Using elevators to impress

Giving captive audiences a lift...

Elevators (or "lifts", if you're a BritSpeaker like me) are massively underused resources. Even in these days of fitness awareness, if your building has a people-lifter it will see a lot of use. And people in elevators are a captive audience.

So why not show how cool you are by entertaining them, like in this wonderful elevator artwork by Marcello Brambilla for the Standard Hotel in New York?

- tell a story.

Change the scenery and boost innovation

Move the meeting to the Holodeck...

Want a cheap and easy way to boost the effectivity of your creative sessions (and in fact any meeting)? Just change the scenery.

My collegue Markus and I felt like a change for our brainstorming session this week, so we headed across the street and into the park where the local town have provided this brilliant performance/meditation/party/picnic/being space.

A pen, a pad of Post-its, and our meeting room was ready. There were no chairs, so we kept thinking on our feet. We weren't alone - but chatting to other space-users kept the mood light and the ideas flowing fast. In the end, our latest plans for world domination benefited from the presence of a couple of bikers, a theology student, two old ladies, and a dog.

Changing your physical surroundings is once of the best ways to increase the output of creative sessions. So take your crew out of that dang meeting room and hit the cafés, museums, parks and rooftops. You'll see the benefits fast, I promise.

And perhaps your people might even look forward to the next meeting...

Pics by Adam's ancient Motorola phone

UX > CX > HX?

Which way next?

Once, there was UX, or user experience. An emphasis on how the user interacted with your product.

Then we zoomed out to CX, or customer experience. Looking at the customer's entire interaction with both the product and the company - from using the product to reading the ad to calling support to paying the bill.

What's next? HX, or human experience?

Considering the interaction between the company (and all it's agents, whether "working" or not) with all the humans it interacts with - whether "customers" or not?

It will be fun finding out.

Whither weather vane pic from Greg Hefner at flickr.

Never give in...

If you love what you do, somebody else will love it too...

Winston Churchill gave a famously short speech to schoolboys, where he said:

"Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense."

If you believe in what you do, and love doing it, he is right. Here's proof:


I love the way that the dancer directly appeals to the crowd at the start, but is ignored.

The more he just gets down to doing his thing, the more interesting he becomes. And he just never, never, never, never gives up - until his energy is finally irresistible.

Everyone can be a star - if you let them

Mark Hurst put me on to this terrific wedding video. It's great fun, but it can also teach us something...



Presumably nobody in this clip is a professional performer, but they all give amazing performances. Why?

* Because they are doing something that feels new.
* Because they are allowed to play around while doing it, which makes it fun.
* Because the only pressure on them to "get it right", is their desire to do a good job for their friends.

LOCKDOWN Projects are onto a winner here. They took an oversubscribed service (wedding videos) and shook it up with a great idea. Then they made the idea work by trusting average people to be stars.

What could your workplace learn from that?

PS I hope Brian and Eileen's marriage is as good a party as their wedding was, and I hope that LOCKDOWN get rich and famous rather fast.
I have a feeling they will.

If you liked this, try...

Affinity blog group

I've been fiddling with the jolly knobs at Google Analytics, and have worked out that the readers referred by these five blogs spend longest on my site, look at the most pages, and bounce least often.

In other words, if you enjoy this blog, you'll almost certainly enjoy these:

The Customer's Shoes
Pow! Right Between the Eyes!
Design for Service
Fortify Your Oasis
Humor that Works*

The list includes several of my own favourites - if you want more, look for the feed of my own regular blog reading about halfway down the right-hand bar... just after the chicken.

* A newish blog, which can slant the Google stats, but certainly recommended.
Group hug pic by fridgeuk at Flickr.

Staging one consistent customer story

Watching from the wings

Before a show or presentation, you will usually find me waaaay up in the lighting rig, hanging precariously from a gantry and peering at the top of the audience's heads. This is not just to hype myself up (although it is very focussing), or convince myself that my hairline is receding slower than many. Instead, I am trying to feel the vibe, and predict how the show will need to be tonight.

In his book The Invisible Actor, master actor Oida Yoshi (called Yoshi Oida in the West) says:

"Too often actors sit in their dressing rooms or the green room, listening to the tannoy for their cues. Once they hear the stage manager call their names, they go up into the wings, ready to make their entrance. [This] is completely unhelpful in terms of good storytelling. There is only one story being told by a team of actors; not ten different stories being told by ten actors. Therefore, you need to be there in the wings from the very beginning, in order to see how other actors are telling the story".

Anyone staging a customer experience is faced by the very same problem. And remember, the "actors" in a customer experience are not just the staff, but also the customers. So ask yourself:

• What opportunity do my staff have to see how "the story" of our daily business is going, enabling them to start in with the appropriate energy and preparation?

• What opportunity do my staff have to learn how "the story" of this particular customer's encounter with us is going, helping them to take over with the appropriate energy and preparation?

