S8:E8: LARPing in Events with Erika Shaefer

Step into the immersive world of LARPing with Experience University, hosted by Dr. Kristin Malek! Discover how live-action role play transforms events, fosters authentic connections, and promotes storytelling and community building. In this episode, Dr. K and event planner Erika Shaefer explore the fascinating realm of LARPing and its application in event planning. Erika shares insights from her decade-long experience with LARPing and events, emphasizing how event planners can leverage LARPing to foster community connections. This episode also explores the unique skills event planners can cultivate through LARPing, including adaptability and creativity.

What is LARPing? (1:20)
Expectations vs. Reality in Events (5:40)
Learning to Adapt (8:14)
Incorporating LARP in Corporate Events (10:53)  
Building Communities through LARP (12:22)

Connect with Erika:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/schaefererika/ 

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Transcript

Speaker
Welcome to Experience University, where we aim to educate, inspire, and empower individuals who wish to design transformational experiences. Now, your host, Dr. Kristin Malek.

Dr. K
Hello, hello everyone! Welcome to the next episode in Season Eight for Experience University. I have another incredible guest today, and I am so excited for this conversation. Erika and I go way back to December, maybe, so not super long, but instant friends, instant text buddies. It's all great. Today, we are gonna talk about LARPing. But before we get into that, Erika Schaefer, Erika, tell us how long you've been in events and how long you've been LARPing, just to kind of set the scene, and then I'll dive into the questions.

Erika
Excellent. Yeah. Hi. I have been doing events in one form or another for about 15 years now, and I've been doing LARPing for the past almost decade now.

Dr. K
For everyone who's listening on the podcast, Erika is gonna talk all about LARPing. LARPing is global. I actually have a lot of friends that LARP, and originally I was gonna have someone from Europe come on the podcast to talk about LARPing. But what I realized very quickly, I was at an event that was in Europe, and LARPing was a big part of that. It wasn't a LARPing event, but LARPing was a part of this event, and they even had sessions and breakouts on LARPing. What I realized was that LARPing there is very, very, very, very, very different than LARPing in the United States. So I specifically chose someone, Erika, who's on the podcast today, because she can speak to both types of LARPing and how they're different and how maybe our preconceived notions about LARPing in the United States are just not what we see in other parts of the world. So some of my podcast guests are like, "What is LARPing? What does that even mean?" So, Erika, tell us how you define and describe what LARPing is.

Erika
Gladly. LARPing stands for live action role play. What this means is that you basically have two kinds of subsections of it where there's buffer LARP, which is often what you'll kind of classically think of. So someone with foam swords hitting each other. But what I lean into and have done for the past 9-10 years is much more the Nordic style, which is really focused on role playing specifically and storytelling. Love it. Absolutely love it.

Dr. K
My former partner had been so big into Dungeons and Dragons. My current partner is super big in it. I don't know, I collect Dungeons and Dragons people. I have a type, I suppose. But I've been around Dungeons and Dragons for over two decades. I have had friends that would do the dressing up and they'd be hitting each other with sticks and foam swords and all of this stuff out in the fields. And I'm like, “Y'all are crazy. That's just not a thing.” So, when I went to Europe, I was super surprised. I was like, “Wow, there's a thing out here and it's really cool and I can totally see the potential for events.” And that was several years ago, I don't know, six years ago. And now I know in the US and in other places in the world, we talk a lot about improv. Improv started in theater and now it's making its way into the business world and everybody wants to improv in sales and finance and accountants, everyone's improving. So LARPing is something that I think is integral for events at a variety of points because we have the attendees, we have the staff, and we have the designers, the planners. So unlike incorporating improv, LARP is its own event. So, Erika, can you maybe talk us through one or two examples of what a LARP in this Nordic style would be and really set the scene and get us in there?

Erika
Sure. One of my favorite LARPs that I have participated in within the past decade has been Lies and Liabilities, which is a Regency era, think Bridgerton, think Pride and Prejudice kind of stor. With that, it is set in this old church where people who were clergymen or priests would go and do schooling there. They would live at this place. So it looks almost like a castle, and it's gorgeous, in the middle of Wisconsin I believe, just outside of Chicago, like an hour or two. So you get to stay there, and then there's different little parlor areas, there's a different little fencing area, so that you get to really feel immersed and like you are truly in this setting. There's a garden that you can stroll through - loved it.

What makes the experience so good though is everything from your character sheet that you receive months in advance of the event so that you can really dive in and think about who your character is, how you want to play this character from everything from costuming to mannerisms. So if you are a planner, like me, you kind of get that experience and that comfort of knowing that you can plan it out a little bit ahead of time. But also you get the experience of just connecting with people on the site improving essentially and having these really beautiful moments of storytelling and authentic connection with other players that you could not have seen coming.

