Behind the Scenes at the USA Pavilion in Osaka
Before millions of visitors entered Expo 2025 Osaka, I had the opportunity to see the World Expo USA Pavilion behind the scenes with Sister Cities International.
More than 160 national pavilions were preparing to welcome the world over the following six months. Each one faced the same challenge: how do you represent an entire country in a limited space and create an experience that visitors will remember?
The USA Pavilion used innovation, storytelling, and personal interaction to introduce visitors to American ideas and possibilities. The architecture and technology were important, but the people inside the pavilion would ultimately determine how the experience felt. A visitor may be impressed by a display, yet it is often the ambassador who answers a question or shares a story who creates the lasting connection.
That is why a world expo is more than a collection of buildings. It is a laboratory for people-to-people diplomacy. Visitors can move through many cultures in a single day, encounter perspectives they may never have considered, and discover common interests beneath national differences.
Seeing the pavilion before opening also reinforced a leadership truth: memorable public moments depend on a great deal of work that audiences never see. Teams test, rehearse, revise, and solve small problems so that visitors can experience something seamless. The finished result may appear effortless precisely because the preparation was not.
The behind-the-scenes view made me even more excited for the months ahead and for the role Sister Cities International would play in connecting communities through the Expo. A pavilion can introduce a nation. A genuine human exchange can begin a relationship.
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