Welcome to Build Your Experience Week here on the Guidebook Blog. This week we’re talking about how to turn events into experiences. We’re making sure that our attendees are engaged and that our events are meeting their objectives in style.

When was the last time you were completely swept away at an event, meeting or place? Have you ever had the experience of losing yourself in the moment and being at the mercy of an experience?

Those are the moments that we’re chasing this week. It’s time that we, as event organizers and meeting planners, figured out experiential design and how we can use it to our advantage. Marketers have had it down for years (remember when Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a spaceship all in the name of Red Bull?) so why is it taking us so long to shift paradigms and ensure people are swept up in our content?

If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, you know exactly what we’re talking about. The environment, the experiences - even the food - are all carefully crafted to make sure you that you forget about everything except what’s right in front of you - pure magic. Disney has been innovating experience for decades. (They’re not stopping any time soon - check out the experience that is now MyMagic+.) So this week - we’re allowing you to do a little *ahem* personal research. We’re giving away 2 tickets to Disneyland!

One lucky blog subscriber will win 2 tickets to The Happiest Place on Earth to go see first-hand what an unbeatable experience looks like. So subscribe before Friday to make sure you’re eligible!

Besides a chance to go to Disneyland, subscribing to Guidebook’s blog will also give you countless other benefits - the least of which is having all of this week’s in-depth experiential research delivered straight to your inbox. Here’s a taste of the things coming your way:

• What’s the best way to make sure that your sponsors and attendees are making valuable real-world connections? We’ll talk to an expert about how she’s using “Sponsor Speed Dating” to satisfy both sellers and buyers.

• You’ve crafted your experience - now how are you going to make sure it pays off? We’ll talk about conversion and how you can build goal-smashing strategies into your experiential events.

• Giving all attendees truly personal experiences sounds great in theory - but is it even realistic to think it can actually be pulled off? Yes. We’ll bring you stories from “The War Room” and explain how you can create a nerve center at your next event that’s all about making sure your attendees are having a seamless, hyper-personal experiences (no matter how hectic it is behind the scenes).

• Experience starts with inspiration. Is your event a festival, a circus, or a theme park? We’ll help you think of some mighty metaphors that you can run with when crafting your next experiential event.

So don’t forget to subscribe and become an experience expert - and you might be headed to Disneyland! In the words of Mickey Mouse himself, “See ya real soon!”