Engagement Is Everything

Nerd time! Yay! Gamification, specifically social gamification, has been proven to activate the hippocampus (the section of the brain largely responsible for knowledge recall) as well as trigger the release of dopamine, serotonin and endorphins. This response not only makes the participant feel good but also allows them to increase their capacity for learning, memory and attention. 

Additionally, it reduces stress, increases one’s capacity to process information, and mitigates the effects of cognitive overload. Research suggests that gamification not only enhances individual performance but also leads to increased team cohesion, task commitment, and overall team performance. This, in turn, drastically improves the wellbeing of employees and enhances productivity.

Even though all of our games can be played anonymously and we don’t capture any identifying data, we capture an incredible amount of participation data. This data is helpful in better understanding everything that’s really going on within the experience on the participant level. It can showcase where there’s a drop in learning or understanding, it can show categories and themes based on feedback, and much much more.

And yes, you can absolutely keep all the data, metrics, and reporting we offer. These reports are useful for leadership and in helping to make more informed decisions.

But leaving participants with a lasting representation of the work they’ve done is often a good tool for continued collaboration beyond the game experience.

Some tools have a specialized result that can often be shared with all of the participants. With Cartoonathon, participants are left with the custom New Yorker-style cartoons created in their session. With Headlines, we have the ability to export mock-up newspaper headlines that directly reflect the group’s exchange of ideas. I Think, We Think generates a very informative word cloud or cluster that represents the experience of the game. All of these can be shared with participants to remind them of the change or ideas discussed in each session.

Thank you! I’m glad you recognize how special it is! Remember, this is a new methodology for lots of people. They feel the benefits but they don’t know how it applies to them. But why would you? It’s new! Leave it to us to help identify a great way to use this. Since our methodology and tools do a lot, there’s a lot they can fit into. That’s why we suggest a quick chat to start with.

Often our approach is to listen to learning or informational goals, take a look at any existing materials, then prepare a demo on what we think might be the best approaches to your session. You then make all the decisions on what stays, what goes, and what changes need to be made. Then, on the day of the session, we work together to deliver a really great experience.

This is a really great question and the answer hinges on your definition of ‘game.’ If your only experience has been board games or video games, it might be difficult for you to justify games or gamification as a serious learning or informational method or to communicate its effectiveness to colleagues.

However, a broader understanding of games and game mechanics will reveal that social gamification can make every aspect of work better through many different elements like structure (rules) and motivation (points).

All of our games are web-based meaning anyone with the game link can participate in a game event. This is ideal for being compatible with the many amazing video platforms available to businesses and organizations like Zoom, Teams, WebEx, Whereby, etc. We work in conjunction with any communication platform and in hybrid and in-person settings as well.

Since our games are web-based, they work with any of your communication devices. In fact, our games are mobile-first while also being optimized for desktop and laptop computers and tablets.

Yes. It is. We don’t track any identifying information nor do we have any desire to. We believe that candid, honest feedback is the best way to identify issues and their solution, brainstorm new ideas, and do a full well-being check. Each game has the ability for people to self-identify, and some games benefit from knowing who the person is. Beyond that, we do not track any identifying information. You can read more about it in our PRIVACY POLICY.

Absolutely. At our core, we create game activities that are designed to generate feedback. This can be done with participants in the room, remotely across the globe, or anywhere in between. Regardless of where your workforce is, the mechanisms work across the board.

I like how you worded that. So official sounding! Our platform can support several hundred and has even supported over 1000 in a single event.

I will say that, depending on your informational or learning goals, we highly recommend that you chat with us about what kind of experience is best for your session. We use lots of different kinds of data to support our recommended session sizes. So, this is less about HOW MANY and more about HOW WELL.

Each session does require a facilitator in some capacity, except in some rare instances where autonomous sessions do work. Any session can be easily facilitated by someone within the organization or company.

However, because this is a new methodology, our Expert Facilitators are here to work with you. They are very skilled at leading sessions while using the tools and work with you to have a great understanding of the subject material. Often, the best way to start and deliver any sessions is to have a facilitator from your company work with one of our EFs (we don’t call them that but it sounded good here).

Over time, many of our clients have taken on facilitating them on their own while others, even when they feel comfortable with the tools, prefer to have us involved in every session. The flexibility exists and we help you every step of the way.