Serious Play Conference 2018: 100+ speakers on game-based learning

The Serious Play Conference brings together serious game developers, instructional designers and training leads who run learning programs in government, corporations, healthcare institutions, museums, K12 and higher education. The 2018 edition was its tenth year and was hosted by the Virginia Serious Games Institute (VSGI).

An announcement of March 26, 2018 expected more than 300 educators and training professionals and more than 100 speakers. It framed game-based learning as a growing industry and pointed to research showing that hands-on, experiential activity engages learners and improves retention.

The conference describes itself as a leadership conference for professionals who believe games can change learning. Its speakers come from all parts of the globe and share how they create or use games in corporations, classrooms, healthcare institutions, government and the military, with tips on moving game-based education programs forward. Attendees listen, share and take part in informal sessions about where serious games are heading, and developers can meet the people who buy training games.

Sam Adkins, chief executive of the analyst firm Metaari, was scheduled to present a new five-year forecast report on the global market for serious games. Developer sessions covered virtual reality in different kinds of games, how to prove that a game works, legal advice from an attorney and the view of several federal SBIR funding managers. The announcement said developers could learn what each market needs and meet the buyers directly.

That last item ties the event to money. Developers who plan to apply for small-business innovation funding can compare it with the public programs on the funding page. The sessions with funding managers let a studio ask how proposals are judged before it writes one.

The web address announced for the 2018 event, seriousplay-dc.com, no longer leads to the conference. Depending on how it is typed, it shows a notice that the site has been stopped or an unrelated website.

A conference of the same name has its own site at seriousplayconf.com. It carries pages for speakers, the program, the venue and an awards section, and it links to a European edition. Its start page describes six tracks covering education, healthcare, cultural institutions, research, corporate, not-for-profits and government, and says the conference rests on learning best by doing, with interactive workshops led by experts, scholars and practitioners.