Professor Game Podcast

Professor Pete Alexander is the President of the greatest interior landscaping company in the San Francisco Bay Area - Office Plants by Everything Grows. In addition, he serves as an adjunct college professor, where he helps inspire students to develop and apply key concepts of marketing specifically to their area of interest. He's also a TEDx speaker and best-selling author on reducing stress in your everyday life. Lastly, but certainly not least, he is a certified Laughter Yoga leader and improv comedy cast member, supporting his community to laugh more and stress less.

Meet Joe Schaeppi, a visionary in human psychology who wants to fundamentally change the way brands and audiences connect. As the CEO and founder of Solsten, an AI-powered platform for human-centric experiences, Joe is pioneering the use of video games for cognitive assessment, opening up new possibilities for not only the gaming industry but for mental health diagnostics and treatment. Armed with his experience leading UX strategy for Big Fish Games and MRM // McCann and his impactful work as a startup advisor, adventure-based psychotherapist, and ski ambassador for The North Face, Joe intrinsically understands the power of a people-first approach and is ready to help companies create healthier and livelier experiences for users without leaving them overstimulated and disconnected from the real world.

Roger Peters also known as Rook, owner of Epic Sages, an Army veteran, a husband and a father of 2. He lives in Fairbanks Alaska. He loves teaching and introducing people to TTRPGs (tabletop role-playing games) like DnD (Dungeons and Dragons). He is a consistent learner and constantly evolves himself and his business with new technology.

Lance is the creator of The Influence Formula and the popular Influence Spectrum Quiz. As a professional speaker, he has shared his groundbreaking formula with audiences across the country. His background includes time as a prolific fundraiser, dynamic sales trainer, highly-rated professor, and published author. He has a bachelor's degree in marketing and a master's degree in executive leadership. Lance is married and has six kids; they are all boys except for five of them. In his spare time, he enjoys competing in Mr. Clean look-alike competitions.

Founder of the Playground for Entrepreneurs, a serious game that supports entrepreneurship coaches and educators to provide engaging and insightful sessions, workshops and classes. The game is based on my experience coaching 500+ startup teams and their (regular) coaches in their early stages of entrepreneurship. Most of that experience comes from government entrepreneurship and innovation programs such as Apps.co (by the Colombian Ministry of ICT). I have also been active as a University Educator at Universidad del Rosario, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano (both in Colombia), Avans University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands). I hold an MSc in General Management (Business Universiteit Nyenrode, the Netherlands) and an Executive MBA (Quantic Institute of Business and Technology).

Eko Nugroho has been at the forefront of driving the implementation of game-based learning and gamification in Indonesia over the past 14 years. Alongside his team at Kummara.com, Eko has offered consultancy and advisory services in the realm of serious meaningful games and interactive learning to various companies and organizations. Additionally, Eko serves as an advisory board member at Ludere Nusantara Foundation (Ludenara.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting teachers in implementing game-based learning programs and enhancing the overall quality of education throughout Indonesia. Eko is also a distinguished gamification expert and has been recognized as a finalist for the Gamification World Award. He is widely acclaimed as an international speaker, having presented at renowned events such as Gamification Europe, Gamicon48V US, and the Connected Learning Summit at MIT, among others.

Danielle is the owner of Octane Design Studios, a 13-year-old branding and identity firm based in the heart of the Bluegrass. Danielle is a creative, recently certified prompt engineer, podcaster, strategist, wife and mama of 3. She·s also a lover of Italian cuisine, chai, cosplay, comics and retro gaming. With over 15 years of marketing and multimedia agency experience, Danielle began as a grassroots developer and curator, helping brand and launch over 150 small businesses across America; · in Kentucky. As a third-generation entrepreneur, Danielle is an advocate of non-traditional education leading online meetups and workshops for DIY marketing. Her latest education platform Q1 Essentials is a gamified digital market cohort to help beginners enhance their digital marketing skills before the first business quarter of the new year. In 2021 Danielle restructured and launched Kentucky Creatives an all-new Kentucky-based membership community comprised of influencers, bloggers, photographers, copywriters, podcasters and more to help connect small businesses with influencers for their brand. As much as Danielle is passionate about providing creative services she strives to be more than just the graphics she creates. Over the years her hashtag #MoreThanGraphics has become more than just a marketing slogan; it has become a life principle for herself that she executes through storytelling and round table discussions with her co-hosts, all women of color as producer of the #MoreThanGraphics podcast.

After a stint in juvenile hall, AnnMaria ran away from her last foster home at age 15 and, with a fake ID, got a job and an apartment. By age 19 she had her bachelor·s degree, an MBA at 21. She was the first American to win a world judo championship, then retired from competition to earn her Ph.D., became a professor, and quit the university to start her first business after the death of her husband. She has founded four companies, raised four children, been one of Forbes 40 Women to Watch over 40, a Next Gen Leader of the International Game Developers Association Foundation and AARP Purpose Prize Winner. She and her daughter, Ronda Rousey, are the only mother-daughter combination in the International Sports Hall of Fame.

Charisse Beach is the founder and CEO of Youth Transformation Services (YTS), a nonprofit company providing training on Risk and Protective Factors, Mental Health Intervention, and Game-based Learning. Charisse also authored At-Risk Students: Transforming Student Behavior which details the warning signs of disturbing behaviors often overlooked by educators and/or misdiagnosed by mental health professionals. As a result, she co-created the Mental Health Intervention App (MHI) with her youngest son. MHI is a two-way communication tool that alerts healthcare providers of changes in their clients' mood and behavior. To learn more, visit www.youthts.org.

