Gamification, Reveal and Millenials

I am always excited about how we can improve learning, engagement and ultimately build connections and relationships through the power of face to face meetings. One of the ways we have found effective is through the use of communities that are aligned at an event through a mobile app, with a gamification layer built in.  I had the opportunity to speak with a writer for Business in Vancouver's annual meeting places edition about this over the summer, and much to my surprise, this feature became the cover story released in November. 

Surprise!

The next week I was contacted by some very smart Millennials (thank you Felix) to see if I would consider being their guest at the upcoming Reveal Competition, a business case study competition taking place at UBC and using Siim Software's gamified environment as the platform.  Since I love seeing gamification in action, I of course said YES and I could not have been more impressed, on a number of levels.  Kevin and Khalil were excellent hosts for the day, as I tagged along as a guest judge, and learned a lot. While there will be more prolific and thoughtful people who could share their perspectives on this experience as they lived through it, there are a few of the key things I learned as an observer of this day below. 

Live from the Reveal Competition
Twitter Stream #Reveal2013

1. Millennials will rule the world. Between the leaders, organizers, judges and volunteers, I met a number of smart under 30s who are forward thinking, hard working business graduates whose understanding of finance, balance sheets, commerce, technology, enterprise solutions and organizational structures was impressive. Their ability to judge and accurately assess the acumen, decisions and thought processes of the teams they were judging, and ask thoughtful and probing questions that were still fair was fascinating to be part of.  

They aren't scared of change, they are anticipating change. Their perspective on how they will move through and around organizations and how their education, choices and lifelong learning will impact their opportunities is clear, and they are willing to do the work and they were willing to help others be successful by sharing knowledge.  

2. Gamification works. The platform Siim created was based on a matrix, so teams first chose their hotels (the business of choice for this year's competition) in a draft format, and then as they made decisions, their decisions impacted each other hotel in their neighbourhood and comp set so, as in real life, the decisions were not linear and did not have a linear or expected outcome.  This is where the learning came from, the opportunity to try things, to meet curveballs and to see where your choices led your team.

3. Presentation and decision making skills matter. Not only did the team members have to work through the simulation, they also had to present to the judges, in a variety of real-life formats - via computer, via speaker phone and face-to-face and answer to their decisions. Of course the beauty of this is, it's not real and you may be very successful in the simulation, or you may "fail" or not do as well as you would like - but you really cannot beat the practice that a gamified environment gives you. Safe and immensely effective in learning and honing business skills, and truly competing using your wits, knowledge and acumen, imagine the possibilities for an organization to have talented team members who are not scared to try making the tough decisions, but understand there are multiple potential (not textbook) impacts, and who are practiced at the tough conversations... 
The key takeaway as revealed on Twitter #reveal2013 "Always expect the unexpected."

4. Diversity and Inclusion is our real life. There were a number of teams from institutions of higher learning from across Canada. Every culture, gender and a wide range of ages were represented.  Anyone who expects to see co-workers that look just like us had better take another look around and recognize that talent comes in all kinds of packages, and embrace perspectives.

5. Cufflinks. This is the bonus tip. Yes, dress for the job you will have, those who were there both competing and judging certainly did.

Reveal Conference 2013 provided a unique environment for these learners, and taught them lessons it could otherwise take years to learn in the workforce, making each a more valuable asset for those hiring.  It takes a team to bring something like this alive, and kudos to the talented force that brought the Reveal Conference to fruition. I can't wait to see what they do next year! 

Additional Resource. If you are not familiar with how gamification can positively impact your organization, this link is to a webinar I had the privilege to do In October with Trevor Roald at QuickMobile -  "Gamification" . It takes about an hour but covers the who, how and why of making gamification work for you.  (they have a lot of other resources here too)

Social Gaming - What can it mean for your organization?

I was invited by Terry Coatta to join him in a discussion on their bi-monthly AssociCom show, a show designed to provide information that will help associations facing interesting times as the changes come fast and furious to demographics and expectations.

There is so much data out there on how games can positively influence collaboration, productivity, engagement and innovation that in my opinion not looking at ways to include them is missing a potentially huge opportunity. if you follow the basics of good game creation, that have thousands of years of history to back them up, then your chances of success improve.

Some of the challenges we hear

• we don't have enough space to play a game
• our participants are here to learn, not play
• our participants are here to network, not play a game
• not everyone likes games
• it will take too much time
• you need a good enviroment and a good process for a game to succeed
• "we" don't think it will work

Some of the opportunities we see

• achievable goals a community can work towards create synergy, discussion and a sense of accomplishment
• you can close skills gaps in a more fun way that better engages participants
• you can create a common ground to build from in an environment that is safe - a game does not necessarily have real - life consequences but does require that you make decisions that will impact the outcome
• engaged learners find more ways to make the learning relevant to their own situations - play engages more senses, has more synapses flowing and creates more "connect-the-dot" moments
• people attend meetings to create connections - as Plato said "you learn more about a person in an hour of play than a lifetime of conversation"
• being part of something bigger than oneself opens up participants to a greater sense of community and connectedness
• combined depth of experience can be created and positive emotions are created - and as we are all emotional learners this will create better memories and more reason to return

Should you consider adding social gaming to your event? Heck yes! Consider though the basic constructs of your game. It has to have clear goals and rules, clear and continuous feedback, and it has to offer voluntary participation that shows agreement to the above inherent goals and rules. This takes time and clarity to achieve, and it may mean finding someone smarter than you (as we did with EventCamp Vancouver) to build out the game elements. You want to create achievable opportunities, and you also want to challenge participants - play to the highest level and you will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

What can you expect when you add a well constructed social gaming to your next conference or event?

• better collaboration among participants as they work together to achieve shared objectives
• unleashed creativity and strategic thinking as participants seek to "level up" and achieve the next goal
• the creation of optimism and hope - when we can see regular progress, or face setbacks in the game environment and move beyond these, positive emotions flow
• With success comes a perception of control over our environment and the associated  powerful feelings can translate to our daily lives
• the release of positive endorphins leading to good feelings (hey you can't argue basic physiology)
• greater camaraderie among participants throughout and beyond game play - you have a shared experience that connects you to others
• this shared experience can be with the people in your space or it can be with remote players around the world - games can become much bigger than your physical meeting space

Consider the next time you are planning a meeting or event how you can use the knowledge we have about great meeting and game design and add even an element, test it out and see what the response is. All you have to lose is an opportunity to create deeper connections amongst your participants!

If you are using gaming, or scared to try it, please comment and keep this discussion going.