GamiConATX '26 (Sep 14-15) is co-located with TechLearn (Sep 15-17).Â
Register at TechLearn for early bird pricing. Ask about group discounts.
Use code: GATC for $150 off
Who Is GamiConATX '26 For?
GamiCon ATX 2026
AI + Game-Based Design for Real Learning Experiences
This is where serious learning design meets Austin’s creative edge.
Hosted by TechLearn, GamiCon ATX is a two-day, hands-on design lab for L&D professionals who are actively building gamified and game-based learning. This is not theory. It is a working experience where participants design, test, and refine real solutions using AI.
Across two days, participants will create narrative-driven scenarios, interactive challenges, feedback systems, and learner-driven pathways tied to real learning objectives. Every concept is applied immediately through hands-on build, peer testing, and iteration.
Day One is focused on design and build.
Day Two is focused on testing, refinement, and feedback.
An After-Hours experience continues the learning through gameplay and conversation.
If your work helps people build better learning, faster and more intentionally, this is where it happens.
This experience is about doing the work, not just talking about it, and leaving with clearer thinking about what comes next.
đź“Ą Download the Brief to see why this event is a must-attend for learning professionals like you.
đź’Ľ Need approval to attend? Download a customizable letter to your boss to help make the case!
Participants Leave With:
Participants will leave with a working gamified or game-based learning prototype designed around a real-world challenge from your own organization.
You will also receive a curated collection of AI prompts, design tools, templates, and the GamiCon ATX design card deck to support future projects.
Most importantly, you will leave with a practical implementation blueprint, playtesting feedback, and a clear action plan for moving your ideas from concept to execution.
DAY 1
Monday, September 14 | 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
MAKE IT:Â Transform a real workplace challenge into a playable prototype.
DAY 1: MAKE IT (From idea to working draft)
9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Opening + Experience Setup
Day 1: DEFINE IT!
9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
What's Worth Building?
Day 1:Â FRAME IT!
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Build the Story Before You Build the Experience
Day 1:Â DESIGN IT!
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
AI for Idea Generation + Vibe Coding Across Tools
Day 1:Â BUILD IT!
2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Build Sprint: Why Games Work
Special After Hours Event
Story Sparks with Rory O'Connor
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Emerald Tavern Games & Café
9012 Research Blvd, Suite C1
Austin, Texas 78758
(512) 994-4649
After a full day of building, join us for an evening of creativity, conversation, and play at one of Austin's most unique destinations.
We'll gather at Emerald Tavern Games & Café, Austin's original game café, where board games, great food, craft beverages, and creative thinking come together in a relaxed English Tudor-inspired setting. This special evening with Rory O'Connor, creator of Rory's Story Cubes, is designed to help you step away from your laptop, recharge your creativity, and discover new ways to think about storytelling, learner engagement, and gameful design.
Rather than another presentation, you'll experience the same principles we've been discussing throughout the day. Through conversation, storytelling activities, and playful exploration, you'll see how simple prompts, interaction, and shared experiences can unlock ideas that rarely emerge when we're staring at a screen.
What to Expect
- Storytelling activities with Rory O'Connor, creator of Rory's Story Cubes
- Appetizers and drink tickets included with your GamiCon registration
- Dinner available for purchase before the program begins
- Complimentary access to Emerald Tavern's board game library
- Opportunities to connect, collaborate, and exchange ideas with fellow learning professionals in a relaxed, playful environment
- Stay and play with fellow participants until 11:00 p.m.
Your GamiCon registration includes appetizers and drink tickets during our program from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
If you'd like to make an evening of it, you're welcome to arrive early and enjoy dinner on your own from Emerald Tavern's scratch kitchen, featuring British pub-inspired fare along with coffee, tea, cocktails, wine, and one of Austin's largest selections of draft beer.
As part of our reserved event, you'll also enjoy complimentary access to Emerald Tavern's extensive library of board and hobby games. Simply let the staff know you're with the GamiCon ATX group, and you can check out games at no additional charge throughout the evening.
