blooloop’s Festival of Innovation is taking place online from 15 to 16 January 2025. The event brings together the global visitor attractions industry to explore the most innovative projects, products, and organisations that are shaping the sector. Registration is free.
Join us at the Festival for a session on Innovation in Experiential Technology, 5 pm GMT on Wednesday 15 January. Our guest speakers are Jim Shumway, VP of project delivery at TAIT, Erica McCay, executive creative director at Valtech Themed Entertainment Studio, Rachel Nakamura, product manager and producer, and Felix Erdmann, managing director of BeWunder.
Erdmann will open the session and speak on the rise of experiential technology. This will be followed by a panel discussion led by Shumway, together with McCay and Nakamura. They will explore how guests expect a deeper engagement with experiences, and how technology can help with this. They will also share insights into the rise of AI and AR and how this will impact the experiences of the future.
Following the event, the session will be available to watch on demand for 30 days.
Meet the speakers
Jim Shumway
Jim Shumway joined TAIT in 2013 and has held a variety of positions before his current post as VP of project delivery. Shumway now oversees TAIT’s End-to-End projects, collaborating with cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams to provide comprehensive services to clients.
He specialises in providing unique solutions for projects of any size and market, and has successfully produced opening nights for renowned clients including Taylor Swift, Beyonce, The Metropolitan Opera, Universal Studios, and The Walt Disney Company. Shumway also manages accounts for TAIT’s biggest and most innovative clients, ensuring effective communication at the executive level and exceeding expectations for all parties involved.
Shumway is an annual guest lecturer at Yale’s School of Drama and the author of Automated Performer Flying: The State of the Art, which was published by Routledge in 2019 and is regarded as the premier textbook on the subject.
His experience includes positions with Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group, where he focused on improving visitor experience through innovative processes.
Erica McCay
Erica McCay writes and designs stories that connect people and places. Since 2005, her work has focused on interactive theme parks, theatre, and play-based education.
McCay worked as an interactive experience designer for Universal Creative for seven years, including serving as lead designer for the interactive wand experience in Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood, and co-lead designer for the land-wide game in the Thea award-winning Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Orlando Resort.
Rachel Nakamura
Rachel Nakamura is a product manager and producer based in Los Angeles. Her passion is integrating the physical and digital worlds to create immersive and engaging experiences, spanning everything from creating pitch decks to coding prototypes and designing mockups.
She has previously worked for Meta, Instagram, Microsoft, and, most recently, Disney on their Interactive Experiences team, assisting with projects such as Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Disney Uncharted Adventure on the Disney Wish cruise ship, and a digital avatar activation at D23 Expo, Disney’s biannual fan convention.
Felix Erdmann
Felix Erdmann’s passion for multimedia technology began aged just eleven, when he would help his father in his job as an events organiser. While still in high school, he began working for a small equipment rental company which ignited his interest in lighting and the design of light shows.
His experience includes founding a start-up selling LED screens and lighting equipment in Southeast Asia and to Europe while based in China, and as a freelance technical planner and project manager in Germany.
Erdmann joined Neumann&Müller in Munich in 2013, and excelled at working on large-scale projects such as the New Mobility World at the IAA in Frankfurt, and the leadership of five projects at the EXPO 2017 in Kazakhstan. He became the director of Neumann&Müller´s System Integration unit in Dubai in 2018, and was appointed managing director of the company’s Middle East operations in 2019.
In 2022, Erdmann acquired the two Neumann&Müller subsidiaries he was managing in partnership with his co-managing director. The subsidiaries were rebranded as BeWunder. Since then, the company has had double-digit annual growth, opened new offices in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Tokyo, and extended its service range to become an industry-leading turnkey solution provider. The company is currently working on several prominent pavilions for Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan.
The Innovation Awards
The blooloop Innovation Awards presented with AREA15 honour the extraordinary dynamism, imagination and creativity that drive the attractions industry.
The winners of the 2024 Experiential category will be revealed at this session. Attendees can browse all the entries during the event, and vote for their favourite to win our Public Choice Award.
Register to attend here.
