Meet Monica 

Monica Cornetti is President of Sententia and one of the learning industry's leading voices in gamification and game-based learning. For more than fifteen years, she has helped organizations transform traditional training into meaningful learning experiences that inspire participation, improve performance, and create lasting behavior change.

As the creator and Gamemaster of GamiCon, Monica has designed learning experiences for thousands of professionals around the world. Her work combines instructional design, motivational psychology, experiential learning, and practical application to help learning professionals move beyond theory and build solutions that work in the real world.

At GamiCon ATX, Monica serves as both host and guide, helping participants connect each Quest into a complete design journey while ensuring every attendee leaves with something real.

LinkedIn

Monica Cornetti
President | Sententia
Gamemaster | GamiCon

Monday, September 14
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.

Opening + Experience Setup

Your GamiCon ATX experience begins the moment you walk into the room.

This isn't a conference where you'll spend two days listening to presentations and filling a notebook with ideas you'll never use. Over the next two days, you'll design, build, test, and refine a gamified or game-based learning experience centered on a real workplace challenge that matters to you.

During this opening session, you'll be introduced to the Make It Real Blueprint, the Pirate Tales Treasure Map, and a series of guided design cards that will challenge your thinking and support each stage of your project. You'll discover how every session builds upon the previous one, transforming your initial idea into a playable learning experience you can continue developing long after you leave Austin.

GamiCon ATX is intentionally designed to keep you actively building. Every session includes time to think, create, experiment, and collaborate with others who are working on their own real-world projects. Guided design challenges, AI-assisted ideation, and small-group conversations help you strengthen your ideas one step at a time, creating steady progress throughout the two-day experience.

You'll also discover how AI is woven into every stage of the experience. Whether you're brainstorming ideas, refining learner personas, developing stories, creating graphics, building prototypes, or preparing for implementation, AI will become another member of your design team. Bring the AI assistant you already know and use because you'll be putting it to work throughout both days.

Before leaving this session, you'll identify the workplace challenge you'll focus on throughout GamiCon ATX and begin the first section of your Make It Real Blueprint. You'll also experience the rhythm that defines the conference. Every session follows the same rhythm. You'll learn a new concept, apply it to your own project, challenge your thinking through guided design activities, discuss your ideas with your table crew, and capture what you've learned before moving to the next Quest. Each cycle moves your project one step closer to a solution that's ready to test, refine, and implement.

By the end of this session, you'll understand the journey ahead, have selected the project you'll build throughout GamiCon ATX, and be ready to begin Quest One: Define It.

What You'll Build

Every great learning experience begins with a problem worth solving.

During this opening session, you'll establish the foundation for the next two days by selecting a real workplace challenge and committing to building a practical solution. You'll become familiar with the tools, framework, and collaborative process that will guide your work throughout GamiCon ATX.

By the end of this session, you will:

• Understand how the five Quests connect into one complete design experience.
• Become familiar with the Make It Real Blueprint and Pirate Tales Treasure Map.
• Experience the Pirate Tales Cards as tools for creative thinking and collaboration.
• Select the workplace challenge you'll develop throughout the conference.
• Prepare to begin the Define It section of your Make It Real Blueprint.

Where This Fits in Your Journey

Everything begins here.

This opening session introduces the framework, tools, and collaborative process that participants will use throughout the conference. It establishes the rhythm for the next two days and prepares you to begin your first Quest.

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

AI in This Session

AI is introduced as an essential design partner that you'll use throughout GamiCon ATX.

You'll learn how AI will support every stage of your project, including:

• Brainstorming ideas
• Challenging assumptions
• Refining learner personas
• Creating stories and scenarios
• Generating graphics and assets
• Building prototypes
• Critiquing and improving your design
• Planning for implementation

Bring the AI assistant you already know and use. The techniques you'll experience throughout GamiCon ATX are designed to work across today's leading AI assistants, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and others, allowing you to use the tools that best fit your work.