PURPOSE 

What we did: 

• Bring together a focused group of experience economy leaders, practitioners and operators 
• Signal the importance of experiences as a collective economic driver 
• Lay the foundation for future capability-building, collaboration and growth 
• Industry benchmarking: local and global 

In partnership with the City of Melbourne and industry partners, Designteam was tasked with shaping the design and end-to-end strategy for the first Melbourne Experience Summit. Scope included crafting the overall Summit strategy and event structure alongside the delivery of the program based on our deep connection to the World Experience Organisation (WXO) London Experience Week as well as leading trends guiding the evolution of the experience sector. 

"All the statistics and reports prove that people want immersive experiences. It's the future... What is emerging is a shared language – a co-ordinate approach. The Summit is intended to help begin that shift...". 

For 160 participants, the Experience Summit represented a pioneering first step towards strengthening the City’s focus on its evolving experience economy, particularly within the key visitor sector. From the outset it was essential to design a world-class program that strengthened Melbourne’s connection with audiences comprising visitor experience leaders, major event organisers, experience-based businesses and Government.  

“What if we thought about experiences through the lens of the feelings they create? Awe. Surprise. Serenity. Connection…’. Summit attendee. 

Moving away from traditional one-way formats, the Summit was designed for participation and doing: the program set to establish a shared language and coordinated approach to experience design for the City. By introducing experience design as a practical discipline for business owners and leaders to move beyond individual moments towards an intentionally collective ecosystem. 

CHALLENGE 

Making cohesive an area enjoyed by many that is multi-dimensional, layered and somewhat subjective. During a time of industry announcements that legacy events were moving to other states, a key challenge for the inaugural project was to design an Experience Summit that would align competing businesses in Melbourne to work together towards the goal of keeping Melbourne a leader on the global experience map. A further challenge was to ensure the Summit delivered useful and practical tools that attendees could apply immediately to their own programs. 

With intensifying National and Global competition between cities competing for visitors, the lead attraction for Melbourne is the quality and coherence of experiences offered by the City, rather than a series of isolated attractions. While Melbourne has the necessary ‘experience pillars’ of food, culture, creativity, entertainment, business events and multiculturalism, there exists the need to shift from individual approaches to a deliberate, strategic and integrated view of experience design. Without a coordinated strategy, the City risks losing its proud leadership position in a growing experience economy. 

SOLUTION 

What we did: 

• Designed the Summit strategy and curated the overall attendee experience 
• Programming and Summit presenter design 
• Introduce experience design as a practical discipline   
• ‘New ideas’ Experiences-Reimagined workshop: London-Live 
• Audience co-design sessions to strengthen connections 
• Program evaluation and evolution 

Bringing confidence and clarity to complexity, the Experience Summit was designed from the ground up to bring cohesion and connection to a vital aspect of the Melbourne economy. To manage sensitivities, we used a proven roadmap [XDC framework]: providing a pathway for stakeholders to discover and unearth core drivers, content areas and audience mindsets. The framework moved the program from a place of fragmentation to a space of meaning, participation and understanding. We started by hosting a series of live workshops comprising internal and external stakeholders – discovering views and clarifying what the Summit was to accomplish - we plotted what should be discussed, who should be there, and guided the Summit program shape using our ‘double diamond’ methodology of both shared and individual moments. 

Research led and insights driven we also hosted for all attendees a pioneering ‘experiences reimagined’ Summit workshop featuring a live cross from London.  

“Summit-Maxxing…”. 

Our workshop session was designed to build on industry capacity and literally established a new vision for experience-led events for attendees, by attendees. Our approach creatively and digitally connected the Melbourne Experience Summit audience to London Experience Week with Henry Coutinho-Mason founder of VisuAIse Futures steering attendees through a sketch-based AI exercise that tapped into and harnessed collective intelligence – and the results were staggering! 

“If we mapped a year of experiences around emotional outcomes, what would a uniquely Melbourne experience calendar feel like then…?” Summit workshop attendee. 

Integrating insights from the WXO London Experience Week together we provided strategic depth, local views and a global lens highly valued by attendees. In shaping the overall design of the Summit with the audience at the core, the integrated approach ensured participants remained highly engaged by actively involving them in designing practical and workable solutions and having each of them drive and participate directly in the experience conversation.  

OUTCOME 

What we did: 

• A platform for deeper experience economy understanding and connection 
• Enabled a 100% sold out event – empowering many contributions 
• Provided practical tools and hands-on, highly engaged sessions 
• Pioneered the first Melbourne Experience Summit

A 100% sold-out event and hosted at the iconic State Library of Victoria, the Experience Summit has established a new benchmark for engaging with the City of Melbourne’s most influential and passionate experience leaders and creators.  

“I left feeling far more optimistic about Melbourne’s place in the experience economy than when I’d arrived…”. Summit attendee. 

The project has set the foundations for ongoing conversations, ideas sharing and future growth - acting as a platform for upcoming programs, access to practical and helpful tools, and as a global exchange of ideas.  

“It is up to us - lock in an annual event with similar people...’. 

Ultimately, the Experience Summit deepened connections, exchanged relevant ideas and increased stakeholder alignment towards a more unified future for Melbourne’s world-class experience economy. Planning is underway for the next program – stay tuned!