Serious Play Conference

Elisa Navarro & Paul Darvasi, Ph.D. Congratulations on a spectacular #Seriousplay24 For those who attended, I am sure you left with a feeling that was #Buzzing & #Electrified I echo the sentiments of others in attendance; I can't wait for the next one! InspireTech would like to express our sincere gratitude for having the opportunity to participate & #Beinspired Marc Dubeau you delivered an exciting and educational workshop that empowered people on the spot to start their journey of learning in the world of Unreal Engine on the www.inspiretech.ca CTE Skills Platform Cathy Cheo-Isaacs Steve Isaacs Robert Martellacci M.A. EdTech Benjamin Kelly Mike Washburn Ramy Ghattas Mallory Maynard Dr. Eva Ziemsen Bernard Mafei Gerry Corrigan Shaun Ansari Kirk Musngi Dr. Kris Alexander

Last week’s Serious Play Conference was amazing! I loved how the seriousness of play resonates with tremendously talented people across different industries. So many blended thoughts and inspirations are dancing in my head and will continue to inspire me for a long time! I talked about how understanding the nature of a child's play can be key to creating transformative products that truly deliver on their promise to do good for kids, and how Wide Therapy helps young kids with various levels of abilities master challenging life skills and situations (hint: with a touch of play). Huge applauses for Paul Darvasi, Ph.D., Elisa Navarro, Shawn Clybor, Esperanza Maggay, and Diana Bethzabe Blanquet Trujano, Finlay Gane and the rest of the team who were true heroes that put all of this together and made it look so effortless! Thank you all, and I look forward to continuing our new friendships and finding opportunities to collaboratively do playful good for kids. Susan Bonner, Ana Carolina Reiner, Rachel Kowert, Kelli Dunlap, PsyD, Celeste Sangiorgio, James O'Hagan, Leslie Stewart Rose, Quinn Jacobs, Bret Wardle, Tanya Kelen, Priya Blair, Barnaby Tamakloe, Elaine Biddiss, Shannon (Frederick) Meneses, Peter Stidwill, Gary Goldberger, Jenn McNamara, Bobby Lockhart, Samuel Liberty, Tim Souza, Dr. Kris Alexander, Leah Hirsch, Bradford Harris, Brendon Trombley, Maria Alejandrina Coates, Dr. Philipp Busch, Meghan Gardner, Liz Dailey, Scot Osterweil, Tory Van Voorhis and many more! #SeriousPlay2024

It's time to start setting up shop here on the Game Not Included LinkedIn page, and a good place to start is linking our latest blog post. Come see what we learned at Serious Play Conference this year! https://lnkd.in/d6UnEUew

👾💭I had such a great time last week at the Serious Play Conference at UofT in Mississauga. As a facilitator, attending workshops feels like a vacation, but when all the other participants in those workshops are also educators and cultural programmers the result is more productive than any vacation I’ve ever taken. Between Meghan Gardner’s presentation on LARPing for immersive educational experiences, Andrew Menfi’s designing educational escape rooms and Chris Crowell and Adam Clare’s make a games workshop, I left with actionable ideas and drafts for amazing projects to realize in the near future! 🤓I got to geek out with Stephanie Greenall at the Tilt Five booth where I finally got to play a game that inspired my own mixed reality journey years ago. This company, and its force of nature founder Jeri Ellsworth, are a huge inspiration and reminder to not forget tactile reality when integrating digital augmentations of them. 🎨I learned so much about the creative production process from the Incredibly moving VR work Year of Cicada by creator’s Kimberly Hieftje, PhD and Asher Marks, MD, auditory game Anomaly by Miquelon Rodriguez and Kadeem Dunn, and Karen Vanderborght’s augmented brainwalking game Nuville. And I got to meet the coolest math teacher ever #ShaiCohen who got me thinking in 4 dimensions (though he had to first break my brain to get me to the other side) 🤣 🙏I was also blessed to have a little adhoc opportunity for demoing Lit Kit with Elisa Navarro, Dr. Philipp Busch, David Chandross, Ph.D. and Julian Kea, providing so many invaluable insights into game mechanisms as a vehicle for roll out of our products 💜 👏Congrats to Paul Darvasi, Ph.D. and Elisa Navarro for putting on a fantastic event for their first year at the helm, can’t wait for next year at the Strong National Museum of Play! 🎮The Syd Bolton collection/game archive was a great added plus as was meeting these fantastic folks! Tory Van Voorhis Kellian Adams Pletcher Mike Washburn Sarah Anne Saucier Christian Troya Yepez

What a great 3 days at the Serious Play Conference in Toronto this year. Happy to have had the opportunity to share my experience in practical course development during my talk last Tuesday with some great questions from the audience. It was also lovely to connect with fellow educators and game designers throughout the conference, this has always been a great place to connect with cool people doing great work. My first time here was 2017 as a student volunteer, then in Virginia as an attendee, now in 2024 as a speaker. And thus do we grow! Sue Bohle has passed the torch to a great group of stewards, thanks to everyone -staff and volunteers- who helped make this run feel like home. Special thanks to Paul Darvasi, Elisa Navarro, Shawn Clybor, Esperanza Maggay, Diana Blanquet, Ariel (Shaowen) He, & Edgar Chávez for organizing and running the event, and Finlay Gane for making sure OBS was recording and taking some awesome photos at my talk. Events like this don't work without all of the hard work put in by staff & volunteers. Looking forward to the next one in Rochester next year! In the meantime, let's keep the conversation going.

