SEPTEMBER B&Bs

September 9
11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. CDT
LOVABLE with Jazmin Webster

What if you could turn an idea into a working application without writing traditional code? Explore how Lovable uses natural-language prompts to help learning professionals rapidly build interactive applications, prototypes, and learning experiences. Bring an idea, experiment with the possibilities, and discover new ways to move from concept to creation.

September 23
1:00–3:00 p.m. CDT
GAMIFICATION TRIAGE: Why Engagement Designs Fail and How We Might Repair Them
with Joshua “Doc” Yavelberg

Sometimes gamification works beautifully. Sometimes it falls flat or motivates exactly the behavior you did not want. Bring a gamified experience or design challenge to this working clinic and help diagnose what went wrong. Together, we will examine the mechanics, motivation, feedback, and context, then explore how the experience might be repaired.

September 30
2:30–4:30 p.m. CDT
DESIGNING FOR GATHERING: Toward a Pattern Language for Digital Habitats
with Frank Parker

Does putting people in a virtual room actually create a gathering? Using Rippily as a living laboratory, we will explore how digital environments can be designed around meaningful social relationships rather than screens and rooms. Come prepared to gather, observe, experiment, and help identify the patterns that allow online community life to take shape.

LOVABLE 

Build & Brew with Jazmin Webster 

Wednesday, September 9
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. CDT
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

What if you could turn an idea into a working application without learning to code? Lovable uses plain-language prompts to create functional web applications, giving learning professionals a faster way to move from possibility to something people can use.

This is not a software demonstration or formal presentation. It is a working community session where we will experiment with prompts, examine what Lovable produces, and consider how AI-assisted development could support interactive learning experiences, prototypes, and tools. We will share ideas, ask questions, test possibilities, and talk about what works, what needs refinement, and where human judgment still matters.

Bring an idea, a project, or a problem you have been wondering how to solve. Whether you are new to AI-assisted development or already experimenting with no-code tools, you’ll leave with a sense of what Lovable can do and practical directions for turning an idea into an experience.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: 
https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

Gamification Triage:

Why Engagement Designs Fail and How We Might Repair Them

Build & Brew with Joshua "Doc" Yavelberg

Wednesday, September 23
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Central
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

What happens when a gamified experience gets people to click, complete, collect points, or compete but fails to create meaningful engagement or change? The problem may appear to be the mechanics, but the cause could involve motivation, participant needs, feedback, measurement, or the environment in which the experience lives.

This is a working community design clinic, not a formal presentation. Together, we will diagnose experiences that fell flat, felt forced, rewarded the wrong behavior, or became too complicated. We will explore alternatives to points, badges, and leaderboards, then stress-test possible repairs for fairness, accessibility, sustainability, administrative burden, and alignment with the intended outcome. Tater will help capture patterns and organize the group’s thinking.

Bring a gamified experience, challenge, or design problem to examine. You will leave with sharper questions, practical repair ideas, and a better understanding of how mechanics and feedback can turn an experience that functions into one that supports meaningful behavior.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: 
https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

DESIGNING FOR GATHERING 

Build & Brew with Frank Parker

Wednesday, September 30
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. CDT
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

Most online gathering spaces begin with an assumption: create a room, put people in it, and give them ways to communicate. But a room does not create connection, belonging, or community. What changes when we design around meaningful social relationships instead?

This is a working community session, not a formal presentation. Using Rippily as a living laboratory, we will experiment with social forms such as the Commons, Alcove, Anteroom, Co-Working Hearth, Workshop, Overlook, and Passage. Together, we will notice how thresholds, shared centers, edges, and gathering places influence participation, observation, and conversation. We will begin naming patterns that connect community concerns and practices to habitat responses and platform affordances.

Bring your curiosity about how people gather online and a willingness to move, observe, compare, and contribute. You will leave with a new lens for evaluating digital environments and practical language for designing conditions in which community life can take shape.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

OCTOBER B&Bs

October 7 
TBD

October 14
Time TBD
PROTOTYPE THE BOOK BEFORE YOU WRITE IT with Jimbo Clark

What if the first version of your book wasn’t a manuscript? Too many promising book ideas get buried under the pressure to write chapters before the author has tested whether the idea, structure, or experience actually works. What changes when you treat a book like something you can prototype first?

October 21
2:00–4:00 p.m. CDT
MAKING YOUR GAME OR COURSE AVAILABLE FOR ANYONE with Jeffrey Riley 

What if someone wants to participate in the learning experience you designed, but something about the way you built it gets in their way? Accessibility isn’t an add-on for later. The choices we make while designing games, courses, and activities can determine who gets to participate and who gets left out.

October 28
2:00-4:00 p.m. CDT
FROM SONG TO SESSION
Turning Music into an Interactive Learning Experience with Sherry Prindle

What if a song could become the starting point for an entire learning experience? Music already gives us story, emotion, rhythm, repetition, and memorable moments. The challenge is figuring out how to move beyond simply playing a song and turn what’s inside it into meaningful learning.

