Episode 445: Kevin Williams about the next phase of immersive technology, transmedia, and embracing your audience

Looking for daily inspiration?  Get a quote from the top leaders in the industry in your inbox every morning.   What’s your guest experience strategy?  You probably have a marketing strategy, recruitment strategy, and sales strategy, but what about intentionally turning first-time visitors into loyal advocates?  Liebman Leisure Group helps attractions do exactly that.  From creating a culture of “wow” moments to empowering staff to recover from service failures, great experiences don’t happen by chance.   To schedule a consultation call, visit www.liebmanleisure.com/attractionpros.  Don’t leave your guest experience to chance.  You should be known for creating memorable experiences… on purpose. Kevin Williams is the Founder of KWP Limited and Publisher of The Stinger Report. A former Disney Imagineer and longtime voice in the immersive entertainment sector, he advises operators, developers, and brands across theme parks, location-based entertainment, and the rapidly growing world of social entertainment. Through his writing and analysis, he’s known for digging into what works, what fails, and why, then translating those lessons into practical guidance for leaders trying to keep pace with changing guest expectations. In this interview, Kevin talks about the next phase of immersive technology, transmedia, and embracing your audience. Next phase of immersive technology “What I was talking about seven years ago about the emergence of VR has been superseded by the adoption of XR.” Kevin frames “immersive” as an elastic term that stretches from Pepper’s Ghost to projection systems to today’s immersive display tech. What’s different now isn’t that immersion suddenly exists, but that audiences expect more agency inside experiences. He points to the rise of social entertainment and competitive socializing, where gamification is being applied to restaurants, bars, and hospitality concepts because people want more than a place to sit. They want something to do together. He also stresses that the industry is exiting the hype cycle and entering a more disciplined era. The goal is less about chasing shiny tech and more about understanding what works operationally, financially, and emotionally. In his view, the “next phase” is building experiences that hold attention, reduce friction, and create repeat-worthy fun, not just novelty. Transmedia “Transmedia means the ability for a brand or a narrative to circumvent multiple delivery platforms.” Kevin describes transmedia as the movement of a story or brand across formats, from screen to physical place and back again. He points to examples like Netflix House and LEGO Discovery Center as signs that entertainment IP is increasingly becoming something you can step into, not just watch. He also reminds listeners that this isn’t a brand-new strategy, using Walt Disney as an early blueprint for extending storytelling across film, television, and the theme park environment. At the same time, he cautions against treating IP like a magic upgrade button. A mediocre experience wrapped in a famous brand is still a mediocre experience, and he argues that investors often favor IP because it feels safer, even when the fundamentals aren’t there. The real requirement is a clear guest experience and narrative path people can easily understand and enjoy. Embracing your audience “You don't just chuck it in because everybody's doing it. You're going to have to understand your audience.” Kevin’s bluntest point is that many projects fail because leaders build for trends instead of building for guests. He describes “spaghetti moments” where operators throw technologies into a concept hoping something sticks, then quietly move on when it doesn’t, without extracting lessons. His post-mortem approach is about finding the real causes, including mismatched business models, poor repeat-visit planning, and ignoring frontline feedback. He also calls out the habit of using technology to mask unresolved fundamentals. If an attraction choice is driven by copying competitors, or if leadership avoids the hard truths in reviews and exit interviews, the problem isn’t a lack of gadgets; it’s a lack of listening. For Kevin, embracing your audience means designing for who they are, how they behave in groups, and what keeps them coming back, then using data to refine the experience rather than passing judgment.   Kevin can be reached on LinkedIn, as well as by email at [email protected]. To learn more about his work, including The Stinger Report, visit the LBX Collective and The Stinger Report online. Additional resources: Entertainment Social Arena Wonderverse Closure LBE Zone Social Entertainment: Amusements Competitive Edge (Amusement Expo International 2026) This podcast wouldn't be possible without the incredible work of our faaaaaantastic team:   Scheduling and correspondence by Kristen Karaliunas   To connect with AttractionPros: AttractionPros.com [email protected] AttractionPros on Facebook AttractionPros on LinkedIn AttractionPros on Instagram AttractionPros on Twitter (X)