In this episode, we meet Pradeep U.N., a masterful weaver of narratives and gameplay, turning organizations into vibrant ecosystems where storytelling, gamification, and social learning converge to unlock a symphony of inclusion, innovation, and purpose.

About Your Host: Monica Cornetti works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives. A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was repeatedly rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE from 2015-2020, and in 2021 and 2022 was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry.

Monica is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning). She is the author of the books Lipstick Lessons, What Were You Thinking?, Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.

My guest is Artrell Williams and our topic is Taiyazukuri – A Tire Manufacturing Card Game that teaches tire manufacturing processes and terminology, fostering understanding through descriptions. It imparts Sumitomo Rubber USA’s Mission, Vision, Values, and KPI impact on business. The deck serves multiple purposes, reinforcing key concepts for SRUSA staff to grasp the value stream, communicate discrepancies, and cut manufacturing waste costs. At the GamiCon event in NOLA in September, Artrell's project was awarded the People’s Choice Award for “Low-Tech Design" – that’s quite the accomplishment to win the hearts of your peers.

Artrell Williams is a Presenter, Facilitator and Trainer with a passion for helping others grow and develop. Seeking additional opportunities for civic involvement. His areas of expertise include: Soft Skills Training, Sales and Sales Training, Customer Service Training, Coaching, Mentoring, and Humor.

About Your Host: 

Monica Cornetti works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives.

A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was repeatedly rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE from 2015-2020, and in 2021 and 2022 was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry.

Monica is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning). 

She is  the author of the books Lipstick Lessons, What Were You Thinking?, Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.

My guests are Jamie Phillips, Celia Sellers, and Rebecca Arnett, and our topic is Creating a Cyber Security Escape Room. 

In this innovative Cyber Security Escape Room event, participants raced against time to thwart a hacker using social engineering, phishing, malware, and more. Designed for the curious, puzzle-loving, adventurous, and competitive, this team-based challenge involved solving 15 cybersecurity puzzles. It encouraged team building and social interaction, with participants either forming groups or being assigned to teams. Key game mechanics included achievement rewards like stickers and photos, advance priming through storytelling videos, communal discoveries, puzzle guessing, unlocking sequences, and strategic use of hints. The fastest team earned recognition and a certificate. The goal was to reinforce training on critical human risks in cybersecurity.

Host: Monica Cornetti works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives.

A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was repeatedly rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE from 2015-2020, and in 2021 and 2022 was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry.

Monica is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning).

She is the author of the books Lipstick Lessons, What Were You Thinking?, Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.

My guests are Jordan Dyson and Scott Provence and topic is their internationally award-winning project called Walk With Me.

A wealth management firm was looking for ways to improve their organizational culture and address risks of declining client-service quality. Jordan and Scott created a two-step, game-based solution for this client: first, employees played a turn-based conversation game with an AI-powered chatbot that and then attended a live 50-minute debrief session where they learned about key empathetic behaviors, discussed their experiences. The program results showed double-digit improvement in evidence-based empathizing skills and participant mindset. Not only were employees exhibiting more empathetic behaviors in conversation, but their beliefs around their potential to enhance these abilities also saw measurable improvement over the course of the program. About Your

Host: Monica Cornetti works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives.

A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was repeatedly rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE from 2015-2020, and in 2021 and 2022 was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry.

Monica is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning).

She is the author of the books Lipstick Lessons, What Were You Thinking?, Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.

My guests are Bret Wardle and Michael Hyzy, and our topic is their book titled, Gamification for Product Excellence.

After years of leading product strategy, management, and development, Mike realized gamification could be the ultimate game-changer for creating engaging products. Seeing an opportunity to share this powerful concept, he channeled his insights into his first book, Gamification for Product Excellence.

Based in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bret is a seasoned Game/Software professional with over 15 years of experience in crafting immersive games, innovative software, and user-friendly apps. His passion lies in bridging the realms of design psychology in both gaming and software landscapes.

About Your Host: 

Monica Cornetti works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives.

A gamification speaker and designer, Monica was repeatedly rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE from 2015-2020, and in 2021 and 2022 was recognized as #1 in the Most Influential Women in Gamification who have created a legitimate impact in the gamification industry.

Monica is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning). 

She is  the author of the books Lipstick Lessons, What Were You Thinking?, Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You, and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.

Bernardo Letayf and Roman Rackwitz are renowned gamification experts on the cutting edge of innovation with their latest project, TABI. With a passion for merging gaming principles with various fields, they bring extensive expertise to the world of technology and engagement. TABI, their groundbreaking software, promises to revolutionize user experiences, education, and employee motivation. Through gamified solutions, Rackwitz and Letayf aim to enhance engagement and productivity in diverse domains. Their podcast interview offers valuable insights into their visionary work, shedding light on how TABI is poised to reshape the way we interact with technology and engage with content.

