Meet Jonathan 

Jonathan Peters, PhD, is Chief Motivation Officer for Sententia, where he helps organizations create learning experiences that inspire meaningful behavior change. His work combines motivational psychology, game-based learning, instructional design, and artificial intelligence to help learning professionals create experiences that people genuinely want to complete.

Jonathan is also an accomplished ghostwriter and editor, having contributed to more than 80 published books. His background in writing, combined with his expertise in human motivation, gives him a unique perspective on creating stories and learning experiences that connect with learners and drive action.

At GamiCon ATX, Jonathan demonstrates practical techniques for using motivation, narrative, and AI together to create stronger learning experiences from the very beginning of the design process.

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Jonathan Peters, PhD 
Chief Motivation Officer | Sententia

Monday, September 14
10:45 a.m. - 12:00 Noon

Build the Story Before You Build the Experience

Before you design activities, game mechanics, or AI-generated assets, you need to understand who your learner is, what motivates them, and why they should care enough to participate. During this hands-on session, you'll build the motivational and narrative foundation that gives every decision in your learning experience purpose.

What You'll Build

You'll discover how understanding your learners leads to better learning experiences and stronger behavior change.

Working alongside Jonathan, you'll refine your learner persona using the principles of human motivation, create meaningful context for your learning experience, and explore practical AI-powered writing tools that help you generate ideas, develop authentic situations, and eliminate the frustration of starting with a blank page.

Throughout the session, guided design cards will challenge your assumptions, encourage creative thinking, and help you strengthen the foundation for everything you'll build during the remainder of GamiCon ATX.

By the end of this session, you will:

• Refine a learner persona grounded in human motivation.
• Create meaningful context that supports behavior change.
• Use AI as a creative partner for brainstorming and story development.
• Develop the narrative foundation for your learning experience.
• Complete the Frame It section of your Make It Real Blueprint.

Where This Fits in Your Journey

Every session at GamiCon ATX builds upon the work completed in the previous Quest.

After defining your workplace challenge during Define It, you'll Frame It by creating the learner, motivation, and context that will guide every activity, interaction, and design decision that follows.

Define It → Frame It → Design It → Build It → Make It Better

AI in This Session

Bring the AI assistant you already know and use.

During this session you'll use AI to:

• Refine learner personas
• Explore learner motivations
• Generate story starters
• Create authentic workplace situations
• Develop believable dialogue
• Rewrite scenarios from different perspectives
• Explore alternative ideas without starting over

The techniques you'll learn work across today's leading AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity.