Audience of One

What if you had an audience of only one person? ...a single customer? ...only one fan or follower?

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Photo of Abraham Burickson
Abraham Burickson
Poet, Architect, Director at Odyssey Works

Abraham Burickson shares his learnings from twelve years of building incredibly immersive experiences for an audience of just one person.

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Highlights

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What Is an Odyssey and How Did They Come to Be?

Abe talks about the origins of Odyssey Works, and how their performances for a single person began.

It's Not About the Thing

There was a shift that happened early on in Abe and his teammates journey with Odyssey Works. They went from designing things, to designing the experience that the thing creates for the audience, and that made all the difference.

How Do You Know When You Know Someone?

When Abe and his team design an Odyssey for someone, they first work incredibly hard to get to know that single individual, "Entering their subjectivity," he would say. But, how do you know when you know someone?

What Is a Character?

When you have an audience of many people, you end up needing to use an archetypal mother figure, or what have you, but when your audience is only one person, why not just use their actual mother? Wouldn't that be more, real, immersive, nuanced, relevant, complex, and more?

Let's Talk About Outcomes

When Abe and his team shifted to designing for an audience of one, the outcomes that became possible were absolutely extraordinary, but what about the rest of us? What becomes possible if we make deep shifts in our design approach?

The Problem of Utopia

Abe talks about using utopia ideals not as objectives, but as "extrapolated endpoints."

What Happens to People Who Do Odysseys?

Abe talks about the kinds of things people do after their Odyssey. Some change jobs, move to a new city, leave a relationship. Often times more than one of these.

How Do You Teach Experience Design

Abe and his team run workshops to teach the skills they pioneered designing Odysseys. He talks about, "Finding the entry point into someone's subjectivity," deep empathy, and more.

Get Odyssey Works - The Book

Odyssey Works Book

Odysseys have helped Abe and his team learn deep invaluable lessons about experience design. They're wrapped it all up in a book that you can get here: www.odysseyworks.org/publications.

Visit the Site

Or you can learn more about Odysseys and maybe even apply for one at the Odyssey Works website.

Visit OdysseyWorks.org