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Experiencing the wow factor at an event happens when attendees shift from being passive observers to active contributors, according to Marsha Sharpe, executive vice president of SongDivison, well known in the event industry for helping teams engage in collaborative music creation.

“The wow factor isn’t about spectacle for the sake of it—it’s about creating a moment people genuinely feel part of,” she says. “When they realize, ‘This isn’t being done to me—I’m actually shaping it,’ as they are co-creating a song together in live time.”

While music is, of course, the catalyst, the real impact comes from what the experience unlocks, Sharpe says: connection, emotion, shared purpose and memory (helping the key messages of the event really stick).

“A true wow moment is one people talk about weeks later because it meant something,” she says. “It reinforces key messages, strengthens relationships and leaves attendees feeling energized, valued and connected—not just entertained,” she says. “That philosophy underpins all of SongDivision’s experiences.”

As EVP of SongDivision since 2007, Sharpe has built and led a global company specializing in interactive team-building experiences for major corporations including Microsoft, Coca-Cola and PwC. She is also passionate about supporting food banks and hunger relief efforts around the world, including serving on the board of directors of the Maui Food Bank since 2017 (including as chair since 2024) and spending nearly two months working hands-on at the food bank to ensure continuous operations following the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires. We caught up with her to discuss creating meaningful shared experiences and serendipitous moments at events and her background with MPI.  

What strategies do you use to foster meaningful shared experiences among attendees? 

Everything starts with intentional design and deep discovery. We don’t believe in one-size-fits-all experiences. Instead, we take time to understand the audience, the organization’s goals, the purpose of the event and what really matters to the people in the room.

From there, we design experiences that:

• Encourage collaboration rather than performance.
• Give everyone a role, regardless of confidence, age, musical background or personality (e.g., introverts and extroverts).
• Deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Strengthen connections and build healthier teams.
• Communicate the key event/company messages.
  

By co-creating music together, attendees form a collective memory. That shared creation builds trust, breaks down silos and creates a sense of belonging far more effectively than traditional networking or icebreakers.

This focus on participation, inclusion and emotional connection is central to how SongDivision delivers impactful experiences and helps teams build stronger cultures.

How do you design event-related experiences that allow for spontaneous or serendipitous moments?

We design with structure and flexibility in equal measure. There's a clear framework so the experience feels safe and purposeful—but within that framework, we deliberately leave room for spontaneity.

At the heart of it, teams are creating an original song together, which is inherently spontaneous and serendipitous. We just make sure the process and parameters are clearly defined. As with any creative process, guidelines give you the freedom to be creative in the moment—without them, you'd have chaos instead of breakthrough.

Music as a medium is incredibly responsive. Our facilitators and musicians are trained to read the room, adapt in real time and follow the energy of the group. That’s often where the magic happens—an unexpected lyric, a shared laugh, a moment of vulnerability or a group realizing they’ve created something better together than they could have planned.

We also prioritize experiences where ideas come directly from the audience. When people hear their own words, insights or humor reflected back through music, it creates moments that feel authentic and unrepeatable. Those unscripted moments are often the ones people remember most because they couldn’t have happened any other way.

That balance between thoughtful design and real-time responsiveness is a defining part of the SongDivision approach to meetings and events.

Tell us a little bit about your experience with MPI?

When Andy [husband and SongDivision Founder and CEO Andy Sharpe] and I moved from Sydney to New York in 2008, the MPI community became our family. It felt hard being away from home and we spent holidays and birthdays with MPI folks, and when we had our daughter in 2010 without any family around, the Switzerland Tourism team (spearheaded by Caroline Pidroni; we’ve done around a dozen events with Switzerland Tourism) would come over after work to help. Caroline even had a bag packed to accompany me to the hospital in case I went into labor while Andy was traveling. MPI is how we met our IMEX family, whom we adore. Fast forward 17 years of being in the U.S., and the MPI community still shows up for us!