And even:

• How do I let my customer see how far along we are in his "story"? Does he have the feeling af a beginning, a middle and an end? Or, better yet, a hook, exposition, climax and resolution?

Stage wings pic from pimpampum at flickr

WorkPlayExperience on Twitter

Joining the Chorus

Want to follow WorkPlayExperience on Twitter? Click the follow button in the "Twitter Updates" section (on the right, and down a bit) or just follow the username adamstjohn.

My guarantee - I'll only tweet my service design / experience design insights and experiences, or relevant showbiz adventures.

No "I'm having cornflakes for breakfast" tweets, I promise.

Cheers,

Adam

PS Also well worth following - my WorkPlayExperience colleague Markus Hormess - username markusedgar.

Bird image from Baroness Nordmark at flickr.

Freedom of Speech

The limits of scripting interaction

A lot of customer encounter design is talking about the words we say. It's very important to consider the influence our words can have. But as every actor can tell you, it's equally important to remember that not every line works from every person. A script needs to be shaped by the person delivering it.

Also, tight scripts lead to rigid thinking, discouraging the flexibility which can make or break a customer experience.

As Barry Schwartz puts it in his TED talk on wisdom.

"We know why these scripts are there. We don't trust the judgment of [employees] enough to let them loose on their own. Scripts like these are insurance policies against disaster.

And they prevent disaster. But what they ensure is mediocrity."

So: give your people a verbal toolset, not a rigid script. It's not just about showing trust, it will actually work better.

Read more on this theme here.

Speech bubble pic from Illustir at flickr

Ten Commandments of Experience Design

Remember...

1. Thou Shalt Offer Something Unique; or thou Shalt Offer Something in a Unique Way.

2. Thou Shalt ask thy Customer what he Expects, and then Give him More.

3. Thou Shalt ask thyself, "What Tale am I Telling, and How Should it be Shaped to Move my Customer?"

4. Thou Shalt Show thy Personality and thy Passion.

5. Thou Shalt Allow thy Magnificent People to Be Themselves and Use Their Own Words.

6. Thou Shalt Give thy Magnificent People free Opportunity and Safe Space to Play Around with What they Do.

7. Thou Shalt Reward Storytellers, for They Are thy Guides.

8. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be thou Vulnerable. Use thine Ears.

9. Thou Shalt Not Do What thou Didst Yesterday. Today's Customer is Different.

10. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Emotion is Good.

(Inspired by the brilliant TED Commandments, via Presentation Zen)
Chisel pic from Tamaki at flickr

For German readers

Hitting the news stands

The first of my "Fool's Corner" columns for the German business magazine FrankenPower is now in print.

If you can read German, you might like to take a look. Contact me for a copy by post, or download the complete magazine as a PDF here.

Perfect presentation structure

Two minutes & 22 seconds of intensive presentation training

Raymond Crowe's shadow play of Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World" has long been one of my favourite presentations. As well as his technical virtuousity, the way he arranges the various elements is perfect.

Even if you know the clip well, it's worth analysing his structure - and applying it to your presentation.

Mr Crowe has two really powerful images in his show - the Armstrong silhouette and the emotional highpoint of the baby and adult hands. Cleverly, he separates them - grabbing our attention with Armstrong at the beginning. Then come his other elements, starting with the (relatively) weakest - the horse and the swan which most of us could attempt - and moving on through the impressive rabbits. It's clear from the audience's reaction that they love the baby hand, and he wisely saves it for the climax of the piece, shortly before the end. Then we have a little gag with the old man's tongue, before Louis reappears to close the circle.

Watch it carefully, and see how it all fits together:



This classic structure is used by rock-concert planners and stand up comedians - wowing us at the start with your almost-best effort, dropping down to move steadily up through the material before blowing us away with the best piece near the end, and concluding with emotion. I call it "Boom! Wow-wow-wow! BOOM!" and you can read about it here.

In many cases, it's how you should be structuring your presentations - and your customer experiences.

Experience design interview

From "The Experience Monitor"

I did an interview for Steve Dragoo's Experience Monitor recently. Here is the first part:

Adam Lawrence was born in the UK. He studied psychology and worked in marketing and product conception in the motorcycle industry before running away from suits to join the theater in Bavaria. He now lives in Germany and the Americas, and divides his time between acting, stand-up comedy and the experience design consultancy "Work•Play•Experience" which he runs with service innovator Markus Hormess.

We caught up with Mr. Lawrence recently, and were able to get this exclusive interview (in two parts) for readers of The Experience Monitor.

TEM: What do you think is unique about your own style of experience design?

ASL: My theatrical approach. Experience design is all about shaping a customer's perception and emotion - and showbusiness has been doing that since the first story tellers squatted at the first campfires. I use theatrical tools - like rehearsal, subtext, improvisation and staging - to help staff create an amazing, authentic experience that they and the customers truly enjoy.

