S1 E1 Gamicon
Episode Audio
Leslie Early is an Instructional Designer and the host of the That’s Awesome ID! podcast. She joins me to talk about Gamicon, a gamification conference for learning professionals.
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Transcript:
The following transcript was auto-generated and may contain typos or spelling errors.
Amy:
Welcome to the share what you learned podcast. I'm Amy Petricek, a learning enthusiast and the host of this podcast. The Share Whatcha Learned podcast is designed for learning professionals to share something they're learning in the field of instructional design. Today I'm talking to Leslie Early. Leslie is an instructional designer, and the host of the That's Awesome ID podcast. Leslie, welcome to the show.
Leslie:
Hi, Amy, thank you for having me.
Amy:
It's such a pleasure to have you on, I was just giving this lovely little bio about you. I'm curious if you have anything else you'd like to add to it?
Leslie:
My name is Leslie Early. And I'm a former teacher turned instructional designer. And the host of That's Awesome ID, which is a podcast where I just get to geek out and talk to other instructional designers about things that they think are awesome in our field. And there are a lot of things. So that's been super fun. And I think like most educators, I am super excited to learn new things, which is why I'm excited for your new podcast. Because I think the concept is awesome. And I'm excited to listen to future episodes.
Amy:
It sounded like the perfect partnering of like, that's awesome. And I want to share what I learned.
Leslie:
Exactly, exactly.
Amy:
Well, Leslie, speaking of things she wanted to share that she learned… She was recently at a conference called Gamicon. And Leslie, can you tell us a little bit about Gamicon, what that is. And this year, a year of pandemic, it was a little bit different. So we'd love to hear kind of like what that looked like as well.
Leslie:
Sure, so Gamicon is basically a Learning Conference, as you said, for gamification in the field of learning and development, as I understand it. So most of the time, I'm pretty sure it has been an in-person conference. But this year, of course, because of the pandemic, it was 100% virtual as everything really is. And I thought they did a really great job though, of doing that. Because also, I think Gamicon has a reputation of being very meta in that they use a lot of gamification in their sessions. And I think that was also true at the in-person event. But I've never went to the in-person event, so I got to experience it virtually. But they still did a really good job. Like, almost all of the sessions had some sort of gamified element to it. Why I can't say almost all of them, I would say a lot of them had some sort of gamified element to it. So it was really cool. It was a very interesting experience. So yeah, I'm happy I went.
Amy:
For those who don't know, Leslie and I are great pals outside of this podcast episode. And I can attest that she had a great time and really enjoyed it because we had been texting late at night. And she was in sessions. So can you say more about that? Because it's like, yeah, 10 o'clock my time. I know, it's later your time and you're like, can't stop won't stop. I'm in the middle of a session.
Leslie:
Right! Oh, yeah. You jog my memory. So like, now I'm, it's been a few weeks since the experience so it's starting to fade a little bit. But you're absolutely right, because it was completely virtual. What they did is they tried to be innovative, I think and I don't know why it may be just to accommodate a more global audience anyway, since they had that option virtually. So they did it a 48 hour cycle of straight sessions for 48 hours. So like I'm talking it started on a Sunday night and did not stop until Tuesday evening of just it just kept going of like session after session after session, and it just went around the globe follow the sun. So it started on a Sunday night. And I think what you're referring to is Sunday night at like midnight. I was in a virtual escape room. Yeah. And I was like, This is so cool. And I should really go to bed because I have to work tomorrow, but I can't stop. And it was just it was very interesting. I went to bed usually around midnight, but there were people who worked at Gamicon and some very passionate people who were attending who didn't sleep for several hours. A day and a half. I think the longest I heard was like 33 hours someone said. Like Moe Asch was like I don't even know he was running on Red Bull fumes. That's Yeah, so it was very Interesting. It was it was very fun in that way.
Amy:
It seems like I mean, it kind of making me think back to early on what you're saying, like just really well done. That it was really captivating that it wasn't, it almost seemed at least as I was texting you as you were in the midst of it. It always seemed like it was something that was like kind of hard to step away from at times, because it was so captivating, and drawing you in. And you've spoken in, like prior conversations we've had about Gamicon about kind of the setup of it, and how interactive that was as well. Would you be able to share a little bit about that, too?
