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Take Away
TAKE ONE TABLET...: TheGMIC conference game was loaded onto iPads,which were dis- tributed to teamlead- ers. Feedbck from players revealed that many would have pre- ferred to have had access to game features on theirownmobile devices.Game designers will take that into account next year.
Serious Fun The outlook for apply- ing game dynamics and technology to business, training, and education is bright, accordingto the infor- mation technology research firm Gartner Inc., which predicts that 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation will “gamify” those processes by 2015. The future already
Over the next three days, these teams worked together, trying to outperformthe other teams by demonstrating their ability to solve the problems and rise to the challenges outlined in the game. In creating the game, Henderson drew on the
research of Byron Reeves and J. Leighton Read, who in their book Total Engagement argue that games will transform education and work as savvy organizations learnhowto apply thedynam- ics that have made multiplayer online games like “World ofWarcraft” so popular. There’s no better way to get people engaged, Reeves and Read say, than to provide themwith fun ways to do serious work—a lesson thatmanycorporations and insti- tutions have already learned. (See Take Away, at right.)
Likewise, stimulating engagement — with
ideas,withother attendees, with exhibitors—was GMIC’s primary aim,Henderson said, beginning with the decisionto assign attendees to teams at the outset of the meeting.“When you go to a confer- ence,” she noted, “you tend to hang out with peo-
ple you know.” But whenGMICplaced attendees randomly on teams, they came into contact with new people and new points of view. Henderson said: “It immediately enlarged people’s networks.” Players still attended keynotes and panels, but
organizers changed up the conference rhythm, shaving time off presentations and allowing more time for group discussion and problem-solving ses- sions. The ability to spend focused timewith oth- er attendees, Henderson said, created opportuni- ties for teammembers to access theknowledge and expertise not just of presenters but of other partic- ipants. Organizers (correctly) anticipated that the
gamewould fall outside the comfort zone of some people, and eased the transition with an opening session that limberedupattendees with a discussion about improv techniques and ice-breaking games. “I got tons of positive feedback,” said presenter Jenise Fryatt, the founder of EventProv. “The biggest thing I think it did as far as the conference as a whole went was to break down barriers
ON_THE_WEB: Watch Total Engagement co-author J. Leighton Read’s keynote on embedding games into business at the Training 2011 Conference & Expo at http://bit.ly/eo1eq9.
is here in games like “America’s Army” (www.americas army.com), which was created by the U.S. Department of Defense to provide civilians and potential recruits with a simu- lated way to experi- ence Army training. And in Britain, the Department for Work and Pensions created a game called “Idea Street” to generate new ideas from its 120,000 constituents, using such gaming elements as points, leaderboards, and a “buzz index.” Within the first 18 months, Idea Street had approximately 4,500 users and had gener- ated 1,400 ideas, 63 of which were beingput into practice.