The College

of Extraordinary
Experiences
AttackExperience
of the Hydra
VISUAL
NOTES
The only source of knowledge is experience.
Albert Einstein.

A Visual reminder
Worthy graduate,
An experience is best shared with others.
You have gone through a memorable 4 days in a castle
with amazingly memorable people and events.
Beautifully orchastrated Moments
where learning was combined with practice,
with the intent of making you a part
of a new group of extra ordinary experience designers.
The 2016 Faculty members have been mapped during their talks.
These visual notes hopefully give back some of the rich knowledge
and experience that has been shared.
Combined with the cards... you can defeat the HYDRA!
Enjoy these sketch notes and the crafted visual event narrative,
as we have enjoyed making them.
EventCanvas.org
Roel Frissen | Ruud Janssen | Dennis Luijer

Sketch notes
11th of november 2016
COEE 2016 Professors
The professors at the College are experts in staging unforgettable experiences,
and come from a variety of fields.
01- Kim Wylie, Global Lead for Change and Transformation Google
02 - Paul Bulencea, Author Gamification in Tourism
03 - Dr. Agnieszka Szstek, Strategic Designer UXPlus
04 - Sara Thacher, Creative Lead, Walt Disney Imagineering R&D
05 - Katarzyna Krlak - Wyszyska, CEO Innovatika
06 - Ian Cameron, Storytelling Lead Bompas & Parr
Ioana Illiesiu, Environmental Designer Bompas & Parr
07 - Nast Marrero, Senior Agile Coach LEGO
08 - Ask Agger, Founder Workz Change Agency

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

01- Kim Wylie, Global Lead for Change and Transformation Google

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

02 - Paul Bulencea, Author Gamification in Tourism

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

03 - Dr. Agnieszka Szstek, Strategic Designer UXPlus

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

04 - Sara Thacher, Creative Lead, Walt Disney Imagineering R&D

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

05 - Katarzyna Krlak - Wyszyska, CEO Innovatika

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

06 - Ian Cameron, Storytelling Lead Bompas & Parr

Ioana Illiesiu, Environmental Designer Bompas & Parr

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

07 - Nast Marrero, Senior Agile Coach LEGO

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

08 - Ask Agger, Founder Workz Change Agency

The HYDRA lives in YOU!

After Day one of the experience we can feel the effects
of learning and the combination with direct practice.
Design houses have been formed
and their cultures forged.
The content shared on this day was made
memorable by a simple explosive cloud...
a sensory experience reminding us
that Design challenges
can sometimes smell like

bananas.

Sketch notes
12th of november 2016
COEE 2016 Professors
The professors at the College are experts in staging unforgettable experiences,
and come from a variety of fields.
01 - Professor Eric Jul, President AITO
02 - Christie Cleveland, Product Manager Disney Consumer Products & Interactive
03 - Mark Ordesky, Executive Producer The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
04 - Claus Raasted, Creator College of Wizardry

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

01 - Professor Eric Jul, President AITO

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

Nils, Jamie & Jens

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

02 - Christie Cleveland, Product Manager Disney Consumer Products & Interactive

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

03 - Mark Ordesky, Executive Producer The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

01- Kim Wylie, Global Lead for Change and Transformation Google

10

the designed
Experiences
of 10 houses

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

Head master - B. Joseph Pine II, Author The Experience Economy

Forging
the sword that will help
to slay the Destructive design Hydra.
Always keep looking for clues!

Keep your reward cards close!

Your instrument of change

To access the knowledge available from experience, we need to reflect on the experience.
Without reflection, the experience will pass us by, and we will not receive the gift in its
hands. So today, every so often, stop.........Reflect on what you have just done,
and notice the gift it has for you.

