Ready, Set, Go Increase Engagement & Retention
June 10 & 11, 2026 • All Online
Sounds familiar? Disengaged, multi-tasking learners who rush through training, forget what they learned shortly after, and struggle to apply the knowledge they gained in on-the-job situations.
Using game elements in learning helps employees better retain and apply what they learned by keeping them actively engaged, motivated, and emotionally invested in the training process. But it can be tricky to design.
In this six-session online conference, you’ll discover how to best use game design and game elements to actively support long-term retention and real-world applications. You’ll walk away with strategies to:
- Design gamified learning that focuses on skill development and application
- Create learning experiences that better reflect workplace realities
- Ensure your gamified learning enhances engagement and supports meaningful learning outcomes
- Seamlessly integrate gamification into a blended learning model
- And much more!
Connect and exchange ideas with other attendees! At the end of each day, you’ll gather in small groups to reflect on key ideas from the sessions, share perspectives, and explore how you’ll apply what you’ve learned.
Program
DAY 1: June 10
101 Kick off Panel: Where We Get Game-Based Learning Right & Wrong
Kevin Thorn, NuggetHead Studioz, LLC.
Karl Kapp, Commonwealth University
Deborah Thomas, Silly Monkey LLC.
11:25 AM – 12:30 PM ET / 8:25 AM – 9:30 AM PT
This expert panel brings together experienced practitioners to examine where game-based learning succeeds and where it falls short in real-world instructional design. Our panelists will explore the underlying factors that make game elements engaging and effective, as well as common missteps that can limit impact or create barriers for learners. Through candid discussion and practical examples, you’ll gain a clearer understanding of how to thoughtfully integrate game mechanics, design for accessibility and inclusion, and make informed decisions about when (and when not) to use game-based approaches in your learning solutions.
201: Beyond Points & Badges: Gamification for Proficiency & Skill Transfer
Jenny Sun, Intuit
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PT
Gamification is often reduced to points and badges layered onto passive learning experiences. While these approaches can increase short-term engagement, they don’t always support long-term retention or real-world application.
In this session, you’ll explore how to design gamified experiences that focus on skill development and application. By combining structured questions with AI-evaluated freeform responses, this approach creates opportunities for learners to test their understanding and receive immediate feedback. You’ll also examine how to balance cognitive load and scale these strategies across different audience sizes without increasing development complexity.
301: How Immersion Transforms Learning From Knowing to Doing
Aaron Delgaty, UNC Chapel Hill
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PT
In many learning experiences, learners acquire knowledge but rarely get the chance to use it in ways that feel real. This session explores immersion as the missing link between knowing and doing and shows how ethnographic research can help instructional designers close that gap. By grounding learning in the lived experiences, decisions, and challenges of real people, you can move beyond abstract content and create environments where learners actively engage, experiment, and apply new skills. Drawing on applied anthropology, experiential learning research, and practical design examples (including game-inspired approaches), we’ll examine why immersion drives engagement and performance and what it takes to design for it.
DAY 2: June 11
401: Winning Strategies for Gamification in Blended Learning
Lauren Ross, Emory University
11:30 AM – 12:30 PM ET / 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM PT
Just like a championship team needs a strong game plan, a successful gamification strategy requires the right tools, players, and execution. In blended learning environments, gamification can easily become fragmented if tools, modalities, and learner experiences aren’t carefully aligned.
501: Escape From the Moon: Creating an eLearning Escape Room
James Brack,
Alan Orr, BDO USA
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PT
eLearning escape rooms can create engaging and interactive training experiences, but they can also present challenges during design and development. In this session, we’ll share a case study of building an escape room where participants escape from an office on the moon with help from a robot named Lumi while learning to use a generative AI chatbot.
601: Secrets of Gamification Revealed
Michael Milroy, NetJets
2:30 PM – 3:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM PT
Join us as we retell the misadventures of building “Ethical Pursuit,” an ethics compliance course inspired by Trivial Pursuit. This session shares the decision-making process behind choosing gamification, along with the challenges we faced while designing and building the experience.