You can tell gamification is becoming a more and more mainstream trend when people start having specialized conferences and trade events for it. The latest is called simply the Gamification Summit, and it’s being held in New York this week, on September 15 and 16 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in the city’s Battery Park neighborhood.
If you’re attending, I’ll be moderating a panel on gamification and public health. It’s called “Behavior Change: Improving Lives & Increasing Longevity with Gamification,” and it’s at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 15. The panelists include representatives of Aetna, United Health, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Some of the other events, panels, and speakers will discuss gamification as it relates to retail sales, media promotion, and even politics, with a keynote by Gilt Groupe co-founder Alexandra Wilkins (and the pseudo-members-only vibe of Gilt.com is admittedly a genius bit of gamification — there’s a daily race to be the first to hit the site right at noon to see what the day’s sale items are).
Also on my radar is a talk from Aaron Forth, a VP at Intuit, on that company’s Mint.com personal finance site, which tries to add some fun and engagement to personal finance; and a session called “Games Jihadis Play,” about the use of gamification-like element to indoctrinate potential recruits.
If you plan on attending, feel free to drop by my Behavior Change panel, or just say hi in the hallway, and leave a comment below on what you think worked and didn’t about the conference.
[In the interests of disclosure, I have no connection to Gamification Co, the organization running the event, nor am I accepting a speaking fee for my appearance.]
