The document discusses how recreation is evolving from merely providing functions for constituents to providing meaningful experiences and identities. The authors see a need for their skills in experience engineering to help with this transition. They were trained at BYU to transform programs into experiences defined by structured, emotional interactions between participants and providers. One example is how the Provo City Christmas Market evolved from lights and a parade into a collaborative, identity-building event involving music, food, vendors and fireworks. The authors are passionate about creating experiences that improve quality of life and define communities through innovation and ingenuity.

1. Joshua Magleby
Starlee Jacobs
Mary Dunn
Noemi Morales
Our world is constantly advancing- from technology, to opportunities, to basic everyday
language. Recreation is following this trend. The trend is reflected in recreation providers
moving from the concept of merely performing a function for constituents, to recreation
providing an identity for them. As young professionals, we are excited because we see a need
for our skills, ingenuity, and innovation to assist with this transition to this more intentional form
of recreation. Our education at Brigham Young University has uniquely trained us to transform
programs into more meaningful experiences.
For our purposes, an experience is defined as a structured, emotional interaction between
participants and providers. It is the idea of transforming a simple program to an experience of
which is explained in the Experience Economy Model developed by B. Joseph Pine and James
H. Gilmore. This model is a continuum of the development of creating meaningful experiences.
The model is important because it outlines the steps of how to move a recreation program
through the continuum. The continuum explains the progression of a commodity, to a good, to a
service, to an experience that then creates an identity for an individual or a community. One
example we have found of this in our own professional experience is the development of the
Provo City Christmas Market.
Provo City began by recognizing the holidays, bought Christmas lights, and created a parade to
correspond with the concluding ceremony of turning on the lights decorating downtown. The
Christmas market has evolved into a community identifying event that involves co-creating with
local vendors, intentionally themed music, food, and fireworks. All of these aspects create a
collaborative identity for people that attend.
The Christmas Market was initially a commodity, or a raw, undeveloped idea. In the events
conception, the commodity is the city recognizing the holiday. The good, or the tangible item, is
represented as the city providing Christmas lights. The element of service is represented by the
events progression to a ceremony of turning the lights on for the community. The experience is
then the staged event that leads up to the turning on of the lights downtown. The results of this
experience help community members develop a sense of identity and loyalty to Provo. It is the
customized nature or personalization of this event that creates loyalty to this program, and all
other events put on by Provo city.
As young trained professionals, we have seen the growth of this event, and the effect it has had
on the city, and are able to replicate it in other programs. It is this effect that makes us passionate
about the experience that we will create in the future. We are excited to be in this field because
creating these experiences is the execution of our education.
We give ourselves the title of experience engineers. We are in the business of improving quality
of life- this is the fulfilling factor of this career choice. The reason why we use the experience
economy model is because experiences are not only changing, but the impact they create matters.

2. Events define a community and its people. Not only do events provide recreation, but also it is
part of who they are. All cities have the ability to create these experiences and establish this same
sense of purpose and unity.
We want to be on the front lines of experience creation. The excitement of this field comes from
innovation, and ingenuity. We recognize the irreplaceable value of experiences over
commodities, and that the profession of providing experiences needs it own attention and skill
set which we are excited to provide. We believe experiences are not just designed to be
structured, they are designed to be lived to enhance the quality of life.