When our program concludes at 9:00 p.m., you're welcome to stay, continue the conversation, explore the game library, and play with friends old and new until the café closes at 11:00 p.m.
Sometimes the best ideas don't happen during the session. Sometimes they happen over a great game, good food, and an unexpected conversation.
DAY 2
Tuesday, September 15 | 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
MAKE IT BETTER:Â Refine, playtest, and prepare your solution for the real world.
DAY 2: MAKE IT BETTERÂ (From draft to real-world ready)
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
AI Simulation Design + Interaction + Ethical Impact
Day 2:Â BUILDING THE SYSTEM
10:45 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
Build a Game System with AI (GROW Model)
Day 2:Â MAKE IT REAL
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Application + Real-World Transfer
Day 2:Â MAKE IT REAL
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Application + Real-World Transfer
Day 2:Â SHOWCASE AND REFINE
2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Marketplace + Showcase + Feedback Loop
Can't Wait Until September?
Experience GamiCon Before You Arrive
Our GamiCon ATX Preview Series gives you an early look at the ideas, design approaches, and AI workflows you'll experience in Austin.
Led by GamiCon speakers and build coaches, these interactive sessions explore how learning professionals move from ideas to real-world solutions. It's your chance to experience the collaborative spirit of GamiCon before the conference begins.
Hosted exclusively through the Game Garage.
Learn More About the Preview Series →EMBEDDED BUILD COACHING
You’re not building this alone.
In addition to scheduled sessions, you’ll have access to on-the-floor design support throughout both days. You won’t be left alone to figure this out.
The Build Coaches will help you translate ideas into playable experiences, refine decision points, strengthen facilitation flow, and ensure your design reflects real-world application.
This is a working event. You’ll have support every step of the way.
BUILD COACH
Scenario Design + Technical Build Tools
BUILD COACH
Facilitation + Learner Engagement
BUILD COACH
Game Design
BUILD COACH
Project Management
Fueling the Future: Meet Our Sponsors
Sententia Gamification
A global leader in gamification and game-based learning for adult education and corporate Learning & Development, Sententia is the only company to codify the gamification of corporate training and adult education. Through certifications, consulting, and immersive learning experiences, Sententia helps organizations design engaging programs that motivate learners, strengthen capability, and improve performance.
Training Magazine
Training magazine advocates training and workforce development as a business tool. They are the industry standard for professional development and news for training, human resources and business management professionals in all industries.
BLUERABBIT
BLUERABBIT is a gamification platform designed to support engaging learning experiences for Learning & Development professionals. The platform enables organizations to design interactive journeys, challenges, and social learning experiences that motivate participation and reinforce learning outcomes.Â
Rippily
Rippily is a collaborative learning platform designed to support interactive workshops, training sessions, and learning experiences. Built for facilitators and Learning & Development professionals, the platform helps teams create engaging activities, capture ideas visually, and support collaborative learning design in real time.
Acorn Training
AÂ Singapore-based Learning & Development provider focused on professional skills, leadership development, and workforce capability building.
innoGREAT
If you want to teach innovation, you have to be innovative. This interactive workshop-in-a-box that unlocks your unconscious thinking; enabling deep and fast breakthrough change of any scope and scale!Â
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RINGORANG
Ringorang helps turn learning into action. Using short, game-based interactions delivered over time, the platform reinforces key concepts, strengthens retention, and supports real behavior change on the job.
Just Released:
The Sententia GameChangers Report 2026
Your guide to the trends and insights reshaping learning. The Sententia GameChangers Report brings together research from across the industry to help you understand the forces driving change in 2026. Inside, you’ll find the biggest shifts in AI, skills, and workforce expectations, along with Sententia’s perspective on what they mean for learning designers. This is the foundation for the conversations we’ll be exploring at GamiCon48V 2026.
