Creating Experiences

Topics covered:

• How Petra and Arne designed the Product at Heart Leadership Event across one and a half days, including a farm excursion, and a leadership improv workshop
• Why you can't curate an experience that makes everyone happy — and what to do instead
• Designing for choice: self-select paths, the "Hard Problems Club," and how to serve niche audiences within a broad event
• The role of sensory experience in unlocking inspiration — rosemary, zucchinis-as-instruments, and a three-meter disco ball
• What Petra calls "serendipity moments" — creating space for people to shed their corporate armor and make unexpected connections
• Teresa's reflections on the World Domination Summit and the concept of designing for awe
• The difference between novelty and awe — and why awe takes people out of the mundane and expands what feels possible
• How all of this translates directly to product thinking: who are you serving, how are you designing for delight, and when is it worth the extra investment?

Key quote:
"If we can get through that armor and shut off the business reflexes, then inspiration is more likely to hit." — Petra Wille

Resources & Links:

• Follow Teresa Torres: https://ProductTalk.org
• Follow Petra Wille: https://Petra-Wille.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• Strong Product People by Petra Wille
• Product at Heart — Speakers Dinner Leadership (see the rosemary garden!)
• Reflections on Product at Heart’s 2026 Leadership Event
• Arne Kittler of Product at Heart
• Product at Heart Conference — Hamburg 2026 (read about the Hard Problem Clubs)
• House of Beautiful Business — an event that inspired Petra and Arne's approach to sensory experience
• Petra’s recap for this year’s House of Beautiful Business in Tangier — Rituals, Rugs, and Radical Tenderness - My Experience at the House of Beautiful Business in Tangier
• World Domination Summit — founded by Chris Guillebeau; "How to live a remarkable life in a conventional world"
• Derek Sivers — mentioned as a spoken word contributor at experiential events