We know this: unusual environments and experiences trigger emotional responses that spur creativity. Intense emotions can help lower our associative barriers, allowing us to think laterally, see hidden connections and link ideas in new ways.
But how do you go a step beyond so that the immersive experience doesn’t just complement content but augments it? We know this: unusual environments and experiences trigger emotional responses that spur creativity. Intense emotions can help lower our associative barriers, allowing us to think laterally, see hidden connections and link ideas in new ways.
That’s why, every year, we start with a blank canvas and build a multi-day, multi-sensory, immersive platform that helps participants get out of their comfort zone and stimulates creative thinking. From meeting spaces fashioned to provoke feelings of play, tranquility or whimsy to the evocative aromas from an on-site bakery and carefully designed soundscapes, every cubic inch of the Summit environment is crafted to spark the emotions that free our minds to create.
The peak-end rule
The peak-end rule, first articulated by Nobel Prize–winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman, shows that humans are biased to remember the peak moments of emotional intensity and the end of an event. For this reason, the Summit delivers something new and unexpected from the moment of arrival and throughout each day. Spark sessions at the end of the agenda provide a capstone to the event, giving participants an opportunity to consolidate their insights from the two-day agenda and co-create an action agenda with their peers.
Achieving this requires treating the Summit experience as much more than the moment of two days in April. We implement an insight-based communication plan in the months before the event, during the event and in the months following. As part of the registration process, we ask participants about their business challenges so that we can responsively continue shaping the agenda up until the last moment.
We also ask participants to share their personal preferences so that we can create emotional moments for them onsite or in their overnight accommodations. Working with Airbnb enables us to provide fun experiences in the hosting city as a prelude to the event.
Ultimately, the Summit is not a “conference” or an “industry event.” It’s both an exhilarating and accelerating experience fueled by its participants’ curiosity, enabled by technology and driven by creativity to unlock the best of their human potential.
Summary
At the end of this transformative experience, participants will be newly empowered to solve the now, explore the next and imagine the beyond.