“The How of Wow!” Designing Emotion into Products and Places.

The “How of Wow” is a fast paced image driven one hour discussion tailored to your brand, revealing how to holistically design a product experience. Sotto draws from examples of projects from his time at Walt Disney Imagineering, and goes on to show how to apply those techniques to his later projects for Porsche, Aston-Martin, Ferrari and more. Always fun to experience, Sotto talks experiential design through storytelling. If you have an idea in mind for a lecture, let’s discuss it.

Eddie Sotto- In-Person and Virtual Speaking Engagements

Eddie evangelizes “experiential design” and “guest experience” via speaking engagements availability permitting. He has been retained to speak over the years at conventions, both in-person and virtually as a Keynote Speaker with audience relevant slide shows that are insightful, fun and fast paced for groups up to 5000, or as intimate as Board retreats. Sotto’s methods have had a winning impact on such companies as Nokia, Procter and Gamble, Disneyland Paris, Westfield, Herman Miller, WET Design, Efteling, Applied Invention, PIXAR, Warner Bros, Disney Imagineering, Art Center College of Design, UCLA Alumni, D23, as well as being a keynote speaker for TEDX. Audiences and clients alike find Sotto the speaker with more “takeaways” and “Aha” moments. What is your topic or challenge?

For more information about fees, lecture content and availability. info@sottostudios.com

Professional Background:  Edward “Eddie” Sotto. - Designer, Innovator. Product Experience Expert.

Eddie is a Renaissance creative professional and entrepreneur with a proven track record in entertainment design that spans 30 years. Sotto's strength lies both in ideation, design and leading team based execution, skills he honed as Senior Vice President of Concept Design at Disney's Imagineering division, where in addition to producing and designing attractions, he ran his own concept development studio. Exporting his skills beyond the mouse, in 1999, Sotto branched into creating for Television, Restaurant, Hotel and UHNW residential interiors, even into spacecraft and private aviation, where the Studio won a recent IYAA award for best concept design.  Sotto's attractions design training is mostly self taught learning from Disney legend Tony Baxter and his Imagineering mentors, the original artists that worked for Walt.  Hollywood's production designers influenced Sotto's work as his style has often been called "cinematic." The  film industry runs in his family as well with his Aunt, Marilyn Sotto being a noted Costume illustrator/designer for Edith Head at Universal, Paramount, and eventually as lead park costumer at Walt Disney World, Sotto's grandfather being a portrait and scenic artist at MGM completes the picture. 

As Featured in Bestselling Books, Magazines, Podcasts, and Television Series

Made the list in the definitive book "Who's really Who. The 1000 most creative people in America".
- TED Founder, Richard Saul Wurman

"Eddie's passion for new ideas and one-of-a-kind Adventures was a creative leader's dream."
- Imagineering President Marty Sklar, - "Dream it! Do it!".

"Wildly imaginative Imagineer."
- Disney CEO Michael Eisner - "Work in Progress"

Sotto's insights led to being "most quoted," with more than 400 separate entries in the encyclopedic Bible of the industry.  "Theme Parks and the Art of Themed Entertainment"

In addition to the above, Sotto has contributed to or is quoted in these popular books. “One Little Spark”, “Travels with Figment” -Marty Sklar, “The Disney Railroads”, “The Art of the Disney Poster,” “Designing Disney’s Theme Parks”, “Disneyland Paris, From Dream to Reality”, “Walt’s People 14”, “The Art of Disneyland”, ”Disney Imagineering”, “Knott’s Preserved”, and many more. His designs and experience have been featured in The New Yorker, Town and Country, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Elle Decor Italia, Los Angeles Magazine, The New Yorker, London and LA Times, Esquire, Maxim, Details, Paris Match, Stern, Wired, and The Robb Report to name a few.

Frequent Entertainment Expert on Cable News

Design and Innovation. SVP Concept Design at Walt Disney Imagineering and beyond.

 In his 13 year career at Walt Disney Imagineering, Sotto managed to creatively direct the execution a half billion dollars of projects along the way, including Main Street USA at Disneyland Paris, the early creative development of the Indiana Jones Adventure, and directed the design of Tokyo Disneyland that planned new lands and created attractions including the first ever trackless dark ride, the game changing "Pooh's Hunny Hunt.". As Senior VP of Concept Design, Eddie also has the distinction of running his own "think tank" within Disney called the Concept Development Studio. There they “pushed the envelope” by developing smart wireless toys, augmented reality coasters, online worlds, and resort concepts. Back in the 1990s! Other projects Eddie's studio created include the breakthrough “Mission:Space” Attraction for EPCOT Center, the “media as architecture” facade of ABC's Times Square Studios, and the award winning “Encounter” Restaurant at the Los Angeles International Airport.  Wikipedia portfolio here.

Download Eddie Sotto Resume PDF

It’s worth noting that after Sotto quit Imagineering in 2000, Disney continued to tap SottoStudios to develop projects in marketing, interactive technology, and resorts. We value our continuing business relationship with the Walt Disney Company.

Contact us to discuss your needs and how Eddie’s talents can light up your next virtual conference!