All visitor experience projects express a point of view. So should we develop projects for people that already agree with it? Or that don’t? A client of mine once explained how they plan budgets for PR campaigns on social issues. There are five groups for any issue:

Do we want our visitors to become lost?

A. NO
B. YES
C. BOTH

Here's a quick way to gut-check whether an experiential idea is going to work — before you commit time and money to developing it. Take any idea being considered, put it in the blank in the following sentence, and say it out loud:

There are three aging speeds to consider in every project: Building Speed, Furniture Speed, and Technology Speed. (Here come more animal metaphors.)

The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. It was once stolen and later returned, which only made it more famous. On its own, it attracts about 30,000 people. A day.

There are two other variations on "streakers, strollers and scholars" (aka, the psychographics of attention span). One of these might work better for you.

We can think about our visitors using demographics: age, gender, and religion. We can sort them by psychographics: lifestyle, political affiliation, and values. But I prefer to plan according to attention span: streakers, strollers, and scholars.

There is a paradox at the heart of every visitor center project: if it's so fantastic that people never want to leave — it's a total failure.

In ancient times, shortly after life emerged from the sea, movies came on DVDs. “Special collector’s editions” had a second disk with “extra” content. This was for early life forms who loved bloopers.

Every Imagineer (designer, in Disney-speak) knows that attractions need an iconic skyline. Space Mountain, for example, looks like a giant ... space mountain. There are two strategies here:

Actually, don't brand your space.

Perhaps shocking, coming from me. But don’t judge me yet. I’m about to save you $5,000,000.

I heard an expert recently assert, in a public setting, “No one should ask who designed an experience after they visit.”

I have … thoughts.