Experiences tend to swing on this pendulum between education and entertainment, with guests wavering between being ‘talked at’ and being in ‘observation mode’. These experiences require little imagination on the traveler’s part (unless it’s being branded as an actual ‘creative’ activity), and for the most part, they’re pretty passive/absorptive.

Absorption (necessary and important) occupies a person’s attention, but immersion requires the guest to go into & include themself in the experience. And when you can hit all four quadrants, that's when you've got something really worthwhile!

These immersive experiences are incredibly rare. I’m currently planning a two-week Italy escape for this September, and only a handful of experiences I’ve seen could be labeled as truly immersive.

It appears it’s too easy to fall into this formulaic framework of: “First, we’re going to talk your ear off about something while we show you some sights, then you’re going to get a chance to try/do something.”

It's time to challenge this! While I believe the world is indeed a classroom, do our experiences really need to be so rigid like one? Where’s the play? Where’s the permission to color outside the lines? Where is the interactivity and co-creation that meaningful experiences require?

Here’s a fun experiment: imagine your experience is full of kinesthetic learners that struggle to take in the world by listening and seeing alone. How would your experience have to change in order to engage them? How would you make it hands-on and interactive?

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

This ☝️ is the immersive experience ethos. And I will be doing an in-depth deep dive into immersion soon if the concept is still fuzzy for you.

If you spend some time reflecting on your experiences and notice that your guests are mostly in listening and observing mode, with some small-talk in between, then I invite you to join me on March 15th for a special workshop! You will learn how to make each moment more interactive, meaningful, and desire-driven.

I'll be doing a Q&A about the workshop on Instagram this week, so be sure to follow along if you're on the fence about joining. Feel free to submit your question now by replying to this email if you'd like!

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