The Resident Vibe Director

I care a lot about vibe. The feel of an environment. The music at a restaurant. The mood of a retail shop. The first impression at a church. For STORY, we planned every detail of the tactile experience from the feel of the attendee bags and background music... to the quill pens that the registration team used.

If hotels and restaurants can create vibe, you can too for your church, business, event. Here are some tips:

1. Put Shazam on your iPhone and catch music while you're out. I snag music all the time from bookstores, movie theaters, Starbucks and hotel lobbies.
2. Get recommendations from music aficionados. When I needed a Euro-techno soundtrack for Whiteboard 2008, I asked for help from Steve McCoy, who is one of the best sources of musical knowledge I know.
3. Open a Flickr account and let some photographers find the special angles and moments. Just look at Paul Stewart's photos... or STORY's photos... or Revolution's.
4. Consider all five senses. I visited Water's Edge Church a few weeks ago and was greeted with the knee-buckling waft of fresh baked cookies. Intentional, I'm sure.
5. Recruit great artists - even if they're from a different industry. The Orchard's resident artist Katrina Beck transformed the space for STORY's workshops; one of my Dream Year participants Bjorn Amundsen is getting movie set advice from an Anthropologie store designer; and I've asked child photographer, Stephanie Beaty, to shoot photo-booth images of Dream Year participants.

Comments

[Mike Anderson]

I agree—vibe is important. It seems different folks respond to different vibes—for instance somehow Nascar is the second most popular sport, but it has no appeal to me.

Do you base the vibe off the people who you anticipate coming? The vibe that you like best?

Thanks~ Mike

[Kyle Reed]

Ben check out this band Civil Twilight (or you might have actually already heard of them). really good stuff.

And yes, the vibe is very important.
Glad that you pay attention to this. Often seems to be something that is neglected.

[Ben Arment]

mike, i think it's your own dna... the kind of environment you'd to project.

i'll check them out Kyle...

[Mark Howell]

this is so true...there are definitely some places that have it...love it and will check out shazam on my android for sure

[danielle]

I LOVE THESE TIPS!

[Mike O]

Ben, what do you think of the vibe at Apple stores? On the one hand, lots of interested saleshelp, a techie visual appearance.

On the other hand, a hard concrete floor, stark colors, not much warmth.

To me a "mixed vibe"?

[Ben Arment]

well it is simple. it'll be interesting to see if their vibe changes over time.