from Boomers to Gen Z —…
How to greenify your XP: The art of sustainability
As in-person concerts, festivals and brand experiences start to make a comeback, so too are concerns about making large-scale XP as environmentally sustainable as possible. Industry leaders agree that fighting the effects of climate change is our collective responsibility, and brands that build sustainability…
Oh, the places you’ll go in XP Land
Letter from the Editors Hello and welcome to XP Land — a new digital news platform for all things experiential. Before we dive into our regularly scheduled programming, we wanted to tell you a bit about why we felt that this platform needed to…
An XP pro’s guide to vaccine passports
Unfortunate as it is, the pandemic timeline seems to have shifted once again as we move from the hallelujah moment of a few weeks back, when vaccination rates were rising and mask mandates were lifting, to more of an it’s baaack moment now, as…
Explore all of XP Land’s Field Guides
When we first thought about the intersection of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and experiential, we pictured a bunch of tech bros yelling about their Bored Ape avatars over bottle service in the club. And while we’re sure that scene is, in fact, playing out somewhere…
Pull up a chair: Your guide to virtual table networking platforms
It’s challenging to recreate the organic atmosphere of a bustling cocktail party or high-powered networking event in virtual spaces. Scheduling 1-on-1 video meetings with other attendees is taxing, and virtual “speed networking” often lands you in awkward conversations, counting down the minutes until you…
The live audio wars are in full effect: Here are some of the major players
Clubhouse, Spotify, Discord, Slack and yes, Big Social, are all clamoring for first place as the audio wars rage on. See below for a breakdown of how each platform is approaching the space. Clubhouse: More Than a Fad More CEOs talking tech. More artists…
Bring me a hybrid love: A refresher on how to build hybrid events
File this under “there’s Something Wrong With This Picture”: The overwhelming majority of event and experiential pros — 75 percent — are planning hybrid events for this year and next, but only 30 percent of said pros know what hybrid XP actually is. Given…
10 rules for any executive navigating the new world of virtual conferences
Even as the world emerges from the pandemic, new platforms are popping up everywhere to help us navigate our increasingly virtual world. And some of their eye-popping valuations — Hopin reportedly is worth $5.7 billion — suggest that investors believe technology will have an…

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