Kevin Reste operates at the unique intersection of art, media, and technology. As a Creative Operations Specialist, Artist, and Producer with an MFA in Design and Technology from Parsons the New School of Design, his expertise is multifaceted. Kevin's contributions range from motion capture animation for the renowned Rock Band video game series to high-impact VFX work for artists like A$ap Rocky and Cardi B, along with key projects for Budweiser, Coca-Cola, and NFL Sunday Night Football. Serving as the Creative Officer at WebXR.tools and with notable collaborations with industry leaders like WPP and Droga, Kevin continuously pushes the boundaries of digital creativity. In a landscape ever-shifting between technical precision and creative expression, Kevin stands out as a strategic facilitator, ensuring these realms harmoniously converge for top-tier results.

Lauran Kerr-Heraly is an award-winning educator and author. She currently serves as a history professor and Innovation Fellow at Houston Community College. Her innovative teaching includes turning a classroom into an escape room, multidisciplinary projects showcasing personal food histories and environmental justice, and playing with experimental learning spaces. As an executive function coach, she works with teens and their parents too. She helps develop a holistic approach to school success, which includes a focus on essential skills, executive function, and emotional awareness. She uses gamification in her coaching to motivate and engage. She shares a nerdy and adventurous life with her husband and 10yo in Houston, where they play a lot of board games (the more complicated, the better).

Well this is special, because it's the first time I decide to just go with an interview with a fellow gamification practitioner "only" because we are physically in the same space (and it is not during a conference or anything). So Antonis Triantafyllakis is a past guest, and we've had coffee in Madrid now twice (he came about two years ago) but this time we decided to try this live, in-person interview using my phone, and I think it went pretty well!

As a Corporate Partnerships Manager for Knights Esports Group, Liam is a leading authority on competitive gaming, event management, league organization, and technology development. Unlike many in the gaming industry, Liam chose the traditional path of pursuing higher education, attending the University of Pittsburgh straight out of high school. During his senior year, he discovered his passion for leveraging gaming as a means of bringing people together, particularly during the pandemic. Liam joined the Knights immediately after graduation, bringing a unique perspective on the future of gaming, including its potential impact on education, health, and artificial intelligence. He excels at building bridges between brands, gamers, fans, and influencers, and is available to share his expert insights on the ways in which gaming and esports will shape the future of industry and society.

Paul starts by saying that the author of love is God. In His wisdom, He placed us in a variety of circumstances that require us to find our way back to His pure love. So, what qualifies Paul Zolman to speak about love? His childhood experience of the opposite of love. From that austere beginning, and the distaste it formed inside him, he searched for and eventually created a method that transformed his life from anger to loving everyone. Growing up in a family of abuse, physical touch became his preferred love style, only because of the regularity. He could almost count on it. It was consistent. He came to think that was the way to express love. But deep inside, he knew that was a twisted belief. He wanted a better life for himself, which is why he created a paradigm shift that works. In this book, you·ll find what helped Paul Zolman move from a childhood boot camp of abuse to being a person who loves everyone and can find good about anyone in any circumstance. This is truly the role of love.

Bob Moog co-founded University Games in 1985 to develop, design and manufacture social interaction games for families. Since that time, he has developed more than 200 game and toy products that have sold more than 30 million units. These games include the best-selling geography game line, Carmen Sandiego, the first line of games based on Dr. Seuss books, including The Green Eggs and Ham Game, 20 Questions, and Kids Battle the Grown Ups. The company has grown through a combination of internal growth and acquisitions and now boasts five divisions and more than 400 products. Throughout this rapid growth, the company has maintained its focus on socially interactive products that teach as well as entertain.

Quick update on our summer break! In the in the shownotes (professorgame.com) you can see our baby enjoying the sand and the water at the beach, but it didn't start out that way! Quick episode with a quick lesson I've been reminded of, and it has to do with the onboarding of experiences. Have a quick listen to understand what we're talking about.

Special episode Engagers! This is your reminder to take a step back of what·s been going on and to get your glass filled with energy once more!

This is a bonus on the series of the gamification process! It would be the seventh part of the series, so if you haven't listened to or seen Gamification Intro (Episode 295), Setting Up With Objectives for Gamification (Episode 296), Who Are Your Players (Episode 297), Choosing and Using Game Mechanics (Episode 298), Storyboarding and Prototyping (Episode 299) or Playtesting and Iteration (Episode 300) you certainly want to start there!

Episode 300 is here!!! Wow, it's been a while, many interviews and some solo episodes like this one. Thanks for your support, whether starting just now or continued for many episodes, I appreciate you as an Engager and I'm sure you will continue to find value here. For this episode we close the cycle with playtesting your prototype and iteration, this is the Final Boss! This is the sixth and final part of the series discussing this process, so if you haven't listened to or seen Gamification Intro (Episode 295), Setting Up With Objectives for Gamification (Episode 296), Who Are Your Players (Episode 297), Choosing and Using Game Mechanics (Episode 298) or Storyboarding and Prototyping (Episode 299) you certainly want to start there!

On this episode, we discuss the importance and strategy of going into storyboarding and then prototyping. This is the fifth part of the series, so if you haven't listened to or seen Gamification Intro (Episode 295), Setting Up With Objectives for Gamification (Episode 296), Who Are Your Players (Episode 297) or Choosing and Using Game Mechanics (Episode 298) you certainly want to start there!