Hosted by Monica Cornetti:

• Monica works with individuals and organizations like yours who want to learn how to think playfully to change behaviors and achieve objectives.
• She is the President of Sententia, Inc. and leads the company’s education and design projects at Sententia Gamification. She is also the Gamemaster of GamiCon (annual international conferences for the gamification of learning). 
• Monica is  the author of the books Lipstick Lessons; What Were You Thinking?; Totally Awesome Training Activities Guide: Put Gamification to Work for You; and co-author of Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences.
• Monica is hired for her skill as a gamification speaker and strategist and she and her company Sententia Gamification are considered at the top of the field in gamified and game-based learning design for corporate training and adult education.

In the case of the project that is the topic of today’s podcast, Jim Piechocki woke up a dreadfully dull IT classification process training with a post-apocalyptic superhero story he had pitched years ago to Marvel about The Technicals, an alien race that takes over and outsources Earth. The gameplay:  You must learn how to create a keyword class to rescue Amazon and save the planet.

About our Guest:

Jim is a member of a small but growing breed of ATD-licensed developers who start with the acting talent, the humor, the broadcast-quality imagery, and entertainment value. He worked as a gag-writer for comic Tim Allen in Detroit, who taught him how to pare down physical comedy and dialog for maximum impact. His writing teachers Harlan Ellison and Walter Hill (The Terminator, 48 Hours) drilled into him the importance of getting it right in the first draft. Working on staff for Filmation on the He-Man and The Masters of the Universe cartoon TV series, he learned the writer actually directs the animation. And he has found that everything from Greek, Roman, Viking and Indian mythology, can provide ongoing inspiration for gamified learning.

Walt Disney assembled a new category of designers, engineers, and artisans called Imagineers. These daring creators continue to balance their technical design chops with imagination, storytelling, and insatiable curiosity. Their blue-sky thinking has resulted in parks, shows, rides, cruise ships, and resorts that don’t just contain stories like a stage in a theater but actively tell those stories. Not a bad goal for your next training program. 

How can you use the imagineering pyramid in your course design and delivery?

As part of a bigger effort to offer an asynchronous, summer faculty development program, the Center for Instructional Innovation at Augusta University developed a 2-part, 6-week program on Multimedia and Motivation in Student Learning. The first half of the program was a 3-week course on the Science of Motivation and Game-Based Learning.

The course was NASCAR or stock car race themed with 68 faculty members being divided into “pit crews” of 5 members. Each week (lap) presented the Pit Crews with content and “driving missions” that supported broader learning objectives.

About our Guest:

Jeff Mastromonico has been teaching, developing multimedia, and working in instructional design in the higher ed space for over 20 years. He currently is the Director of the Center for Instructional Innovation at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. He has a Masters of Education in Educational Technology from the University of South Carolina and a second-level certification in Gamification from Sententia.

Lynsey Steinberg is one of the 300 board-certified medical illustrators. Lynsey graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a Masters of Science degree from the Medical College of Georgia and earned her board certification in 2016. Lynsey has been able to experience hands-on surgery in the operating room, develop virtual reality, 3D printing, animation, gamification, and graphic design while working directly with students, faculty, and staff. As a team member, she believes in creating engaging work with a passion for creative problem solving through collaboration, inspiration, and innovation.

Paycor wanted an exciting experience to enhance their new hire program. Tracey created a wildly popular escape room game to review their day’s content and promote teamwork. 

Her first version was an in-person pop-up escape room but when COVID hit, she had to pivot to rethink and redesign it to be a virtual escape room but preserve the most fun parts.

About our Guest:

Tracey Stokely is the principal instructional designer at Paycor in Cincinnati, Ohio. Paycor is an HR technology company that provides business leaders with the HCM software tools, expert advice, and responsive service so they can make a difference in their organizations. She specializes in eLearning design and development. Tracey’s learning and development experience includes the software, contact center, and electronics industries.

Tracey is a member of the Learning Guild, won Best Mobile Solution at DemoFest at the 2019 DevLearn Conference, and has been a speaker at several conferences.

With the pandemic, facilitator-led corporate training was pushed to virtual platforms and many companies and freelances were not equipped to deliver experiential learning online.

Gaminar.net is a platform that enables educators to deliver serious games involving business and soft skills simulations online providing a seamless experience both for Facilitators and Participants.

Gaminar.net now has over 800 users who deliver their gaminars/simulations to their clients taking their virtual sessions to a higher level of engagement and training effectiveness.

About our guest: 

Fernando Mendes is a highly motivated and enthusiastic learning and development professional with over 20 years of experience in Organizational Development projects across Africa, North America, Europe, and the UAE.

Passionate about learning, he is the author of the book Start IUPI, a manual for teachers and parents on how to leverage entrepreneurial skills using simple and pragmatic games and exercises.

He is a trained standup comedian, and he brings his art of storytelling and performing into his training sessions, thereby making the sessions highly interactive and enabling higher learning retention.