I’ve been involved in the creation and promotion of a number of athletic events, more specifically a cycling discipline called cyclocross. I’ve also participated in my fair share of events, from local road running races to Ironman and the Boston Marathon. I like to think that I have a decent understanding on the design of sporting events from the perspective of participants, promoter, and even spectator. When you are looking at these events from different perspectives, different elements become important. When designing them, it becomes important to take them all into account to create a successful experience.

It can be a challenge to capture what these events are all about, especially to those who have no direct understanding of them. What is the allure? What draws people in? Why do people put themselves through it all? Portraying more obscure sporting events to a broader audience is a balancing act between over explaining what is going on and leaving spaces to draw people in.

We can look at events like the Tour de France, professional hockey, Ironman, and other sports that don't have a broad audience, and as a result any coverage of it seems to try to overexplain itself.

One of the trends we see in sports media is the telling of stories of those who are competing. One of the things that draws us into sports is the struggle inherent in it. The struggle against ourselves, the struggle against others, the struggle against the elements. And it is not just about the struggle, but as ABC sports famously said “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” We learn about these things through how they are portrayed in sports media.

On this episode of Experience by Design, we welcome Matt B. Davis of Obstacle Racing Media to the studio. I first heard of Matt on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast where he was talking about his documentary World’s Toughest Mudder. You’ll hear references to his appearance on Marc’s podcast in our conversation. As an endurance athlete, I recognized the struggle of communicating what it is we do and why it is we do it. So, I thought it would be fun to have him on and talk about the documentary he created, the culture of obstacle racing, and sports media for more fringe sports.

Matt’s desire for creative communication and entertainment led him to a variety of outlets. From comedy to blogging to podcasting and now videos, Matt talks about how he created a media presence for obstacle racing. For those who don’t know, which is probably most of you, obstacle racing are events like Tough Mudders or Spartan Race. What becomes really fascinating about these events is the strong sense of support and community that is created by all those involved. Competitors helping one another overcome literal obstacles because they are all in this together.

We talk about his journey from New England to the world of comedy. We explore his decision to create a content creation company for the emerging world of obstacle racing. We dig into how to create authentic content that doesn’t pander to the world of clickbait. He emphasizes that it is not just about the money, but the challenges of being a content creator who does justice to the community that is being portrayed.

The field of education and learning is shifting in a lot of ways. Some of this is related to the new technologies, and the opportunities that are created through them. At the same time, we can see the duplication of traditional approaches through new technologies. Afterall, what does PowerPoint really accomplish if all we do is just put our lecture notes in it. It is still just a professor in front of the room delivering the content.

And that used to be enough. Professors weren’t entertainers, but gatekeepers. We could be in front of the room, expecting students to pay attention, engaging in the content under duress, and providing output that fit our requirements.

The game has changed in many ways. Now educators have to figure out ways of being engaging. We have to think not just in terms of class materials, but learning experiences. We can’t just think about course lectures, but content creation. We have to explore ways to get students curious, to bring material to them because we can’t just rely on them to come to the material.

Part of this is probably related to the a la carte culture that we currently have. ‘Kids today’ are socialized in an environment where they can pick and choose what they want when they want it. They can listen to whatever music they want any time they want to. They can pick a show or movie and see it at any time. Even Door Dash and Grub Hub can deliver food that they want.

To get students and learners engaged, we have to have them want to be engaged. Given that they have choice around so much of their lives, educators find themselves being in the situation of having to entertain students and learners.

Of course, education doesn’t just happen in the classroom. Museums are another environment in which learning can take place. And museums also are a place where learning and entertainment are coming into close contact.

On this episode of Experience by Design, we welcome Nathan Lachenmyer and Sadiya Akasha from Sitara Systems. Nathan and Sadiya think of themselves as ‘curiosity creators,’ creating museum experiences that draw people into exhibits so that they can become engaged in their content.

A major part of their goal is to achieve education through entertainment. Additionally, they seek to establish education as a pathway to action. Rather than preaching, we can think of their work as reaching. There is a difference between being lectured at versus talked to, and their edutainment approach helps to reach those who are indifferent to topics like climate change and get them engaged.

We had a lot of fun in this convo, especially considering they were talking on different lines but in the same room next to each other!

One of the things that we know as social scientists is that people need connection. It is not that we want connection, or would prefer connection, but that we need it to be part of our lives. Some of the foundational figures in sociology were all concerned with the onset of isolation and disconnection that came with industrial society. Durkheim looked at anomie. Marx looked at alienation. Even today we see works like Putnam’s Bowling Alone and many others who see the ways in which we are more and more disconnected even though technology can bring us closer and closer together.

It leads one to wonder whether loneliness is not just a bug of modern society, but rather a feature of it. All of this was of course increased during the pandemic when people not only felt isolated, but were in fact isolated. Social distancing only reinforced the sense of distance people already felt prior to the pandemic. Even in Scandinavia, which is supposed to be the happiest place on Earth, people are still unhappy. And this unhappiness and disconnection can put us in survival mode. In the end, if all we are doing is surviving, can we ever be living?

We are excited to welcome Unni Turrenttini. Unni is a best-selling and award-winning author, international speaker, and loneliness and connection expert. Her work is about helping people find deeper connection and belonging, so that they can thrive in their personal and professional lives. What’s really powerful about our conversation is Unni takes us not only into the realms of how to talk about belonging and connection, but also how to articulate their importance in and for businesses (you know those places where adults spend most of their time) and what it means to create experiences around belonging such as optimizing the organization for the employee as a person.