Not only do you not want to attend or exhibit, but you have no idea why you’re even going in the first place. Is it the motivational speaker who has nothing to do with your industry? The bad entertainment? The educational tracks that are really just vendor sales pitches? Nothing worth your time as usual. If you’re lucky, you meet up with an old acquaintance and catch up on the status of your industry. About one hour of actual useful time over a 2 day event. What if you could take that one valuable hour and extend it across the entire three days? You can.

1. The Event is dead
Not only do you not want to attend or exhibit, but you have no idea
why you’re even going in the first place. Is it the motivational
speaker who has nothing to do with your industry? The bad
entertainment? The educational tracks that are really just vendor
sales pitches? Nothing worth your time as usual.
If you’re lucky, you meet up with an old acquaintance and catch up
on the status of your industry. About one hour of actual useful time
over a 2 day event.
What if you could take that one valuable hour and extend it across
the entire three days?
You can.

2. Long live the experience
There is a better way. A method that creates an environment of authenticity. A place where every single moment is rife with
opportunities for stimulating conversation and innovative dialogue. A process that helps you architect a strategy that sparks creative,
engaging actions that will transform your event into an authentic experience that is not only tremendously rewarding, but memorable.
An Experiential Fuse.

3. The Experiential Fuse
Why
How
What
Desired
Outcome
CorePrinciples
MethodstoAction
The Experiential Fuse is an inside out approach starting in the
center and moving outward, it moves from Why-How-What. The
initial step is gaining a deep understanding of what is your
desired outcome of your event (Why). Moving outward a
strategy is designed using the 11 core principles (How),
finishing with specific methods to action (what) ,that support
the desired outcome.
The Experiential Fuse is a simple process that uses front
line trends in communication, behavioral psychology,
sociology and instructional design to create an authentic
environment where real learning and connections
are able to be made.
Unlike a typical event, the Experiential Fuse
creates an experience.
The Experiential Fuse

4. Supporting experiences &
engagements are
implemented .
Set a strategy of
engagements and
experiences utilizing the
core principles .
Organization leadership
determines the desired
outcome.
The Experiential Fuse Method
Determine
Desired
Outcome
Strategize
Core
Principles
Develop
Methods to
Action
1 2 3
WhatHowWhy

5. The first step is getting your leadership team
together and deciding on what is your event’s
desired outcome.
Sound overly simple? it is. It’s mind boggling how
many organizations participate in events with no
real reasoning why.
This critical step forces your leadership to take a
fresh look at why you are doing this event in the
first place, and forces you to make impactful
decisions. The why should be 100% clear before
moving outside to the next step.
Why
The president of a company with a yearly presence at
a major trade show vented frustration at the entire
process. When provoked to why go through all the
trouble, he explained, “You know, I really don’t know
why we do this, I guess because everyone else does?”
Provoking a deeper look into the desired outcome, the
leadership re-evaluated the show and determined that
the new specific focus would be on re-connecting with
their clients.
This small change had tremendous impact on their
planning process, resulting in many different decisions
being made to fulfill the outcome, vs. doing things the
same way as previous years.
The trade show would continue, but with a new
approach that takes advantage of the new vision, with
all facets of the business on board.
Desired
Outcome
Determine the Desired Outcome
“I really don’t know…”

6. How Core
Principles
Core Principles
The 11 core principles are concepts that have
significant impact on developing your desired
outcomes into a relevant action items.
The principles are designed to remove typical
barriers to learning, communicating and forming
human connections.
Signaling
Idea Architecture
Active Engagement
Engagement Behavior
Cognitive Influence
Design Decision
Brain State
Emotional Journey
Physical State
The “Understanding Demand”
Metric Fluidity
It’s Still a Show
The first four are explained in more detail in the
following pages.

7. participant…”
In signaling content, a signaling word is the use of “participant” vs. “attendee”. As the word participant is used throughout the
content, the reader will be receiving “signals” that they are in fact a “participant”, a much more engaging term then an “attendee”,’
this drives a point that the reader is an active part of the process, vs. a passive one.
Signaling
Signaling is a process throughout the framework that uses subtle hints or clues to
help guide the participant towards a desired behavior. Signaling encompasses
every facet of your event. Although not exclusive, signaling is fairly common in
content engineering. Simple words can be redefined with a much more
powerful impact.
Signaling is not limited to content, but can include:
• Emotion
• Environment
• Visuals
• Auditory
Core
Principles

8. it’s the idea…”
Typical speakers are stuck in the old model of speaking, they talk of motivating people with their stories of trials and tribulations, and
talk of the “You can be like me!” approach. Idea architecture tears down the old model with personal, authentic experiences with the
audience; the speaker is no longer the focus, but the idea is. One way to think of idea architecture, is the extreme opposite of “corporate
speak.”
Idea Architecture
A specific and deliberate process of finding someone's “idea”, and shaping it into a unique
presentable format, usually in a presentation under 20 minutes in length. This concept of re-
thinking how ideas are shared was pioneered by the TED organization with the well known
“TED Talks.”
Idea architecture is a deeply involved process of communication. It revolves around making
concepts extremely concise, understandable, and blended with captivating stories. It includes
new models on supporting visuals, unlike the typical unengaging PowerPoint presentations that
accompany most presentations.
Often the idea architecture is the main focus of your event, and the quality of your speaker
content should reflect that. Idea Architecture is not only critical in your speaker development,
but in all facets of your communication, including sponsor messaging, vendor dialogues, and
staff interactions.
Core
Principles

