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Episode 128

September 1, 2021

128: What games can teach us about designing better workshops with Lily Higgins

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    Intro

    Games are fun, silly, not based in reality…

    We can take our serious selves into games and embrace playfulness, but it’s a lot harder to take the playfulness back with us as we return to the ‘real world’.

    But what if we see that ‘real world’ as a game itself?

    What if we saw every interaction as a game?

    We could press certain buttons, move certain facets, and play with expectations and beliefs that change everything. When a meeting is a game, when an interview is a game, and when relationships are a game, we can have fun – we can open up possibilities and find new meanings within established systems.

    Join me and Lily Higgins in this week’s episode as we explore game design, facilitation, and the spaces in between.

    Find out about

    • How to see life and its constituent parts as a game
    • The six elements of game design that we can apply in non-game situations
    • Why playfulness can be so powerful
    • How different players see games differently and what we can take from that knowledge
    • What urban games are and how they can be facilitated
    • Why Lily likes to start sessions with an ‘Orchestra of Misery’

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    Thanks to our sponsor Deckhive. Click here to find out more about the new platform for using card decks in online facilitation. Use the code workshopswork to get the first month for free.

    Questions and Answers

    01:01When did you start calling yourself a facilitator? 02:00Do you recall what caused you to shift to finally calling yourself a facilitator? 06:06What inspires your work? Is it a particular school of thought or practice? 07:57What’s the difference between game thinking and gamification? 10:47What are the helpful, deeper ways we can apply game thinking to create intrinsic motivation? 14:13Do you have to draw a line between seriousness and fun when applying game thinking? 20:17How much of the background, the rules, the detail do you share with clients? 22:07What tools are there within game thinking that help flatten the room? 33:24What are your thoughts on finite vs infinite games? 36:14What makes a workshop fail? 37:08 What is an urban game? 43:45What did you take away from this urban game in Central Station that you apply in professional spaces? 46:30What would the equivalent be in an office? 48:25Do you have a favourite exercise? 56:28Was there anything else you wanted to bring today that you haven’t yet been able to? 01:05:51What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?

    Links

    Lily’s business

    Lily’s website

    Connect to Lily

    On LinkedIn

    On Twitter