Leslie:
Yeah. Yeah. So this was one of the one of the things I learned. So share what you learned, well, I learned about a platform called Remo. And I'm just thinking now maybe that's because of like remote. But anyway, so it's called Remo. And it's essentially like any online conference platform, you know, you usually have like, what the interface looks closer to like a social media platform or like a message board platform. And then you have like the link to the zoom link that takes you out to the actual conference room, right? Like, that's what I'm used to for online conferences. But this platform called Remo; like, as soon as you get into it you log in, your interface looks more like a game board or something like that, like, you're you have an aerial view of a virtual conference space, and you see little virtual conference tables. And actually, all that really is, is that you're already in the video conferencing platform. And each of those little tables is a different breakout room. So all you have to do to move around to different breakout rooms is just click on another table. And you can just move around and talk to people that way. And I thought that was really clever, first of all, because it's sort of mimics the real-life experience that you have. And then there's also a main stage area. And you can even see like the people who are about to get ready to present, you see their little avatars in the main stage area, because they're really in that main stage room, probably doing soundcheck, or whatever they need to do to get ready. And then when it's ready for the session, it just pulls everybody into the mainstage room, and they start their presentation, it just looks like a regular, you know, resume or something like that. But I was like this is so clever. It was very, very clever. The design of it.
Amy:
I have in my head this visual of like a school cafeteria with like different tables, like different groups of kids sitting at different tables. It's like, well, now I want to go talk to this kind of kid. And now I want to talk to this kind of kid, did you find some of that and some of those that like different kinds of people were congregating in different places?
Leslie:
Well, I think they did a really good job. So Gamicon is actually put on every year by this company called Sententia. I believe they're called, don't quote me on that I probably pronounced it wrong. And now I feel terrible. But I'm pretty sure it's Sententia. And so they actually are really into gamification. And they offer a lot of courses online to become a certified like an apprenticeship almost about how to really learn about gamification. And so they take this very seriously, they organize the whole event. And they had what were called guild leaders who were in the event. And if they notice, people are sitting alone at their own table, they would like corral them and like bring them or just like circulate amongst all of these tables. And make sure you know that if anyone's having it trouble or or if they have questions or they need an introduction to get into another table or whatever the case may be. They just had these guild leaders that were just circulating constantly. And that was one of the women who was like, I've been here for 33 hours. Working the conference, right? Sure. So I thought they did a really great job. Again, I'm pretty sure it's sententiae and the woman, the lead organizer, her name is Monica Cornetti, I believe. So she kind of orchestrated all of that. And I was like much respect to Monica because this is amazing.
Amy:
Anytime someone puts on any kind of conference of that caliber and then does it online, I'm like, bravo. Like that is Yeah, quite a treat. So I know that the Gamicon conference is targeted towards learning and development professionals. I'm curious though, knowing that playing games is kind of a universal experience, if you would say that the audience and or someone who might enjoy going to Gamicon, would be exclusive to L&D professionals. Or if you could see that, branching out more broadly than that.
Leslie:
I think it could be pretty broad, to be honest, because gamification definitely is a hot topic for us in instructional design and L&D, but I think educators, there was actually a lot of sessions that were, sort of seem to be repurposed from an audience of educators if that makes sense. Like, someone was like, yeah, I did, I did this talk with, you know, a bunch of educators. Now I'm here doing it here. So anyone that's trying to gamify learning could be educators could be instructional designers, could be marketers or other people in HR can also I think, benefit from that. But really, the biggest thing that I just thought this whole experience was was how to gamify, virtual webinars, conferences, anything where you have to be on a zoom call for like an hour at a time, these presenters had so many good examples of how to even gamify that, so I was like, wow. Like, anybody should see this if they have to be presenting a zoom call, because we all have to do that now. So I thought, yeah, really, anyone could have could have benefited from it.
Amy:
Very cool. I think we all live practically on zoom now. And so anything we can do to enhance our zoom life feels like it has a lot of reward, I guess.
Leslie:
Yeah, definitely.
