How do you deliver a great and memorable event? By designing an experience for audience as if they were protagonist in story, similar to what Hollywood is doing with their movies. Art of Storytelling - Event is an event series where we invite creativist in various sectors to share their insights on how to create a great work using the art of storytelling. Check out our event series at http://bit.ly/Crtv1

1. Art of Storytelling: Event
By: Mike - LiveLife

6. Mill Valley, Modesto, California

7. Hot Rod - Culture

8. Flash Gordon - Comic

9. Akiro Kurosawa - Film

10. Leiji Matsumoto - Anime

11. George Lucas

14. Millenium Falcon Set

15. Book - Jules Verne

16. The Basics
• Physical & logistic driven
• Imagination & emotional-driven
• Experience Designer
• Creative collaboration:
• Program: Performing arts, music, talk, visual arts, culinary
• Venue/Set: Architecture, interior design (incl. lighting) & fashion
• Tech: Streaming platform/podcast + app & games (interaction)
• Merchandise & Display: Craft, product design (toys)
• Promo Materials: Copywriting, graphic design, photo, video/animation
• Promo Channel: Marketing & ads, publishing (digital media)

17. Understanding
Experience
Setting Right
Context
Planning Content
& Connection

21. Limbic System
Fight or Flight

22. Wow

24. Long Lasting Experience
• Limbic system vs prefrontal cortex
• Design experiences that require participants to employ:
• Sense making
• Problem solving
• Decision making
• Creative thinking
• Innovative ideation
• Situational application of new info
• Give time to process, make sense, & apply new info
• Active participation (serotonin) VS
Passive consumption (dopamin)

25. Emotional Hijack? Emotional Intelligence?

26. Why Stories?

27. Feels Real!

28. Set Right Context
• Events with a strategically-aligned purpose bigger than money &
revenue outperformcompetition by over 350%*
• Background Story (Why)

29. Triple
Bottom-Line

30. Target Audience & Segment
• Gender & Age
• Profession & Industry
• Interest & Keywords
• Behaviours
Do, think & feel, watch & listen, see & read
• Task-to-complete (Needs):
• Functional
• Social
• Emotional

32. Brain-Friendly Event

34. Transformation

36. Design for Transformation
• One-way info delivery => Multi-party engagement
• Passive consumption => Active participation
• Consume large info => Facilitated learning
• Transactional => Collaboration & relationship-building

37. Connecting the Dots

38. Event Ecosystem
Tightly-stitched components to create
synergestic experience:
(1) Arrangement & flow of all elements
(2) Dynamic connections between
participants, with experts, content & their
environment
Give audience & partners opportunities to:
Collaborate, Co-create, Discuss, & Ideate

41. “While stuff can become burdensome, outdated or broken,
experiences don’t become outdated. As the experience turns into
memories, we tend to appreciate them more.
Likewise, the more we talk about & share that experience with others,
the more we strengthen our connection and appreciation for that
experience.” - Dr. Thomas Gilovich

45. Story Blueprint
• 1: Plot / Theme
• 2: Characters

46. Characters
• 3: Familiarity & Tension
• 4: Tone & Style
• 5: Call-to-Action

48. Hawaii

49. Target Audience

50. Highlights
“Crawl to Fame”
- Julie Moss, 1982

51. Why Torture Yourself?
• Overcome personal challenge that ‘Anything is possible’
• Inspiring others & feel inspired by other Ironman
• Lead a lifestyle shared with others (community)
• The tattoo – sense of belonging to the community
• Earn bragging rights & become part of community
• Travel worldwide with purpose & meet people
• Release pent-up food diet with big celebratory meal

52. • Tell genuine story about your brand/founder/event
• Successful story of participant overcoming challenges
• Make participant part of the story from start to finish
• Relevant theme + familiar concept, image or character
• Feels like ‘homecoming’ for people to participate
• Unexpected challenge & discovery
• Engage everyone along the journey
Tips for Great Story

53. “You’re telling a story using tools,
not using tools to tell a story”
– George Lucas

54. Storyline with Storyboard
• To ensure there is interaction:
(1) Audience & event
(2) Between audience
• Continuous engagement:
Pre + On + Post-Event
• Pre-Event: Create anticipation
• Personal story about speaker
• Behind-the-scene vid-trailer
• Post-Event: Create community
• Share event assets (PPT, photo)
• Follow-up engagement

55. Touch Points
“Event experiences are about creating superior value with many
touch points that address the attendees’ interests while also
achieving your company’s objectives.
It’s not just about the meetings and demos at the exhibit, but
everything from sessions to dinner meetings, receptions, and
executive 1-on-1s.”
– Ravi Chalanka

56. • Sense making

57. You’re The Hero

58. • Decision making
• Problem solving

60. • Creative thinking
• Innovative ideation

61. • Situational Application
(lessons learnt)

64. Summary
• Start with Why? with clear purpose [Sense of Purpose]
• Map out plot, audience & partners [Cohesive Event Story]
• Enable interaction & co-creation [Drive Transformation]
• [Engage audience] for great experience [Involving 5 Senses]
• Continuous interaction & connection [Creating Memories]
• Interesting + Interactive + Insightful + Inspiring

65. Moral of the Story
• Be patient, developing a great story takes time
• Follow inspiration & persevere while improving
• Transformational experience, not simply ‘wow’
• Nothing comes to waste (experience & connection)
• Money should NOT be the only motivation
• “I made money in spite of myself, and I think it’s because I didn’t care
whether it was a hit or not a hit.” – George Lucas

66. It all comes back in the end....