Dr. K
I love that so much. One of the questions that I love to ask guests and I'm asking you, but I'm asking you out of order. One of the questions that I love to ask is “what do you think that current event and experience design professionals are getting wrong?” You and I met at IAEE Expo Expo. I was speaking and then we connected, and then we went out, and we had so much fun, and we just stayed connected after that. And I know we had some of that discussion there, but then also obviously in preparation for this podcast, what do you believe is something that event professionals, experienced professionals are kind of like getting wrong? There is no wrong, there's no right or wrong. Everything is a scale, it's not dichotomous, there's no X on the check box, right? But like, what do you think is something that we're not doing as well as we should be?

Erika
Easy. I think we fall into the trap of really wanting to do the absolute best event that we can. And obviously, we want that. I think a lot of times we can overpromise things and then under deliver them, and to me, that always feels like the worst-case scenario. If we know that we are going to not be able to deliver this grand vision, how can we tweak the vision to be more realistic with the resources, the time we have, the people for labor that we have to make this vision come true, and how can we communicate that to the audience and participants so that they are along for the journey of this is what we are really excited to show you and have you be a part of versus here's some wild dreams that actually we can't follow through on. That just seems devastating to me. I hate it.

Dr. K
That instantly brings to mind like the Fire Festival and then that crazy one recently that was in London with the… was it Willy Wonka? I don't remember. It was all AI generated of what these beautiful scenes you were gonna walk into and then when you walked in, it was like an empty warehouse with a tarp on the wall, and I'm sure there's so many lawsuits coming for that one. To our listeners at home, this might seem ADHD and you're like, “Wow, that was a big jump. You're talking about LARP and then you went to expectations.” But to me, it's completely related because if we're talking about one of the things that we're getting wrong is maybe setting expectations or overpromising under delivering or saying it's gonna be a life transformational experience and then it's not, right? So LARPing is all about… it's like that actual experience. It's like improv on a greater scale, but it is its own event. So Erika, kind of talk about how your LARPing skills have helped to overcome some of those setting expectations.

Erika
Sure. I think being able to learn, especially on the staffing side, how to be adaptable in different situations, has definitely helped me in my events career, and honestly, just as a person as a whole to be more resourceful and better at just adapting to life. Basically, what that has looked like is in LARP, a lot of times characters can come to operations (OPS) and ask for a scene request. They want an NPC to show up as their parents and berate them so that they can have this big dramatic scene or their ex-lover has come to try to win them back. So they'll make these kind of scene requests to OPS, and then it's OPS’ job to either make that happen or give them an alteration. Say, we can't have your ex-lover come in just because we don't have someone that you're describing. You want a man. We don't have a man on staff available at this time to do that. So could we have someone else come and dress up for you? Could we have someone do this on a different day of the LARP? Can we have your ex-lover's wife show up instead and have that be the solution? So it's a lot of working together and negotiating what possibilities there are.

Dr. K
I love that. I've taken improv for a while. Everyone who's listening or has listened for a few seasons, they know that. And after I had taken the improv one, there's three levels of improv, after I had taken improv one, I mean, I guess I did a decent job, but someone from the theater murder mystery type of company had reached out to the improv teacher that I had studied under and was asking very specifically for someone, kind of short and a girl and white and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and I met the scene but nobody in the current improv troupe met that scene. And so I was invited to participate, and I was so nervous because it was my very first thing, and I got paid well, and it turned out it was for the head football coach at Nebraska. And the reason why they hired this out of state company was so that way it would be nobody local, and I was the only local person because they needed to fill the spot.

And I was like, “Y’all, you don't even know that's Scott Frost over there, and all his friends, right?” Now, Scott Frost isn't here. So it's no longer a cool story, but it was really funny. So I digress; I've had coffee today. All right. So when I'm thinking, LARP, I'm thinking, well, that's cool. This is a cool concept, but that's a totally separate event, right? Like you dress up and you do the thing and that's separate, but incorporating LARP or LARP styles into our events, whether we think of that as a theater or a play, but I think of it as an activation or engagement. Have you had any experience with that or seen anything like that or how do you think it could be incorporated?

Erika
Yeah, absolutely. I think in corporate events, you can take elements of LARP. In terms of LARP truly just boils down to storytelling and connecting authentically with people. And I think that's kind of what the point of most events are – an opportunity for people to authentically connect with each other so that they can continue to do business with each other or showcase their own business and skills and talents and people. So really, I think what we can take from that is creating an experience that gives people opportunities and hooks, easy moments for them to connect because they have similar interests or because they are there for a similar goal and really highlighting that in a way that makes it fun and interesting versus just, oh, it's another business event, you know, make it something more intriguing, and as you said, activating.