TEM: What can you tell us about your background, and what led you into the field of Experence Design?
ASL: I'm a trained psychologist, who won his spurs in marketing and product conception, then became an actor and comedian. What else could I possibly do? :)

Put another way, my psychology background gives me an idea how people perceive and decide. My industry experiences wised me up to the problems faced by enterprises trying to innovate and to grab and grip customers. And being on stage makes me acutely, painfully aware of exactly how the audience (or customer) react to surprise, timing, phrasing and all the rest of the emotional massage that is show-biz.

TEM: You are an Englishman living in Germany (and sometimes the Caribbean). There has to be a story behind your current location. What gives?

ASL: Well, I got disillusioned with the whole UK marketing game for a while in the early nineties, and headed for the Alps (nearly). It's great here - but I really lucked out when part of my family moved to a quiet Caribbean nation. Both Central Europe and Jungle Central are massively stimulating, so I try to split my time and keep busy at both ends.

TEM: Who are your personal heroes in the field of Experience Design?

ASL: I have to say Pine and Gilmore, because they helped me focus my thoughts on the whole subject, and Joe Pine especially was kind enough to encourage me to follow them up. Their more recent work on authenticity really came at an important time.

I also think that the surprise-meister Andy Nulman is amazing. Although he doesn't call himself an experience designer, everything he does is about focussing on the customer and exceeding expectations. And he keeps on doing it again and again...

Otherwise it absolutely has to be Bugs Bunny. Seriously. Timing and (apparent) effortlessness are nine tenths of the battle.

The Experience Monitor is a great little newsletter produced by Service Solutions. Here's the relevant issue. If you sign up now, you'll be in time for the second half of the interview... ;)

Rec pic from Leo Reynolds at Flickr.

Exemplary experience design

Why the Alamo Drafthouse's sneak premiere was so dang good

By now, you will have heard about the Alamo Drafthouse Theater's amazing coup with the new Star Trek movie. If you haven't heard, here's the plot:

1. The scene: a cool but globally insignificant cinema in a rather insignificant town.
2. The background: everyone's talking about the new Trek film. Opinions are divided, emotions are high. But the film is not out yet, and when it comes out it will first be seen somewhere globally significant. Somewhere far away. Not here. (See point 1). No sir, we are too insignificant for that. Sigh.
3. Because we are too insignificant to see the new film, we content ourselves with watching an old classic instead. Better than nothing, eh? It's a fun idea that fits our theater, but it has a slight aftertaste of valiant loser (see point 1). Sigh.
4. But then - the old classic melts and burns in the projector. The aftertaste of valiant loser gets stronger.
5. Sigh.
6. The management take the stage and try to get a discussion going while the film is re-spliced. Unfortunately, nobody has any questions.
7. Sigh. Sigh...
8. THEN... Mr Spock walks out on stage. MISTER SPOCK!
9. Mr Spock asks us if we'd rather be watching the new film. The one that isn't out yet. The one we are too insignificant to see first.
10. Mr Spock - MR SPOCK!! - tells us that the world premiere for the new film is here and now! Losers we are not!

This is just terrifiy experience design for a bunch of reasons. So many, it almost becomes a "best of". How about:

• It takes your customer's expectations (go see an old movie) and exceeds them (go see the World Premiere of the hot new movie presented by your childhood hero in person). What a terrific surprise!

• Beforehand, we have the burned print and the lame discussion attempt. This massages our expectations down and makes the upswing to the climax even more dramatic. (Remember, this only works with captive audiences).

• Of course this wrong-wrong-right is the classic one-two-and-a -THREE! of bait-and-switch dramatic structure seen in jokes. Two points are enough to establish a tendency, which you break with the punchline.

• This whole shebang is supported by of the excellent customer community set up around the cinema. These guys have theme nights, food, live heckling by stand-up comedians, customer tours for renegade karaoke parties, their own beer...

• The management have obviously gone the extra mile for their customers on this one. Not only did they get the world premiere of what is potentially the film this summer, they also got Leonard Nimoy - the nearest thing to a saint in the Trekiverse - to present it. That was more than one phone call, I suspect.
  

• The idea and its execution shows the Drafthouse crew as hard working real people with the same groove as their audience. Remember, people buy from people.
  

• The whole story is eminently tellable, as evidenced by its rapid dissemination through the internet today.

Great stuff. Oh, and here's the YouTube link.

Via Church of the Customer.
Trekpik by TCM Hitchhiker at flikr.

Instant USP - for free

Your people know how

The human factor is probably the biggest single piece of your customer experience. If you have good people working for you, agree on the goals and then let them be themselves, it might even be this good:



Fair enough, not everyone has this gentleman's charm or musical talent - but his rap is most successful because he is initially not completely sure if he can pull it off. He shows his humanity, and that is the crucial part. He could have been equally successful doing something far less spectacular - as long as he were doing it his way.

The customers see a real human being doing something unique and - most tellingly - they know they wouldn't get anything like it from the competiton.

Are you brave enough to let your people be this good?

Via the Creative Generalist
PS. Hmm. I wonder if he has read this?