Gone Fishing & Other Spontaneous Events & Experiences For Hospitality
In our efforts to box everything in our beta operating state of high stress and immediacy of results needs I often feel we miss the spontaneous instincts we used to have in the pre-digital era. Escapism in the current technological era could be off grid but to get there we need to let go of our gadgets long enough to connect with our partners, friends and acquaintances.
I speak of this current obsession in our travel industry – yes an industry trend where we are busy developing often contrived experiences linked to driving maximum revenues in the guise of well disguised charitable events. There are naturally exceptions to this rule and I speak of a well-known designer who used to send out an annual postcard some dozen years ago saying he had gone fishing in Argentina for two months and his office would be closed for the duration.
Queen Elizabeth famously in her early years on the throne spent a month or so visiting all parts of New Zealand – an example of a time when we enjoyed time just being connected to a place we had never necessarily been to before. Communication was slow, planes were slower, boats even slower. Today we speak of this as slow life or other experience captions like detoxing from stressful lives. With depression and anxiety at all-time highs what can we do to craft authentic experiences that can be adapted to the tastes of each individual spontaneously?
Experiences to Enjoy
I believe there are the following types of experiences we can enjoy -
Developing ideas for events that become annual pilgrimages for groups of like- minded people where they feel they can make a contribution and have a lot of fun together at the same time. Sort of herd type of events coined in the USA as the act of ‘togethering’ in small to medium size groups.
Nature, Nurture and Nutrition – activities where guests can immerse themselves and come away with a sense of renewal, rejuvenation, detox, learning, improved mental and physical health, a sense of connection with the SELF. Wellness falls handily in here.
Then there are the off-grid or Gone Fishing experiences where individuals or small groups go for extreme adventures such biking across Greenland, climbing Kilomanjaro, fishing in the Andes foothills, trekking across the Pyrenees, horseriding on the Mongolian Steppe, extended skiing trips in the Norweigan forests or ice-fishing in Finland’s artic circle region and many more such adventures around the remotest areas of our shrinking globe!
Then there are traditional experiences relating to sports triathlons, marathons , the Olympics, Wimbledon, football etc.,etc.,, literary fests, historical tours, shopping tours, museums and educational tours and the like.
Then there are those spontaneous events decided by the individual designed to create a privacy not readily available in most settings.
In the course of having developed and help craft many events over a lifetime some great learnings come to mind and I thought perhaps you might enjoy the following list of things to do or not to do ☺ as applies to event and experience creations in hospitality.
To do’s
Imagine the setting – as if in a dream and try to paint the idea – this visualization will condition the planner to the big picture of what needs to happen.
Plan the event or experience with a good small team who can connect to your picture and realize the dream.
Fall in love with the idea – play with it as you would if you were building your first sandcastle. Often this develops new and fresh ideas in the process of testing.
Reinvent your idea each year, refine it to be better than before.
Never lose sight of the niche group that will support this event long-term – build a fraternity.
Involve your community but not a committee (they stifle creativity).
Target your communication to connect with a relevant audience – if it’s a Private Art Tour target those with a potential and desire to join such an experience- historically PR & Social Media the most effective channels once the message is clear.
Give back to the world – help people or associations in need – make the world a better place.
Not to do’s
Know when it is not working and thus when to let go of a bad idea.
Don’t make the objective ‘revenue & cost ‘ before all else – this stifles ideas – first develop the idea in its wholeness then refer to budgets and see if you can deliver a quality experience.
Overprice – by this I mean ‘don’t gouge’ – charge a fair price or you may find repeating the effort will not be so easy due disaffection of the group that enabled the event in the first place.
Inconsistency … once you offer something only retract it if it is failing inspite of your best efforts! Recommendation is to keep going improve, adapt and make things better than they were last year.
Offend communities… a fine balance especially with events – always involve the community to participate – to feel a part of something.
So in seeking the creative to whatever kind of event or experience you are seeking to develop around your brand, your resort, your hotel or your destination I hope these ideas will energize you and your team to find a space that is unique in which you can spontaneously develop great ideas.
A true story – winning the pitch for the IBM logo in the 1970’s for the IBM logo – the story is of Australian Advertising Guru who invited the US based VP Marketing Global for IBM to Sydney for his presentation. He met the gentleman from IBM at Sydney Airport who after 16 hours of flying was ushered into is Yellow Rolls Royce – the Guru dressed in a tee shirt and Bermuda shorts welcomed him and told him on arrival they were going fishing. They spent the entire morning on bridge in Botany Bay fishing and drinking ice-cold beer – the Guru won the contract.
So in your deliberations of how to invent the experience make the inventive part the experience that is off the cuff – take your paintbrush, colours and imagination, your fishing gear and tell your office you have GONE FISHING. Wishing you all the best on your event / experience creation journey… be spontaneous!