PROTOTYPE THE BOOK BEFORE YOU WRITE IT

Test the Idea. Shape the Experience. Then Write. 

Build & Brew with Jimbo Clark

Wednesday, October 14
Time TBD
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

What if the first version of your book wasn’t a manuscript? Too many promising book ideas get buried under the pressure to write chapters before the author has tested whether the idea, structure, or experience actually works. What changes when you treat a book like something you can prototype first? 

In this Build & Brew, we’ll explore ways to make a book idea tangible before committing to writing it. We’ll experiment with concepts, structure, sequence, activities, stories, and other pieces that could become part of the finished book. Together, we’ll consider what you can test with real people and what their reactions might tell you about what to keep, change, expand, or eliminate.

This is a working community session, not a presentation about publishing. Bring a book idea, a half-formed concept, or simply your curiosity. Expect to leave with practical ways to test your thinking and build a stronger book before writing chapter one.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

MAKING YOUR GAME OR COURSE AVAILABLE TO ANYONE

Build & Brew with Jeffrey Riley

Wednesday, October 21
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. CDT
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

What if someone wants to participate in the learning experience you designed, but something about the way you built it gets in their way? Accessibility isn’t an add-on for later. The choices we make while designing games, courses, and activities can determine who gets to participate and who gets left out. 

In this Build & Brew, we’ll explore accessibility through a designer’s eyes. We’ll consider screen readers, navigation, instructions, feedback, and other design choices that can create unnecessary barriers. This is a working community session, not a formal presentation, so expect to share experiences, ask questions, examine examples, and think together about practical changes that can make learning more accessible.

Bring something you’re building, an accessibility question, or simply your curiosity. You’ll leave with new considerations, practical ideas, and a better lens for designing experiences that more people can use, play, and learn from.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

FROM SONG TO SESSION

Turning Music into an Interactive Learning Experience 

Build & Brew with Sherry Prindle

Wednesday, October 28
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. CDT
Sententia World's Brain Brew Cafe

What if a song could become the starting point for an entire learning experience? Music already gives us story, emotion, rhythm, repetition, and memorable moments. The challenge is figuring out how to move beyond simply playing a song and turn what’s inside it into meaningful learning. 

In this Build & Brew, we’ll experiment with AhaSlides and explore how to break down a song, identify ideas and themes within it, and build those pieces into an interactive training experience. We’ll work through the process together, trying different ways to turn lyrics, concepts, and moments into questions, conversations, activities, and opportunities for reflection.

This is a working session, not a polished presentation, so come ready to play with the idea and contribute your own thinking. Bring a song you think has training potential, your curiosity, and your laptop. You’ll leave with practical ideas for using music and AhaSlides to create learning people may actually remember.

Join Us in The Brain Brew Cafe in Sententia World: https://thebrainbrew.cafe/

When prompted, simply enter your name and join as a guest.

Toolbox Tutorial: 

COMING THIS SEPTEMBER TO THE GAME GARAGE

Build Immersive Learning Worlds with Johanne Doty

What happens when learning stops feeling like a course and starts feeling like a world learners actually inhabit?

This September, Johanne Doty, Gamification Master Craftsman and creator of the immersive learning worlds Operation Shieldport and The Solis Campaign, will lead a special Toolbox Tutorial exploring how to design long-form narrative learning experiences that sustain engagement over weeks and months.

Participants will explore how role progression, recurring characters, mission structures, worldbuilding, and AI-supported interactions can transform asynchronous learning into deeply immersive experiences.

If you design online learning, simulations, onboarding programs, leadership development, or game-based learning experiences, this upcoming session will expand how you think about narrative, motivation, and learner engagement.

Registration information coming soon.

TOOLBOX TUTORIAL
Tuition: $99
Included in your Game Garage Membership 

Toolbox Tutorial:

COMING THIS FALL TO THE GAME GARAGE

Master of Wizards: Designing Motivation Through Play, Challenge, and Game-Based Dynamics

Winner of Best Use of Technology
GamiCon48V 2026 Throwdown Showcase
Thiago Barrinuevo 

What if engagement was not something you added at the end of a learning program?
What if it was built directly into the experience itself?

In this interactive Toolbox Tutorial, Thiago Barrionuevo will show participants how game-based dynamics can be used to create meaningful engagement without relying on gimmicks or superficial rewards.

Through a fast-paced experiential game and guided reflection, participants will explore how motivation, challenge, feedback, and decision-making influence human behavior and participation.

This session is designed to move beyond theory and help participants translate motivational principles into practical workplace applications.

TOOLBOX TUTORIAL
Tuition: $99
Included in your Game Garage Membership 

Whether you design learning experiences, lead teams, facilitate workshops, or support organizational change, this session will give you practical tools for creating experiences people genuinely want to engage with.

Toolbox Tutorial:

Check Back: More practical, hands-on workshops are being scheduled for this fall.

If you’re looking to design an experience that fully draws learners in, we will show you how immersion can be used with intention.