The Immersive Experience Network announce Summit 24
A groundbreaking symposium for the Immersive Experience industry at Woolwich Works on October 21st 2024
The most progressive minds at the cutting-edge of immersive, experience-led and tech-driven entertainment are meeting in London this October Speakers include:
– Sara Thacher – Disney Imagineering – theme park designer and creative
– James Seager – Les Enfants Terribles – Alice’s Adventures Underground
– Ollie Jones – Co-founder and CEO SWAMP – St Jude, Velvet Pines
– Gijs Geers – DarkPark – escape room auteur and pioneer
– Adrian Hon – founder of Six to Start and creator of Zombies, Run! and Marvel Move
– Lauren Storr, Sophie Hewlett and Sarah Georgeson – senior producers Punchdrunk
The Immersive Experience Network (IEN) – a peer-driven community of creatives, business pioneers, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts – will curate a day of inspiring talks, presentations and masterclasses at culture and arts hub Woolwich Works in South-East London, itself on the same campus as the permanent site of world-class Immersive pioneers Punchdrunk.
With 35+ keynote speakers from the UK, USA and Europe, it will cover creative, commercial and operational aspects of this exciting growth sector, already worth over £660 million to the UK annually and increasing.
“We’ll be hearing from some of the driving forces at Disney Imagineering, Punchdrunk, Marshmallow Laser Feast, Les Enfants Terribles, SWAMP and Rematch amongst other household names of tomorrow. We’re excited to offer a home for earnest, generous and transparent knowledge sharing and cross pollination of ideas – be it how better to integrate technology to enhance storytelling, scale or accessibility, meaningful onboarding when offering new rules of engagement, commercialising creativity or optimisation of operations in these often multifaceted experiences. There’s much to be learned, shared and inspired by across the sub-strands creating immersive work and the many disciplines that make it happen.” Sheena Patel, IEN Co-founder & Summit content curator
New ideas, practical advice and progressive technology revealed for the first time mean that this event will act as a benchmark for the industry
The growth of the live immersive and interactive experience sector has exploded in the last decade, especially with Gen Z and Millennial sectors – ‘immersive’ is now used to market everything from cookery classes to 24-hour theatre shows, to Virtual Reality experiences – this conference will look to consolidate the work of successful launches and help to inform those who may wish to enter the sector.
Genres include Immersive & Interactive Theatre, Escape Rooms, Immersive & Experiential Art, Live Action Role Play (larp), Scare Attractions, Immersive Audio, Location based VR & AR Experiences, Transmedia and Themed Attractions.
“What’s been most interesting about getting people making all this different work in a room together is understanding the similarities between the different creative processes, and how many people share the same operational and commercial challenges.” explain the founders, “We’ve already seen a huge amount of collaboration and generation of ideas shared around how to smoothly and safely operate experiences for audiences.”
For the important Escape Room category, IEN has partnered with the team behind the Escape Room Industry Convention (ERIC) which was last held in 2019 but has yet to return after a COVID enforced hiatus who will be curating a dedicated content stream at the conference bringing experience and expertise to the summit through presentations and panel appearances.
“The UK is a global leader in the immersive sector and to remain so will need to be recognised as a credible and valuable part of the wider creative and cultural industries ecosystem,” says Dr Joanna Bucknall, one of the founders of the Immersive Experience Network. “By providing more support to this innovative and vibrant industry we will be able to produce better shows and experiences, providing audiences with high-quality culture and added security for those working in the sector, support from funding bodies and government is essential if the immersive experience sector is to make the most of this potential.”