Had a blast at the Serious Play Conference this week, representing Wonda and their new conversation based simulations and assessments. Thanks so much for putting on such a great event Paul Darvasi, Ph.D.! Got to see some awesome talks showcasing where the industry is headed, hangout with my new colleague Ashley Etemadi, and connect with old and new friends Steve Isaacs, Cathy Cheo-Isaacs, Susan Rivers, Mitch Weisburgh, Rachel Kowert, Shelly London, Dr. Kris Alexander, Leah Hirsch, Michelle King, Gary Goldberger, Mike Washburn, and Saadia Ali. All around, a great way to wrap up the summer before the things kick back up this fall! 🚀 #seriousplay2024

Still reflecting on last week's Serious Play Conference in Toronto. Some of the highlights that have stuck with me include Stephen Reid (from Endless) sharing his personal player experiences of exploring the very ordinary within game worlds, the hidden spaces often beyond the intentions of the game designers... Rachel Kowert giving an inspiring keynote to equip us with stats and research to show all the ways games are doing good in the world... And Susan Rivers and Jane Lee, PMP sharing their philosophy at iThrive Games to integrate social and emotional learning with play. There is so much amazing work being done in this field! Serious Games is always such a great gathering with a fantastic community, meeting old friends and making new ones. A big shoutout to the organizers Paul Darvasi, Ph.D. and Elisa Navarro, and all the excellent staff and volunteers!

The Serious Play Conference is all about exploring how play, games, and gamification are revolutionizing education, training, and knowledge sharing in exciting ways! 🎮 Stephen Reid, VP of Learning at the Endless Foundation, delved into the often-overlooked aspects of gaming. 🕵️♂️🎲  His talk paid tribute to the ordinary experiences nestled within virtual worlds, highlighting how seemingly mundane moments in these digital environments can reflect our own lives. 🌍🔍 #seriousplayconference #seriousplay24 #games #learning

The Serious Play Conference was a energizing event - play unites! Thank you Paul Darvasi, Ph.D. for also letting me ad hoc a gathering - hope everyone enjoyed Abbey Road 🤗 Dr. Kris Alexander When it comes to offering online learning remember that "Twitch and Youtube are competitors". Strategic growth means knowing your market and the education sector is play! (and thanks Geoffrey Lachapelle, M.A. too!) Jamie Hurcomb Julie Lottering Steve Isaacs so glad to catch lunch with you all, it was Unreal 😅 Jennifer DAVIS my wonderful collaborator developing Centennial College School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design new Game Marketing and Funding Course (THANK YOU!) Lucie Lalumière Stephanie Greenall - the future is fun! and serious. James "Pigeon" Fielder, Ph.D. Saadia Ali Jeanette Luytkis Bret Wardle Tinka Town Tory Van Voorhis karen darricades James O'Hagan Mark Bernstein Jim Pedrech Eric Rapos and so many more brilliant people that are raising the standards of play and learning! And it wouldn't have been the same without spending time with the student team of Sheridan College showing me their plushy friend ZEN with the amazing game "Stop and Breathe" winner of Best Student Game Games for Change 2024.

Last week I attended Serious Play Conference for the first time. It was an incredible opportunity to meet individuals from diverse fields/backgrounds, from technology design/development to research and education. Thank to Paul Darvasi, Ph.D. the team and the volunteers for bringing up all these individuals together and making this happen! It gave me an opportunity to share my research with others and connect with so many inspiring people there! I did not get the chance to post during the conference but here is the summary/my reflections: - An interesting talk/workshop by Tory Van Voorhis & Jenn McNamara on health games taxonomy. If you are developing a game-based solution, definitely reach out to them! I also had the chance to meet Susan Bonner during this workshop and get to know her exciting works on AR/VR in children. - I could attend Dr. Eliane Biddiss’s talk on the development of their VR game-Bootle Blast, to improve the motor functions of children with CP. So happy to listen to her talk and get the chance to talk to her in person! - A fun workshop by Games for Change about how games can have a social impact! Through a group activity, we incorporated the design cycle, built a new version of tic-tac-toe and learned about 6 parts of the game! So fun! - Another fun workshop which I learned through play about the player types by Jacqueline Lloyd Smith founder of Strategic Play Global! Loved the play chest they made and how you can use it to understand what is your (or employee’s, students’s etc) player type! Also, it was interesting to find out how it could apply to my own research too! - Met an amazing person at this workshop- Farhan Quasem. if you teach sth and want to share it with public through an e-learning system, definitely reach out to him! - And finally, the highlight of the conference for me was, meeting Kimberly Hieftje, PhD I have been following her work and I am so happy that I could attend her talk on “Year of the Cicadas”- a game about loss and grief and find meaning through loss. She shared the process/journey of developing Cody’s legacy- truly emotional-inspiring journey with full of life and research/game development lessons! So glad to meet her in person at their lab booth and hear about their projects! And definitely, so many other amazing individuals whom I talked with during the conference! Hopefully, I can meet this amazing group of people once again soon!