Marriott Truth Activations: Bringing Guiding Principles to Life
The Marriott Truth Activations were designed by Storycraft Lab to translate the Guiding Principles in Experience Design—a foundation established through global research—into interactive and educational experiences. These activations engaged participants in understanding and implementing six truths that serve as benchmarks for innovation in the events industry.
Role: Creative Director and Design Lead.
Deliverables: Truth Activation Designs, Interactive Activities, Educational Materials, and Scalable Event Solutions.
Key Components:
Empathy & Research: Built on the insights from Marriott’s global study with PCMA, which identified six guiding principles for experience design through interviews, roundtables, and synthesis.
Concept Development: Designed unique structural forms, activities, and educational materials for each truth, ensuring they were engaging, impactful, and adaptable to different event scales and budgets.
Design Execution: Developed interactive activations, such as tools and exercises, to help participants ideate and plan next steps for testing the principles within their own work.
Engagement Strategy: Supported Marriott’s international tour to facilitate activations, gather participant feedback, and analyze responses to refine the educational tools.
Process:
The foundational study, conducted by Marriott and PCMA, distilled trends into six guiding principles that serve as "truths" for driving innovative event strategies. These truths were transformed into interactive activations designed to educate and empower industry professionals. Each activation featured its own structural form and activities, providing flexibility for different scales and contexts.
Participants engaged with the truths through hands-on tools, ideation sessions, and immersive experiences that encouraged reflection and planning. The activations debuted at Marriott’s 2023 Exchange and Association Masters in Phoenix, AZ, and continued on an international tour to collect feedback and enrich the research further.
One pivotal insight—the importance of actionable, scalable tools—shaped the design of the activations, ensuring they could accommodate varying budgets and event types while maintaining a high level of educational impact.
