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: ProductTalk.org

• Follow Petra Wille: Petra-Wille.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• Strong Product People (strongproductpeople.com) by Petra Wille

• Product at Heart (productatheart.com) — Speakers Dinner Leadership (flickr.com/photos/198566755@N03/albums/7217772…) (see the rosemary garden!)

• Reflections on Product at Heart’s 2026 Leadership Event (petra-wille.com/blog/reflections-on-product-at…)

• Arne Kittler (linkedin.com/in/arnekittler) of Product at Heart

• Product at Heart Conference — Hamburg 2026 (read about the Hard Problem Clubs) (productatheart.com/conference)

• House of Beautiful Business (houseofbeautifulbusiness.com) — 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 (petra-wille.com/blog/rituals-rugs-and-radical-…)

• World Domination Summit (worlddominationsummit.com) — founded by Chris Guillebeau (chrisguillebeau.com); "How to live a remarkable life in a conventional world (barrettbrooks.com/how-to-live-a-remarkable-lif…)"

• Derek Sivers (sive.rs) — mentioned as a spoken word contributor at experiential events