Spotlight on Lee: Manager of Immersive Experiences at GLO

Hi! My name is Lee Winters, and I am an award-winning performer, gold-star licensed New York City tour guide, and have spent years designing and producing experiences. I am proud to be the Manager of Immersive Experiences at GLO. 

Growing up in the New York area, I have been very fortunate to see a lot of theatre in my life, and believe there's nothing like sharing a room with hundreds of people, hearing them laugh together, gasp together, hang onto a moment together. Live theatre creates a kind of magic that can't be replicated. But I've also felt there was a missed opportunity.

Theatre is an aggressively passive artform. You sit, you watch, you clap, you go home. Sometimes you fall asleep until someone else claps. The story happens to you, not with you. And worst of all, you don’t get to know the people around you. How often is it that you’re in a large group of people and everyone is silently facing the same direction? It’s strange! Don’t get me wrong, this cynical view comes from a deep, unending love of the art form. But as someone who has been on both sides of the spectator-performer relationship, I often wish that relationship be less transactional and one-sided.

Immersive experiences boldly challenge that relationship. They ask: what if the audience's choices mattered? What if the person standing next to you wasn't just another ticket holder, but a collaborator? What if the story changed because you were there? The ideal outcome of immersive entertainment is to give audiences an active role which will in turn foster empathy in the world around you.

For a long time, I was convinced the solution to this problem was in tourism. As a tour guide, I had the privilege of introducing thousands of people to New York City. There's something incredibly rewarding about watching someone discover a hidden alleyway, hear a story they've never heard before, or suddenly understand why a neighborhood looks and feels the way it does. The best tour guides aren't just delivering information (the NYC sightseeing exam is rough, sure, but anyone can memorize facts). The real skill is cultivating awe and discovery. It's the difference between telling someone "this building was once a bank" (I’m convinced every building was once a bank) and helping them suddenly see the entire neighborhood differently.

Traditional guided tours are incredible at what they do: they provide access, context, and expertise. But there is still a limitation built into the format, and the more I have designed and led tours, the more I’ve noticed it: most tours are still one person talking while everyone else listens. Sure, sometimes pizza is involved, or alcohol, or a pretty view (places in Midtown have all three!). It may look and feel a little different, and may involve more cardio, but it is just as passive as the theatre! I've always believed we could ask more of our guests than simply listening.

That's why GLO immediately stood out to me. It's building something that takes the best parts of immersive entertainment and guided tours and mashes them together. Yes, you have the opportunity to learn, and if you want to sit and listen, you definitely can. But thanks to Augmented Reality (AR), you are able to step into a world beyond what is just on the city streets. You’ll see a robot rat painting graffiti next to your feet, swim with fish in an aquarium, fight drones in the sky, and you can tag the walls of Midtown Manhattan. AR allows this active, highly engaging, experience that goes far beyond a traditional tour.

The most exciting thing about AR isn't the technology itself. It's the way it changes behavior. A person who might normally walk down some alleyway or pedestrian arcade without looking twice is suddenly searching for hidden details, collaborating with strangers, and seeing a familiar city from an entirely new perspective. People leave the tour with a communal experience they shared. Co-authoring a beautiful painting. Throwing paintballs at each other. Noticing something in the real world they would have walked right past otherwise. They remember laughing with friends, family, or even complete strangers. AR makes those moments possible, and that's why I'm so excited to be at GLO.

Our flagship tour of 6 ½ Avenue (it’s a real place, I promise, and not a Harry Potter knockoff) is officially launched, and I would love you to join me on a tour soon and level up tourism with me. If you read this far, use the code LEEVELUP20 (get it?) for a 20% discount.