Amy:
Now we're gonna get into the nitty gritty. Leslie, was there anything in particular that stood out to you? Or that you learned at Gamicon? And I know the answers, yes. But I'm curious what you'd say, or what journey you take us on
Leslie:
The biggest, not the biggest, I should say, the one thing I already mentioned, which was I learned about Remo, which is an amazing platform. I also learned about Sententia, which is also seems to be a very cool company doing a lot of cool things. And if people are interested in gamification, and they seriously want to learn about gamification, I would say look them up. And, you know, if they want to invest in that, that might be something to invest in, but also because they have a great community. So I feel like if that might even be worse than to just get involved in their learning experiences, because I feel like once you get in with them, you're going to have like, an amazing network of people who are also enthusiastic about gamification. Who wouldn't want that, really? But anyway, getting sidetracked, I guess another big takeaway for me, though, is how big the topic of gamification is, like, on LinkedIn and in, you know, at my job, as well, or even when I was going through and getting my master's degree, like people bring up gamification as if it's this simple little add on that you can just like, put some badges and points and leaderboards, add that to your elearning or whatever. And now, suddenly, you have gamification. And it's like, I'm slowly learning that there's way, way more than that. The fact that there's 48 hours of continuous talks about it shouldn't be enough to real and all of those still felt like it was just scratching the surface of everything that can be done or thought about that was a big takeaway for me, and really just got me more curious about it. And I feel like I came out of the unconscious incompetence to the conscious incompetence phase of this learning journey of like, holy crap. Now I know how much I don't know.
Amy:
That, at times, can be a challenging place to be in the learning process. And also, when you know what you don't know, then you know, the right questions to ask, that will actually help you learn and grow and develop.
Leslie:
Yes. Or at least I'm somewhere in between those two things. I feel like I still have unconscious and competence because like, I just have a hint of what I don't know. I have just been like holy crap. This is a way bigger iceberg than I thought it was, and, but also was very motivating to see so many people who are very passionate about it, and who have clearly invested the time to develop their expertise about it.
Amy:
Real Life experts,
Leslie:
Real life experts. Yeah. Not just people who talk about gamification, but people who live and breathe, love it, who love it so much that they stay awake for 33 hours or more. Whatever it was that woman it's about It was very enlightening in that way. Definitely.
Amy:
Were there any specific maybe skills or techniques or anything you learned that you felt were like things you took away that had immediate actions? And I'm asking that because a lot of times, I feel like when you're learning something new and or when you go to a conference, you get these big ideas on. That's a really cool thing. But how do I do something with it? And so I'm curious if, if you have that next step of I have some ideas on how to move forward with this?
Leslie:
Well, I don't know if I can say from all of this, these sessions, if I know how to go out and gamify, you know, a learning experience, for sure, probably not. But I did see enough times, all of these presenters are, were very good at gamifying their presentations. So I mean, I could talk about this for hours, but I won't, I'll just give a brief summary, but there was certain presenters like Koru Consulting did the virtual escape room that I was telling you about? Basically, all of these presenters were very good at having our our call going on in the webinar in the video conferencing platform, but also having these outside links that they were sending us to so these outside websites, and one was the escape room, there was another man let me get get his name because I feel like he needs the credit. His name's Javier Velasquez. And he had one his session was called Thank you, Mario But the Princess is in Another Castle. His presentation was all about implied versus clearly stated goals. So like, Mario, that Mario super brothers, you know, there's so many implied goals, like get the most coins go through a level without, you know, doing this or that and what are not? Or is the actual goal to save the princess. And so it's really up to each player to sort of figure out what their own motivations are, and what not. So he had this great thing where he sent us to another website, and he would ask us questions like, okay, what do you think the goal of each level is, and he would give you four options, like ABCD. And each one says something different, like, get to the end of the level, knock down the flag, get into the castle, get all the coins, whatever it may be. And you have to bet on what, what you think everyone else is gonna say. It's like a probability game, right? So you're saying, oh, maybe yeah. And I think people who are really good at statistics and probability probably could play that game very well. But I don't know any of that. So then you make your bet. And then he tells you what shows you what everybody bet. And you get points on whether or not you're right. But then he explains the mechanic of what he's trying to drive in. So it's just like, so good, because we're all in this webinar live of him talking about motivations and mechanics and things. But he's also having us play a game while we're going through it getting emotionally invested in the answers, because we're all betting on what we think the right answer, or what we think everyone else thinks the right answer is. So it was a super fun, it was really cool. So that's just one example. But so many presenters were doing very similar things. So the takeaway from that, for me, was, okay, I have to up my game about virtual led instruction, because, you know, zoom, tried to add these features of like breakout rooms and like polls, and, you know, annotations or whatnot. But that's just like, at this point, we've all been there, done that, right. And so I'm developing these outside resources that you can bring in to sort of enhance that experience. Like, I realized, Oh, yeah, this is definitely possible. And actually, really a lot of fun for the person on the receiving end of that. That was my big takeaway. Yeah,
Amy:
I love it. I think it almost sounds like reinventing virtual learning, a virtual maybe even meeting like virtual anything these days. But that's, that's exciting to think of new ways of being in a now very familiar place.
