The meal experience (contemporary)

I clearly remember as a student at Ryde Catering College in the practice dinning room. One of the things we were taught was to ask customers if everything was OK – I have to admit over the years I have often thought about that instruction as countless waiters have asked me the same question. If everything is good the answer is easy but what should I say if things are less than perfect. Only once or twice have I answered truthfully and in one case in detail (yes it was that bad). So this cartoon really tickled my fancy. Maybe it shows my age 😉

Engage the Senses

I remember Tim recounting the story of a field visit he had taken students on. They were standing in the foyer of a five star hotel with the GM discussing the detail of the servicescape. The GM asked the students to smell the air – that he said, is our company’s signature smell. Students were speechless. No matter that we had talked about engaging all of the senses in lectures…. The concept that a company would actively scent their environment seem to shock the group. Here is a good little article on the practise of Scent Branding.

Vietnam

Always fascinated by how countries are perceived or even more interestingly presented. Watch this well shot video that provides an both a visual feast feast and an insight into the positioning of modern Vietnam on a global stage.

Raising the Bar

I am sure there is more interesting ways to engage with some of the topics studied at uni. A way to make learning a more fun and engaging experience. Large lectures allow two hours of unfocused ‘mind wandering’ but the worst has to be trying to listen to a recorded lecture 😱

Maybe this would a a more interesting idea

Raising the Bar is a worldwide initiative aimed at making education a part of a city’s popular culture. We create one of a kind, knowledge-driven events in unusual locations. Our goal is to raise the bar on the content people consume in their everyday lives.
Raising the Bar is an initiative aimed at making education part of a city’s popular culture. The first Raising the Bar event saw 20 talks given in20 bars across New York City. The NYC team have since expanded to 50 talks and 50 bars all on one night. Since its inception Raising the Bar has gone global with events cropping up in San Francisco and Hong Kong. We are partnering with Raising the Bar to deliver their first Sydney event. On Tuesday 20 October we will hold 20 free public talks by University academics in bars around the city.
The aim is to make education accessible by bringing an interesting academic perspective to hot topics that will attract a broad audience. The talks will range on topics from “Did Doping Ruin the Tour de France” to “The Real Women of Westeros”.

Sounds like more fun – here is a glimpse of what the event looked like in Hong Kong

Tuesday 20th of October sees Sydney’s turn Event Details

Climbing Fun

A brand new addition to a growing list of fun experiences available in gentrifying Alexandria.

An Experience with a tiger

Tim provides a very insightful story about the creation of an experience. Useful to think about how the keeper saw the training of the cub as a chance to create connections and memorabilia. Wonder how many times people posted their cub photos to social media sites with Dreamworld clearly identified?

Customer experiences with dr timmy hall

During a visit to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast of Australia we decided take in one of the two tiger shows which are aimed at demonstrating natural behaviours.  Upon walking to the Tiger Island we noticed that a crowd had formed just before the main area, and upon investigating we found a zookeeper and one of the new Tiger cubs undertaking some training in one of the enclosures.

The keeper then came over the crowd and one by one took people’s mobile phones and other devices and proceeded to take some up close and personal photos of the new cub.

The keeper taking photos provided guests with an element of surprise as not only were people not expecting to see the Tiger cubs, but they had never imagined they would be provided with some up close and personal photos to take home as free memorabilia.  The keepers also used this as…

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Sydney Experiences

The planning of a commercial microadventure is a the heart of the second assignment. Here is a good example of a company Local Eyes Sydney Tours that is actually offering this style of short commercial experience.

Future restaurants

What is the future of the restaurant experience? These two examples may map the binary nature of future experiences.

Firstly, the cheap no frills technology driven experience as characterised by San Fransisco restaurant Eatsa in this New York Times story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/09/upshot/restaurant-of-the-future-service-with-an-impersonal-touch.html?_r=0

Or is it the sensory overloaded experience of Ultraviolet restaurant in Shanghai.

Both examples provide insight into not only the changing nature of food/dining experiences but also the changing nature of work. Importantly in both examples is the role technology plays in the creation of the experience.

PS – what does Gen Y want in the restaurant experience

Gen Y restaurant experience

PPS – it is obvious that some of the above articles are currently doing the rounds of social media – here is one of the more interesting responses Automat eating.

PPPS – yet another article http://mobileworldcapital.com/the-future-of-restaurants-is-no-restaurant-startups-changing-the-way-we-eat/

Things to do in Sydney for less than $50

Bound to be some good microadventure ideas in a list like this.

http://www.theurbanlist.com/sydney/a-list/50-things-do-sydney-under-50

Experience adventure

Reflecting back on student feedback is always an interesting experience – particularly the negative comments. One area that attracts criticism, unsurprisingly, are assignments. Particularly group assignments. It is often difficult working in groups, managing time and competing interests etc. The second assignment is no different. It can be difficult to make a coordinated time to plan and carry out a ‘microadventure’. So why persist?

The attached article The future of the customer experience is the experience goes a long way in explaining why the second assignment is what it is – it is a real world example of what is happening in industry.