Sealund’s Serious Games Blog

Sealund was invited to participate in the Society for Applied Learning Technology’s (SALT) Interactive Technologies Conference and Expo on August 20-22. The SALT Conference is a premier venue for the presentation of cutting edge, state-of-the-art technologies for education and training systems, job performance improvement systems, and knowledge management systems. Many of the nation’s defense agencies and corporate and healthcare decision makers were in attendance. Another distinguished guest, Dr. Carlene Peterson, Project Manager for Multijurisdictional Counterdrug Taskforce Training at St. Petersburg College co-presented with Barbara Sealund on how to obtain buy-in for Serious Games.

Ashley Hervas leaps at the chance to see the capital

The expo began with a wave of attendees interested in Serious Games, waiting in line at the Sealund exhibit to learn about solutions for their organizations —many were interested in viewing Sealund’s Serious Games. Sealund’s presentation, “Preparing Corporate America for Serious Games,” commanded standing room only! The presentation was highly interactive, engaging and fun. Serious Games were the central theme of the presentation and many were played. Those who participated in the games won prizes, but only a few were crowned MVP (Most Valuable Player).  Hands shot up at the end and many questions were answered which spilled over into the expo immediately following.

Jack Butler, Senior Instructional Designer and a consultant for Wal-Mart, facilitated a very intriguing session Sealund had the opportunity to attend. The session, entitled “The Brains behind Our Work,” examined how thorough and up-to-date audience knowledge of the brain is through the use of quizzes.

Sealund entertains clients and friends at dinner in Georgetown

Sealund also had the opportunity to interact with clients throughout the conference. Sealund celebrated Carlene Peterson’s birthday with a delicious chocolate cake.  Carlene was thoroughly surprised and elated that Sealund would celebrate her birthday at the conference.  Sealund entertained other clients and friends like The Pentagon, US Bank, Northrop Grumman and Saudi Arabian Oil Company.

Barbara Sealund and Nintendo DS with Brain Age winner Sunshine Holm

Barbara Sealund and IPOD Touch winner Emmanuel Fournier

The final day at SALT was exhilarating as Sealund’s exhibit was full of interested professionals up to the closing! In addition, Sealund has been invited back to participate at the New Learning Technologies Conference in 2009!

Serious Games = Serious Learning!™

For more information about Sealund’s Serious Games, please visit our website at www.sealund.com.

 In response to its overwhelming success with deploying Serious Games Engines, Sealund has been invited to speak on Serious Games at various conferences throughout 2008 and 2009. Sealund was sought out by the International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC) to be the inaugural speaker and chair for its ground breaking event, Training World 2.0 in Baltimore, MD, because of Sealund’s accolades and pioneering of Serious Games. The Training World 2.0 conference is a summit held exclusively for corporate training executives for whom engaging, training and retaining the gamer generation is a real-time challenge.  Sealund shared ranks with various Fortune 1000 organizations.

 Pratt Street Pavillion located on the harbor in Baltimore, Maryland.

 On Monday, July 28th, Sealund hosted a three hour presentation entitled “Entering the Game Lab: How Corporate American Can Play Without Getting Played. The presentation began with “The Java Jam,” a game in which attendees were partnered up and given several minutes to draw pictures depicting their personalities. Afterward, each group made personal introductions using the drawings, which drew a lot of positive response and really acclimated the attendees, putting them in learning mode.  Because the conference began at 9 am, “The Java Jam” was just the ice breaker needed to rev up the attendees. Sealund found through this game that the attendees had a lot of personal and professional goals in common.  Next came the presentation.  Three hours may sound like a long time, but Sealund’s ability to engage the attendees and keep them entertained with its array of Interactive Learning Games, Simulations and Engines, along with live, classroom-led interaction made the presentation a success! The attendees were excited about playing Serious Games because it encouraged teamwork and allowed the group to get out of their seats and interact with each other. What could have been three hours of a boring PowerPoint slide presentation resulted in three hours of fun, cheers and excitement.  There is nothing boring about Serious Games….  Just ask the attendees!

Sealund was also an attendee of the Training World Conference and was fortunate to share in the knowledge of presenting organizations such as Proctor & Gamble, Defense Acquisition University, Accenture as well as various others in attendance such as Pearson, Homeland Security and Boeing.  Each organization that presented at the conference was able to contribute various bits of knowledge on Simulations, Serious Games, and Virtual Environments.  The hot topic that resonated throughout the conference was Second Life and how it can be used as a tool to train organizations.  Sealund was inspired to establish a building to accommodate further networking for the Training World 2.0 attendees on its land in Second Life, as well as a Serious Games Engine User Group. After two days of establishing great lasting relationships with other attendees, the conference came to a close on July 29th.

Barbara Sealund and Nerissa Johnson in front of The World Trade Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

Barbara and Nerissa spent an extra day in Baltimore to gather and brainstorm Serious Games ideas and experience the city.  Wednesday, July 30th began as a quest to see the harbor.  It was a beautiful day for taking in the sights, seeing nature and exploring. The day ended with a quest to find “liquid gold”: the ever popular, Sealund signature carrot juice drink.  It was a rejuvenating, much needed answer to a rigorous couple of days.

 Attending Training World 2.0 was a great experience.  Sealund looks forward to participating in the next Training World Conference.

Serious Games = Serious Learning!™

For more information about Sealund’s Serious Games, please visit our website at www.sealund.com.