Leslie:
Yeah, yes. Yes, it was. It was a lot of fun.
Amy:
Well thank you so much for sharing all things Gamicon with us, Leslie. I'm going to transition to our last couple questions here which are the rapid round questions and since this is my first episode with a guest this is the first time you my listeners are hearing this so during every episode, I'll ask the same four questions to every guest. So Leslie, my first one is learning is and you fill in the blank
Leslie:
Fuuuuunnnnnnn! That's me like shouting without actually shouting so I don't hurt people's ears.
Amy:
I agree. That's why we're nerdy friends who like to learn together. When you're mustering up the courage to learn something new what song do you put on Leslie?
Leslie:
Okay, so this is it. Speaking of nerdy that I have one composer, his name's Clint. Mansell. I believe that's how you pronounce it. And for whatever reason, he wrote the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack way back in like, the year 2000, which is I'm dating myself, but and ever since then I've just like, he's I have a couple of composers where I just especially soundtrack composers, and I just follow, like, whenever they have new things, I listened to them. So he actually has written a lot of things that I'm sure most people will recognize, such as Black Swan, Moon, The Fountain, the San junipero episode of Black Mirror, which is my favorite episode of black mirror. And other things, many things. I just listened to him when I listened to him, I just super focus and can zone out and do what I need to do to learn the new thing.
Amy:
That's fantastic. I love that. All right, you're asked to do a brand new task with a skill set you do not yet have where do you turn Leslie?
Leslie:
Probably YouTube, or depends what it is either YouTube or an actual book, not like a blog, not something that I have to read on my screen. But like an actual book that I can hold in my hands and read one or though one of those, depending on the subject material.
Amy:
That's a great resource. The real question is, do you have an active library card?
Leslie:
No. No.
Amy:
Oh, man. And you said learning is fun?!?
Leslie:
I don't. I have well when this is off topic, but when I lived in New York City for a couple years, having a New York City Public Library card was amazing because their public library system was amazing. And you could find any book ever here in Minnesota. That was…I was spoiled. Okay. Okay,
Amy:
I understand. I've lived that life. I'm on the I'm on the flop side. Yeah, I live in a big city, and so have access to all of the things in my library. So okay, my last one without learning. Fill in the blank. Without Learning…
Leslie:
Well, if learning is fun, then without learning. Logic says I would have no fun. And I would be sad. That's that.
Amy:
Well I’m so glad we have learning. Yeah, exactly. When we think so much for participating in my rapid round questions. I'm curious what the best way for my listeners to be in contact with you after the show would be
Leslie:
Probably the fastest way to get in contact with me would be through LinkedIn. My name is Leslie Early. I don't think there are that many of me, or versions of me online. So that should be enough to find me. I also have my portfolio at leslieearlydesign.com. The podcast is that that'sawesomeid.com those are the places.
Amy:
Well, thanks so much Leslie for sharing all about Gamicon with us today. Be sure to check out her podcast That's Awesome ID as well as her fancy new website at thatsawesomeid.com I also want to give a shout out to you my listeners for spending some time learning with us today. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any future episodes. Until next time, be open, receptive and kind.