9. a visual anchor for conversation…”
A recent event had an artist draw visual representations of the event speakers ideas (scribing). During the breaks, the
artwork was positioned in the mingling area and was an immediate draw. Participants were able to socialize around the
posters, and strike up conversations about the speakers talks, and have a physical and visual reference to the key
components.
Active Engagement
Every facet of your strategy should be looking for opportunities to actively engage
participants. This can be through small group exercises, hands on activities, or
interactive discussions, to name a few. The more people are engaged in parts of the
strategy, the more ownership they will have. They will be more empowered because
they are part of the process, and knowledge retention will be the greatest. The most
powerful, active engagements are ones that not only engage the participants,
engaged, but make the activity “their own”, bringing that knowledge back to their
peers and architecting their own knowledge sharing.
Too often people at events watch a presentation, take a break to check their phones,
and completely forget about the content by the next day. Active engagement
reverses that model.
Core
Principles

10. “different ways to engage…”
A common mistake is event managers, (normally extroverted) managing an event from an extroverted perspective; many outgoing
activities may exist, but if there are not options for the introverted groups, you are alienating a good portion of your participants.
Engagement Behavior
Different people learn and engage in different ways. It’s
easy to assume people learn the same way that you do.
Care must be given so that the desired outcomes are
expressed in a variety of methods to reach your entire
audience in your overall strategy.
Methods Include:
• Communication Style 55/38/7 Rule
(visual/tonality/written)
• Introvert/Extrovert
• Learning Behavior. Visual/Auditory/Kinetic
Core
Principles

11. The final step is designing specific engagements and
activities that stem from the desired outcome, and are
shaped by the core principles.
By using the principles, you can be sure that you will be
designing experiences from new perspectives that push
your event towards full engagement by facilitating
authentic connections between your participants and
your desired outcome.
These activities will all also be born out of the desired
outcome of the event, with your results being true to the
origin.
What
A large scale event discovered that everything was
geared towards extroverts. Using the Experiential
Fuse, a method into action resulted in setting up an
internal “bookstore”, where books recommended by
the speakers and event leaders were available for
perusal and purchase. The store was designed as a
library with ample room to browse and quiet
conversation space available.
The bookstore became a perfect place for introverts to
still be engaged with the event, yet have the
availability of a place to congregate.
Methods into action
“Event Bookstore…”
Develop
Methods to
Action

12. Your experience now begins
Author Note:
This framework is a living document and constantly evolving. If you have
comments or suggestions I am always willing to have a conversation.
Long Live the Experience
Even the simple fact of looking at your next event from the
inside out can be transformational. Try this the next time you
start planning a trade show exhibit, or hosting a half-day
company event. Dig deep into the “why” of your event, don’t
stop digging until the reason is crystal clear.
Often the real reason is nothing like your original thoughts. But
don’t stop there, strategize outward using the core principles,
create your methods to action and see the transformation of
your event, into an experience.
The Experiential Fuse
Why
How
What
Desired
Outcome
CorePrinciples
MethodstoAction

13. Contact Mobile:312.600.7992
arthurzards
Arthur Zards| Founder
zards@experientialfuse.com
twitter.com/expfuse
www.experientialfuse.com
Please contact me if you would like to learn
more about:
• Details on the remaining 8 core principles.
• Anchoring strategies of the Experiential Fuse within
your organization resulting in:
• A culture of innovative dialogue
• Organizational organic acceptance and growth
• Localized to global corporate acceptance
• More successful examples of Methods to Action.
• How this model has transformed the entire culture
of a Fortune 50 company.

14. Arthur Zards
Who Experience
• Over 22 years experience in digital marketing, online networks, social
community building, event production, entrepreneurship.
• Produced numerous TEDx events, roles including leadership, creative direction,
content design, engagement best practices and TED style experiential designed
activities.
• Idea architected content of over 60 speakers, including Olympic medalists, a
United States astronaut, numerous business and community leaders and a
former United States Secretary of Commerce.
• Creator of numerous best practices for the TED/TEDx community including
Partnership and Speaker publications, a Sponsorship Ebook, and a
dynamic website dedicated to sharing engagement ideas for event organizers.
• Speaker at a TED conference workshop, Palm Springs, on name badge best
practices for events.
• Speaker at TEDxBeaconStreet, Boston.
• Founder and Host of TEDxNaperville
• Conference session leader in Doha, Qatar on event engagement strategies for
TED.
• Regularly hosts global video conferences for TEDx organizers mentoring and
education.

15. The Event is Dead…
Long Live the Experience