It didnt take much to consider spending 4 days of precious time

at the College of Extraordinary Experiences.
The level of mystery and aspirational sophistication of a castle
based college experience where LARP meets the business conference world with a diversity of faculty ranging from Google,
Disney, Lego, Service Designers, University Professors to the
executive producer of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy triggered
my curiosity to contribute.
Much like a restaurant critic, I suppose that as an event addict,
we become increasingly critical of events over time. On top of
that, since becoming an entrepreneur we have committed ourselves to regularly going back to school. This year for four days,
we left normality behind and ventured into a space that fosters
creativity with no room for fear, arrogance, ridicule or distrust.
Actually, three of our Event Design Team were sucked into
mapping out the hidden experiential treasures of the College of
Extraordinary Experiences where everyone needed to be ready
to be yanked out of their comfort zone.
Participants at the College (staged in a Harry Potter castle
where Live Role Action Play - LARP - is the medium of choice)
indulged in an unpublished secret curriculum driven by rapid
prototyping, flexible focus and co-creation. With no divide
between speakers and listeners, a multidisciplinary group of 70
experts ranging from world class game designers, developers,
food creators, moviemakers, toymakers, designer, authors and
academics were immersed in a fictional frame.
After the initial freeform piano concert seated on pillows in the
dark in the castle library, goblins invited the freshmen into the
room of requirements. Without second thoughts, participants
in everyday clothing transformed themselves into costumed
students and faculty, more fitting of this Czocha Castle entourage.
Students of the College were divided into 10 team design houses, where everyone learned the ways of the great enemy, the
many-headed and powerfully destructive Design Hydra, and
equipped themselves with the tools to fight it. Heads of the Hydra include not only fear and arrogance, but also conservatism,
complacency and other things holding us back from staging
truly extraordinary experiences.

Design doing in teams larded by talks ranging from Google

culture to Disney imagineering and from Lego design to evolutionary storytelling guided participants along a learning path.
Taking ample time to trigger, test and train their skills, knowledge and attitudes. Learning combined with time to get to know
each other as the co-creation characters in the tasteful fictional
frame. Rituals were introduced to create an even stronger secret
bond both on a college level as for each separate design house.
Interestingly enough, across all the conversations, one observation was blatantly obvious. The quality of every conversation
was remarkable and everyone at the College was interesting to
speak to. We overheard, both sober and whilst in the mixologist
dungeon, #CoEE contributors express something very powerful. There was no one at this conference that I didnt want to
speak to a second time. A powerful promise obtained through
the cross polination of LARPers and multi-disciplinary conference participants who, as a result of participating, were now
equipped with a metaphorical sword to slay the design Hydra
based on the experiential immersion into the inaugural #CoEE
headmastered by Experience Economist B. Joseph Pine II.
The magic circle created through the extraordinary experiences
of battling the design Hydra transformed the students of the
inaugural College of Extraordinary Experiences in a magical
bond of storytellers and alumni of the College of Extraordinary
experiences. A priceless extraordinary experience resulting in a
powerful alumni bond where scholarship based on contribution
and tuition fee were as disparate as the illustrious contribution
of everyone involved.
After all, the inaugural College of Extraordinary Experiences
organisers were so confident in its event design experiment, that
they promise a 100% Money Back Guarantee if you are not satisfied with your College experience. No doubt, that confidence
was anchored in a solid belief that when LARP meets business
conference, a door is opened to the future of extraordinary
event experiences.
Ruud Janssen on behalf of Team #EventCanvas.org Foundation

Has this College changed your behaviour?

An experience is just an experience
unless it changes behaviour in the desired direction of change.
If youd like to make a change with the end in mind,
frame the direction of your intended behaviour change,
articulate the design restrictions,
and apply all the skills youve learned at #CoEE.

Co-creation, Rapid Prototyping & Flexible Focus.

Share your core learning in the frame below,
take a picture and add it to the Facebook community
or on Twitter using #CoEE.
We cant wait to see what youve come up with.

My extra ordinairy transformation was:

click!

Make a picture of something that has transformed

your thinking and please share it with the community.
Thank you!

For more about the eventcanvas check out:

www.eventcanvas.org

1.

2.

Check out
online resources
www.eventcanvas.org
/resources

Share your learnings

on social media using
the #eventcanvas
hashtag

3.
Select Event to
design + Determine
your braiding point

7.
Join the EventCanvas
Community & share your
Event Designs using the
#EVENTCANVAS
with your peers

6.

5.

4.

Check out the

Event Design
Certificate
Training options

Set up your Event

Design Space using
the Event Simulator
Facilitation Kit

Get your team

on board + claim your
Event Design Time

MAKE TIME
CLAIM SPACE
PRIME your TEAM

8.

Improve our world,

one event at a
time!

click!

3600

experience of graduation
(download RICOH theta app to view)

The College
of Extraordinary
Experiences
Attack of the Hydra

Visual Notes by Dennis Luijer of Eventcanvas.org

Images from the College of Extraordinary Experiences - copyright: John-Paul Bichard
Visual identity by Chris Scarlat