Mat Duerden is a professor at Brigham Young University and coauthor of the book, Designing Experiences. Mat walks us through anticipation, participation, and reflection when it comes to intentionally managing your guest experience, and the steps to follow to control each component. While you might be focused on the experience onsite, how much energy do you put toward anticipation and reflection, which occur before and after your guests visit? Mat shares an incredible story about how a trip to Secret Cinema in London created an experience that went far beyond what he expected by turning all guests into active participants in the story, giving everyone their own unique story to tell afterwards. When discussing friction, Mat says that frustrations with waiting in line can take away from the experience because they detract a guest’s attention from where you want it to be. He also mentions that the transition from anticipation to participation, and again from participation to reflection must be carefully crafted to yield the desired feeling from your guests, which is what will define how they perceive their experience to be.