In last week’s post, we took a look at the role of game-based learning in face-to-face events. Done right, game playing can be a springboard to acquire and even practice new skills and knowledge. Here are five key principles to employing game play at your event:
1. Fit the game play and the technology to the audience and the learning objectives. Make sure the game is easy to understand to encourage wide participation. If the game takes too long to get into, everyone loses. Time spent moving around a virtual world might seem cool, but if it’s too complex for your audience, it can also reduce the amount of time spent learning.
2. Don’t play games just for the sake of it. Provide a relevant context that draws the learners into an authentic experience. The goal is for your participants to become part of the learning as opposed to passive recipients.
3. Multi-player games encourage higher levels of participation. Most attendees enjoy the friendly competition and sometimes it even fosters a collaborative problem-solving environment.
4. Provide a facilitator to anchor the game. Articulation of game-play rules can keep the process flowing. Stimulating dialogue provides encouragement and reinforces key learning components.
5. Games need to part of an integrated event program. Game play and scores should feed into a continuum that inspires participants to engage in follow on activities at the meeting or within the booth.