How experiential design could smooth out the 2024 IMEX Experience
“IMEX at the core is a trade event,” says Oliver “Oli” Bailey, show experience/ senior operations manager, framing the expectations for meeting profs. The massive exhibit hall and hosted buyer meetings bring people together to spark conversations and propagate ideas. “Our job as organizers is to create an environment where that can happen with as little friction and as much joy and productivity as possible,” he explains. How does the team accomplish this lofty goal? In a phrase: “experiential design.”
“We start by considering anybody who attends as a person and think about things from their point of view. Rather than being prescriptive, we would try and walk in their shoes as much as possible,” he says. Rather than taking the role of puppet masters and trying to control people, he approaches each touch point with empathy, asking, “how will this person feel in a given moment? What are they going to be thinking? What are their immediate needs and desires? What could be annoying them?”
Then he tries to smooth that out and in the process add a bit of flare. “We’re not just fixing a problem; we’re adding something that they can take away because, fundamentally, we really care about the people who attend.”
Bailey goes one step farther by putting the attendee at the top of the hierarchy. “It’s their show. We’re in a supportive role trying to enable everyone to do what they want to do by curating the environment using experiential design.”
A Place for Everything
What that experience design doesn’t mean is bombarding people with fireworks and as much stimuli as you possibly can. “That’s a terrible idea,” Bailey says. In fact, as the shows get bigger, he wants to make sure people are not getting overstimulated and overwhelmed.
So, what does that desire to anticipate the needs of attendees mean for the layout of the show floor?
Quiet spaces such as the Resilience Room powered by Google Xi, Storycraft Lab and Hello DMC will allow people to take a breath with help from professionals who can guide them through the experience. Lounges on the show floor will allow people to scroll through their emails if they need to get some work done.
Read More: Neuroinclusion: Events for Everyone
In the booths, exhibitors are embracing experiential approaches to telling their story as well. “We’re seeing far fewer banners and a lot more active immersive elements, including a pickleball court,” he reported.
To harness the power of neuroaesthetics, a giant paint-by-numbers mural will allow passers by to experience the joy of holding a paintbrush and taking a few minutes for themselves to reset and recharge while collaborating with lots of other people on something everyone can watch evolve over the three days.
The tech area to the far right side of the trade show floor will, for the first time, incorporate its own education area to explore hot topics, including AI and AV.
A concierge hub staffed by Dahlia+Agency will help visitors navigate the offerings and make introductions where appropriate.
A High-tech Litmus Test
To determine whether these adjustments are making people feel better, IMEX is working with Zenus to conduct facial analysis and determine the sentiment in the expo hall over the three days. Combined with the navigation data, exhibitors can determine how people are interacting with their story and improve over time.
Read More: It’s All About Engagement!
While each element of the show has its own metrics, including registration (estimates are as high as 17,000 for this year) greenhouse gasses cut, queue time at catering and attendance at sessions, the one IMEX Group follows most closely is the number of pre-scheduled meetings, which in 2023 with 15,029 participants was 83,000 meetings. “That is one of the closest ways we can speak to the actual business being done in the hall, which is really what it’s all about,” said Bailey.
This article appears in the IMEX Supplement in the September 2024 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
