Danny
TS Contributor
- Favourite Ride
- Steel Vengeance
Over the past ten months, @Adam James and I have been guinea pig participants of a project aimed to educate, provide insight and ultimately deliver an entryway into the attraction industry called the NextGen Showcase.
It’s a program run by industry professionals that bares similarities to an Open University style course, with weekly seminars, project team meetings and ultimately culminating in three key deliverables:
- Phase One | Blue Sky Ideation
- Phase Two | Concept Design
- Phase Three | Schematic Design
It’s been a fascinating, eye-opening experience that goes into painstaking detail about just how intensive the creative process is for designing attractions in the industry, covering everything from writing narratives, how to present yourself and your portfolio for meeting connections, through to ride procurement, accessibility and inclusion, and interactive media and sustainability.
The aim is for teams to design an attraction based on a (very detailed and realistic) brief of a fictional park. This is then assessed and critiqued by a real-world client panel, featuring CEOs and designers from real-world theme parks. Part of this process involves signing an NDA and online feedback calls (very intimidating when the recognisable CEOs of notable European theme parks critique your work directly to your face!).
There are multiple teams working on different concepts throughout, consisting of a project manager, project coordinator, show producer, creative director (my role on my team), art director, technical director, engineer and a creative team of writers and concept artists. There are also team mentors who have positions within the industry to give you guidance and insight, from whom I’ve learnt so much (including a tour of Amsterdam on my first visit!).
I suspect this might take the interest of one or two on here who are curious about the nitty-gritty of the creative process, or actually want to take a step into the industry. It certainly helps to give you a reality check before making blind assumptions and posts on the forum regarding the process.
Who this project is for:
Registrations for the 23/24 showcase open in a couple of weeks. If you’re interested in a career within the industry, this is absolutely a great starting point and has certainly opened some doors for me.
If you want to participate and have any questions about what the process this year entailed, I'd be more than happy to discuss.
It’s a program run by industry professionals that bares similarities to an Open University style course, with weekly seminars, project team meetings and ultimately culminating in three key deliverables:
- Phase One | Blue Sky Ideation
- Phase Two | Concept Design
- Phase Three | Schematic Design
It’s been a fascinating, eye-opening experience that goes into painstaking detail about just how intensive the creative process is for designing attractions in the industry, covering everything from writing narratives, how to present yourself and your portfolio for meeting connections, through to ride procurement, accessibility and inclusion, and interactive media and sustainability.
The aim is for teams to design an attraction based on a (very detailed and realistic) brief of a fictional park. This is then assessed and critiqued by a real-world client panel, featuring CEOs and designers from real-world theme parks. Part of this process involves signing an NDA and online feedback calls (very intimidating when the recognisable CEOs of notable European theme parks critique your work directly to your face!).
There are multiple teams working on different concepts throughout, consisting of a project manager, project coordinator, show producer, creative director (my role on my team), art director, technical director, engineer and a creative team of writers and concept artists. There are also team mentors who have positions within the industry to give you guidance and insight, from whom I’ve learnt so much (including a tour of Amsterdam on my first visit!).
I suspect this might take the interest of one or two on here who are curious about the nitty-gritty of the creative process, or actually want to take a step into the industry. It certainly helps to give you a reality check before making blind assumptions and posts on the forum regarding the process.
Who this project is for:
- Anyone who wants an in-depth understanding and to gain practical first-hand experience of taking an attraction from a blue-sky concept through to submitting detailed schematics, including budgeting, CAD layouts, fire evacuation plans, marquees, branding, lighting, animatronics, queue design, accessibility and sustainability, etc.
- Anyone looking to build serious connections within the industry that can lead to careers or opportunities.
- Anyone who is looking to establish a portfolio and get their foot in the door for one of the most exciting industries on the planet.
- Anyone under the age of 18.
- Anyone who can’t commit upwards of 5 hours per week to learn from the best of the best, and work alongside a team of like-minded individuals.
- Anyone who can’t take constructive criticism from industry professionals, unable to work as part of a team or cannot accept the opinion of others.
- Anyone expecting a rushed Planet Coaster competition. This is as real and close as it comes to pitching and designing an attraction concept to industry standards and industry professionals. The chances are you won't necessarily be designing a roller coaster.
- Attending multiple IAAPA events, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve made multiple connections from both events and also presented at IAAPA Europe in London last September as part of the project.
- BTS tours and talks, including Winter Wonderland in London, Symbolica at Efteling and Simworx’s HQ in the Midlands (a great opportunity to ride their AGV vehicle in the factory last week). There have been a number of social events as well, including a Toverland Halloween event and there is a planned trip to Alterface’s HQ later this year.
- Present the completed attraction that I conceptualised the story for at the back end of SATE at Europa Park in two weeks to industry professionals.
Registrations for the 23/24 showcase open in a couple of weeks. If you’re interested in a career within the industry, this is absolutely a great starting point and has certainly opened some doors for me.
If you want to participate and have any questions about what the process this year entailed, I'd be more than happy to discuss.
