Crafting the emotional experience
The process of creating an emotional or sensory experience will be different for every creator, and that's the beauty of how we work here at Emotions Market. However, there are a few important steps to take into account.
Write down your emotional experience plan
Focus on the buyer
Pick the emotions you wish to address. Think from the recipient's point of view. Write down how you think it will work for the recipient, for example:
You will be invited to our spare room, where kittens live, and you will have 15 min of play time - clumsy fluff balls are bound to give you some joy!
I will listen for 5 minutes at you shouting - you can swear if you want. I can respond with your desired phrases, like "I should have listened to you!" You can outburst your anger.
I will pretend to be your boss, and you can shout at me. Please give me some context ahead of time, so I can respond to you (if you want). Or I can just keep saying that I am sorry.
I will come over to your place and help you sort out the belongings of your deceased loved one. It's very hard to touch some things, as it causes emotional pain - I will gently help you, giving you emotional support, yet getting the job done too.
I will listen to you. If you have some things you'd like to say but keep them to yourself, not to hurt your relationships - I can be your confidential ears.
Emotions to choose from are: Acceptance, Admiration, Aggressiveness, Amazement, Anger, Annoyance, Anticipation, Apprehension, Awe, Boredom, Contempt, Disappointment, Disgust, Distraction, Ecstasy, Fear, Grief, Interest, Joy, Loathing, Love, Optimism, Pensiveness, Rage, Remorse, Sadness, Serenity, Submission, Surprise, Terror, Trust, Vigilance.
Ask yourself - is your experience truly helping interested buyers to improve emotional balance? Have you explained this clearly?
Think of the preparation - which questions to ask buyers, what information you want them to share (not too much!) - how they need to prepare for the experience, for example: Please bring clean but old clothes with you - to protect the kittens' health and your wallet
What does the buyer need to know about you? Your rules, expectations, qualifications, experience, and maybe even results of your emotional intelligence test? Consider animal allergies and other health and safety matters if you're inviting the recipient to your home.
During the experience - what accessories/templates/references/tools you may need? How long would the experience last? How will it end? Think of the ways you advise the recipient that time is up.
After the experience - does your recipient need any aftercare? You may need to allow time and facilities for this.
Consider what can go wrong - and prepare for eventualities. The client may not turn up, turn up late or with a friend, ask you for last-minute changes, react differently than you expected, ask you to stop the experience, etc. Simply prepare yourself for different eventualities, which may change how your experience works.
Test your experience with a friend. We offer an optional £25 experience check service to creators.
Be upfront with buyers as to how, when (before or after the experience), and how much you want to be paid.
Some emotional experience recipients will not ask many questions - but others - will. Consider preparing a note for buyers to send, once you've agreed in principle - as to what they could expect. This can save you hours of time in the future.
Always keep your focus on the emotional or sensory experience recipient (buyer)
Velasco and Obrist (2020) identified three laws of multisensory experiences
I. Multisensory experiences should be used for good and must not harm others.
II. Receivers of a multisensory experience must be treated fairly.
III. The someone and the sensory elements must be known
We welcome our new creators to visit the creator zone, read our frequently asked questions and advice on safety measures.