ROUND TABLE 47
If you get the foundations right – a clear narrative, defined outcomes and user-first mindset – the technology will naturally fall into place
The earlier AV, media and systems teams are involved, the more effectively the technology can support the creative vision without compromise. It leads to better integration, fewer surprises and a more cohesive and impactful experience. Nigel Sadler Make sure to start with the experience, not the technology. Define what you want the audience to feel, understand or take away, and build from there. Storyboarding the journey – from entry to exit – provides a clear framework for decision making and ensures that every element has a specific purpose. Technology should then be introduced as an enabler, not as a driver. This helps avoid unnecessary complexity and keeps the focus on delivering something that is meaningful and memorable. It’s also important to think about the long-term from the very beginning of the project – how the experience will be operated, maintained and evolved over a period of time. If you get the foundations right – a clear narrative, defined outcomes and a user-first mindset – the technology will naturally fall into place.
points of failure, which works against the goal of seamlessness. Finally, there’s the risk of misalignment when creative, technical and operational teams aren’t fully aligned. The result can feel disjointed even if the technology itself is high-end. Jeremiah Karni Over-engineered designs that try and allow for too much flexibility beyond what future staff can handle. Coming up with a clear narrative, an idea for what a system needs to achieve and refinement go a long way to making systems seamless. Brian Allen Chasing totally seamless AV. That’s the mistake right there. There’s a version of this pursuit that tips into a perfectionism that doesn’t serve guests and burns money. Because here’s the thing we keep forgetting: people tolerate visible technology just fine, when it makes sense. Walk into a theatrical production and you’ll probably see the wing space if you’re sitting at the right angle. You clock it, file it, move on. It doesn’t break anything because your brain already knows where it is. It belongs to the grammar of the space.
Do you have any advice for anybody who is at the start of a major experience or attraction project? Joseph Conover Start with the story and bring your technical partners in early. The actual mistake is forgetting why we’re making things invisible in the first place. It’s not an aesthetic principle or a flex. It’s a deliberate creative decision in service of an emotional state. Lose sight of that and you end up spending money concealing things nobody would have noticed. Worse, you’re spending instead of solving the things that actually matter. Know what needs to disappear. Be honest about what doesn’t. The things that break immersion aren’t visible. They’re incongruous. A cable trunking that cuts across a surface meant to feel ancient. A reset button in plain sight on something that’s supposed to feel magical. A fan vent humming behind a wall of silence. These pull you out not because you saw them, but because they didn’t fit the world you were being asked to believe in.
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