Dr. K
Yeah, I feel like we could talk forever, and I'm amazed at how long we've already been talking. One of the things that I think we do really bad in events in general, this would be my answer to that question of the things we're getting wrong, would be like onboarding new people or getting new people involved. We are hearing that all the time now when people are going for networking or the first-time attendee experience, how bad it is. You put a smaller group in a room together with an open bar. Where's the intention? How are you setting that? And then when you said getting it wrong was setting expectations. And so tell us what LARPs do because LARPs are separate events. As a first-time attendee, I don't know if you can remember a decade or so ago… if you're a first-time LARP attendee, how does the LARP community welcome its newbies or what other resources did you have?

Erika
Sure. So the very first LARP that I went to was one that was called a New World Badge Schola. It was basically like a Wizard College LARP. And what was really helpful for me because I was super scared going to it, super excited, but also very intimidated because there's people who have done LARPing for decades come prepared with immaculate costumes and characters and props that they have spent months on, which can be very intimidating to a newbie. So what I did was jumped onto the Facebook group, introduced myself, said, "Hi, I am new here. I've never LARPed before. I'm really excited, but also I am nervous. Does anyone have tips for me? Does anyone have cool things that I could do to incorporate into my character or into my game? Does anyone want to be my friend? Does anyone want to set up a connection that we have in games?" So kind of pre-planning it. I think being a little bit vulnerable helps.

Everyone's usually very helpful and ready to jump in and welcome you. They just need the opportunity to know that you need welcoming, so make yourself vulnerable in that way, and then if you are a planner, which I assume your audience is probably a planner, then go ahead and take advantage of that. Go ahead and make the first step, make that connection with someone and say, "Hey, do you want to be my friend in this game? Do you want to be my long-lost cousin or someone that we can have a dramatic scene over?" Give yourself some opportunities there and create those little moments of fun with other people and leave some room also for just some improv and some magic that you can't really see coming. That's what I love about LARP is that no matter how much planning you do, there's going to be these little moments of connection with other people that you just could not have planned and they are just the best moments.

Dr. K
I mean, truly, that's what I love so much is that LARPing as it sets a structure and gives you guidelines, but then it's really co-created, and that's what our events should be. And I feel like as event and experienced professionals, we tend to micromanage and try to plan out every single detail and that doesn't leave room for the co-creation there. So I love that. It also makes me think of, we have a meeting planner group, whether or not you're part of it on Facebook, like the National Meeting Planner group, that's just for planners, and people post there all the time: "Hey, I'm a first-time attendee to this event. What should I know? Anyone want to meet up?” But do independent events have that community? And that leads to a previous podcast episode that we had with Chris Catana about community and building community, and the importance of that, so that way they're continuing these relationships outside. Ok. Oh my gosh, we've already been talking for so long. We could talk so long. Ok. What's one tip? Everyone who's listening to this podcast event, experience, professional students, all of the people. What's your one tip that your one practical takeaway that you're like, “This is something that you should do.”

Erika
Do LARP. Honestly, it's one of those things where like if you are even slightly interested in it, I think, don't let yourself be too scared by it and go ahead and just give it a try. Go ahead and don't let perfection get in the way of you trying something new. It's ok to be a little brave and it's ok to be a little scared, but like, it's definitely worth it to see the community that you have. And honestly, the community is probably my favorite part about LARPing. I've made so many friends from it. I have 300 plus people around the world that I can stay at their place instantly because I made friends with them through LARP and that kind of connection is just… love it.

Dr. K
I love that. And if you're watching the video, we had chef's kiss there, which was absolutely wonderful. And I can already see all the barriers people are putting up in their minds. "Well, yeah, try something new. You don't have my boss. My boss isn't gonna let me try something new." It just, you know, do what you can to build in something new, something small. All those small bricks, they add up and then they make a whole new wall or a barrier or a staircase or whatever you want it to be. Erika, thank you so much. This was so much fun. I know we're going to stay on, and we're going to chit chat. We're gonna hang out and do all the things. But thank you so much for being a podcast guest.

Erika
Thank you for having me.

Dr. K
Yes. Oh my gosh. You're going to have to come on in the future too, for sure. For everyone who's listening or watching online. Thank you so much. Next up, next week, we have all things psychology with one of the, I'm gonna say the world's best meeting psychologists ever. You definitely want to stay tuned for that one in addition to all the great content for the rest of Season Eight. Awesome. Well, thank you all so much for taking the time to make the time, and I will talk with you soon.

Speaker
Thanks for listening to the Experience University podcast. Stay tuned for our next episode.