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The Serious Play Conference Europe 2026 in Mainz has concluded, but the journey of cross-sector execution and collaborative design continues. It was a true privilege to connect with global experts, exchange systems-level ideas, and witness the future of interactive experience design. The conference set an exceptional benchmark for structural engagement. The venue gamification, utilizing magnetic letters to fill interactive spaces, beautifully drove the #seriousplay26 conversation. A few standout highlights and masterclasses from my time there: Rick Miller set a magnificent standard for creative daring and stage presence with his live guitar keynote. His performance creation baseline is a powerful testament to his global recognition as an architectural force in creative thinking. Dr Sabiha Ghellal provided immense intellectual clarity on the vital role of critical game jams as practice-based tools for cultivating the next generation of experience designers. Prof. Stephan Jacob beautifully mapped the intersection of science and interactive technology, proving how effectively games can bridge complex spatial data and space exploration. The energetic walking workshop by Janna Peterson & Julian B from 57 North Hampton was deeply inspiring. Her dedication to fighting hustle culture through free therapy and inclusive community play is profoundly impactful. Prof. Dr. Greta Hoffmann’s “Trash Monsters” (muell-ag.de) perfectly exemplifies the blend of rigorous design mechanics and personal style. Her Hippocampus hat was easily the coolest outfit at the venue. "Junkschedel.com", delivered stellar event gamification with seamless venue orientation and custom avatar tracking. I was also highly impressed by the team behind wildwestcircus.games; their richly detailed West World map and scenarios were masterfully intuitive. Connecting with Nathaly Kalantar Cuellar was an exceptional highlight. Her design prototype exploring the cultural and behavioral nuances of Taarof is a definitive must-see. Check out here: https://lnkd.in/d6JZECj2 Paul Darvasi,’s leadership and opening keynote on the critical importance of interactive environments were deeply memorable. Thank you to Paul and his outstanding team for creating such a high-impact space for our community. A special recognition also goes out to the dedicated volunteers who supported everyone throughout the event. On behalf of the attendees, I want to highlight Daniela Rebstock, who gave her absolute best to keep operations seamless despite the challenging hot weather. I wish her the absolute best on her path toward establishing one of the premier gamification consulting companies in the industry. Also meet Valerica Dumitrescu and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) team. Their AI Game, is a brilliant example of using physical board games to prepare worker mindsets for the AI era. You may find relevant images for each part below. #GameDesign #ExperienceDesign #SeriousGames #Gamification

What do Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Vincent van Gogh have in common that Shigeru Miyamoto and Gordon Ramsay don't? I’m opening my keynote with this puzzle next week at the Serious Play Conference Europe in Mainz. It’s not just a philosophical question. It points directly to the core challenge of enterprise enablement: Companies pay for attention. Games get paid attention. That gap is the entire opportunity. If you can't win the war for your audience's attention, your brilliant design mechanics and business strategies don't matter. You have already lost. Next Friday, June 19th, I’ll be on "Sun stage" (17:00) sharing what I’ve learned from designing 60+ serious games and running 200+ enterprise workshops, specifically how we shifted engagement from static slide decks to dynamic play across knowledge management, talent assessment, and onboarding. If you’re heading to Mainz next week: Let's book a 1-on-1 strategy session through the Brella app. Drop your guess to the puzzle in the comments below (no cheating if you already know the answer). See you in Mainz. Don’t blame the player. Fix the game. #SeriousPlay26 #SeriousGames #GameBasedLearning #DigitalLearning #LearningDesign

Buyers spend about 17% of their time with sales reps. The other 83%, the part that decides the deal, happens in rooms you will never enter. A piece on the most expensive blind spot in B2B sales.

Most companies are training their people to use AI. Almost none are training them to understand how it thinks. The gap between those two things is where the budget quietly disappears. I wrote about what the AI training industry keeps getting wrong.

Enterprise sales is rarely a fair fight. You aren't just selling a solution; you’re navigating 6 to 10 stakeholders who often don't even agree with each other. Most AI tools today either give you an "autopsy" of why you already lost or offer basic scripts that senior reps don't actually need. Strategy is the only thing that scales.

Most agile training fails, not because the content is wrong, but because people forget it by Monday. To address this, we designed "AgileOps" a bespoke agile simulation game. In this game, your team runs an AI startup, ships products, faces a demanding CTO, and experiences the challenges of ignoring WIP limits. 90 minutes of play equates to months of real sprint experience. Additionally, there is a manager dashboard that provides behavioral insights. Swipe to see how it works. DM us to customize AgileOps for your team or book a strategy call at gameisserious.com. #SeriousGames #AgileCoaching #EnterpriseLearning #GameBasedAssessment