11 Questions to Ask Yourself to Create the Ultimate Event/Experience

When I was a kid my family would throw huge Persian parties with 100+ guests in attendance. My mom would cook for days in preparation and make sure everything in our home was pristine and ready for guests.

She had a philosophy that being a good host meant putting herself in her guests shoes and seeing the experience through their eyes.

She would always say, “you have to close your eyes and imagine exactly what your guests will experience.”

She even took this so far as to say that when your guests sit on the toilet they better not see a dirty bathroom (dirt in the corners of the floor, or shower area).

She took her guests experience very seriously.

I learned that in order to create exceptional experiences for others you have to be able to empathetically see things from their perspective.

How many times have you attended an event, party, or some type of gathering, and been completely blown away?

It included everything you might have expected food,drinks, entertainment etc.

The experience was seamless and when it ended you weren’t quite ready for it to be over. You had an amazing time but can’t quite place your finger on what made it so wonderful.

After creating and curating 200+ experiences and events I decided to put together a checklist of questions I ask myself to ensure I’m creating the most exceptional experience possible.

I ALWAYS begin by putting myself in their shoes (mentally and if possible physically) by walking myself through every single detail of the experience and asking myself the following questions…

Experience Checklist

• Who is participating and how well do I understand them?
• What do they care about?
• What is interesting to them?
• What adds value to their experience?
• Have I created a concise enough flow throughout the event? Will they understand where to go once they arrive?
• Have I clearly articulated or shown all the ways they’re able to participate?
• Have I created the desired mood/tone to create the right environment?
• What do they expect to see, hear, feel, smell, touch, and even taste?
• Does expectation match reality?
• Will they feel ready for this experience? Have I prepared them with proper communication leading up to this moment?
• Is there some element of surprise but not so much that they feel overwhelmed or under-prepared? If possible I enjoy including an element that will surprise and delight.

You should be able to walk through each question as if you’re the person participating in the experience.

By training yourself to see the experience from their perspective you’ve put yourself in a position to empathically understand how they might feel.

I’m able to anticipate possible hiccups or misalignment of expectations which allows room to course correct and make any necessary changes to improve the experience.

Creating exceptional experiences is a combination of being empathetic, prepared, and executing well.

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