Story telling

Challenge

I, as a hospitality consultant had to come up with something fresh for my companies’ biggest event  organized to showcase our diversified skills in terms of domain experts and technical competence. The  invites were sent to all our existing client base include some potential with hope to strengthen business  relationships and which will ultimately drive to more business/revenue growth. Our theme was  “simplicity” which was the challenge I faced as my presentation/demo had to be flowering with this  years’ theme.

Selection

To overcome the challenge, it had to be something innovative, something fresh to the viewers’ eyes. I  went through each of the design thinking tools to identify which tool will be most suitable to help me  design think and innovate. I was keen with the design tool “Story-telling” as I knew my audience’s  background and had a clear sequence of events to follow. The best way to win the viewers was to sell  the challenge first and raise engagement in business which suits perfectly for my challenge. It also made  most sense as the hospitality industry is to touch your customers’ heart whenever/wherever you can,  and there is no better way of showing this that to story tell, as I can take the audience along the with the  customers journey from the time they decided to go on holiday, being wowed and return home.

Application & approach

I have assembled a team from other functional areas as well to have a mix of ideas at this stage. There  are serval crucial customer touch points in a tourists’ journey cycle that I though would be best to  highlight with relation to “keeping it simple for the customer”. To map the guest life cycle we used  alternate approach storyboard from design thinking method Visualization.

The first touch point was creating the reservation for a hotel. This is a pain point which many customers  times not make the best choice to suite there travel purpose, yet alone time consuming an unsure. To  simplify this, I took a moment to reflect!. Since the new generation is increasingly on social media,  imagine what it would be like to chat your way with artificial intelligence? We came up with a prototype  BOT for Facebook chat messenger which has a conversation with the account user and capable of  providing wide spread of information and pictures (when applicable) while your reservation is created in  an-instant. We also added a pre-check-in functionality using Facebook itself!

Second touch point was check-in at the hotel. This is where your first impression is made!. We have  already developed a check-in mobile application and was in perfect timing to be demonstrated. Thirdly,   while at a restaurant of the hotel offering him personalized offers based in his preferences.

At this point the best way to showcase was if these were in visual scenarios, hence we got the idea that  “role-playing” was best to create the effective testing environment.

Insight

It seems that we were using visualization method and story-telling method hand in hand. These  techniques were very useful because we always stayed on point to the theme of simplicity. It was easier  to sell the challenge when we showcase a real-life tourist life cycle scenario. Also, to translate my idea’s

to my own team members were easy with story-board technique as there were from different business  functions, and not hospitality. It was easier was all-of-us to relate and we generated more new ideas as  we were looking for customer touch points, which I’m sure with storying telling, we would have never  though of some. A good example would be “at a restaurant”. We show cased where a restaurant waiter  is able to identify the guests’ when arrived (using ibeacon), and view his complete preferences  like/dislikes (using google glass).

When we had the event, the audience enjoyed and was well engaged. We had a Q&A session at the  event of the show to raise engagement in business. I think if I had presented these technologies without  a story, it would have been very boring and at times would have not made any sense. I have learned that  design thinking tools are very important when you are thinking of innovating and using your existing  resources to best.


Story telling Challenge I , as a hospitality consultant had to come up with something fresh for my companies ’ biggest event organized to showcase our diversified skills in terms of domain experts and technical competence . The invites were sent to all our existing client base include some potential with hope to strengthen business relationships and which will ultimately drive to more business / revenue growth . Our theme was “ simplicity ” which was the challenge I faced as my presentation / demo had to be flowering with this years ’ theme . Selection To overcome the challenge , it had to be something innovative , something fresh to the viewers ’ eyes . I went through each of the design thinking tools to identify which tool will be most suitable to help me design think and innovate . I was keen with the design tool “ Story - telling ” as I knew my audience ’s background and had a clear sequence of events to follow . The best way to win the viewers was to sell the challenge first and raise engagement in business which suits perfectly for my challenge . It also made most sense as the hospitality industry is to touch your customers ’ heart whenever / wherever you can , and there is no better way of showing this that to story tell , as I can take the audience along the with the customers journey from the time they decided to go on holiday , being wowed and return home . Application & approach I have assembled a team from other functional areas as well to have a mix of ideas at this stage . There are serval crucial customer touch points in a tourists ’ journey cycle that I though would be best to highlight with relation to “ keeping it simple for the customer ” . To map the guest life cycle we used alternate approach storyboard from design thinking method Visualization . The first touch point was creating the reservation for a hotel . This is a pain point which many customers times not make the best choice to suite there travel purpose , yet alone time consuming an unsure . To simplify this , I took a moment to reflect ! . Since the new generation is increasingly on social media , imagine what it would be like to chat your way with artificial intelligence ? We came up with a prototype BOT for Facebook chat messenger which has a conversation with the account user and capable of providing wide spread of information and pictures ( when applicable ) while your reservation is created in an - instant . We also added a pre - check - in functionality using Facebook itself ! Second touch point was check - in at the hotel . This is where your first impression is made ! . We have already developed a check - in mobile application and was in perfect timing to be demonstrated . Thirdly , while at a restaurant of the hotel offering him personalized offers based in his preferences . At this point the best way to showcase was if these were in visual scenarios , hence we got the idea that “ role - playing ” was best to create the effective testing environment . Insight It seems that we were using visualization method and story - telling method hand in hand . These techniques were very useful because we always stayed on point to the theme of simplicity . It was easier to sell the challenge when we showcase a real - life tourist life cycle scenario . Also , to translate my idea ’s to my own team members were easy with story - board technique as there were from different business functions , and not hospitality . It was easier was all - of - us to relate and we generated more new ideas as we were looking for customer touch points , which I ’m sure with storying telling , we would have never though of some . A good example would be “ at a restaurant ” . We show cased where a restaurant waiter is able to identify the guests ’ when arrived ( using ibeacon ) , and view his complete preferences like / dislikes ( using google glass ) . When we had the event , the audience enjoyed and was well engaged . We had a Q&A session at the event of the show to raise engagement in business . I think if I had presented these technologies without a story , it would have been very boring and at times would have not made any sense . I have learned that design thinking tools are very important when you are thinking of innovating and using your existing resources to best .