Blackjack Superstar Jeffrey Ma, Game Designer Richard Bartle, Stanford Professor Byron Reeves Added to GSummit Lineup

Hands-On Gamification Workshops Nearly Sold Out

NEW YORK – April 11, 2012 – The Gamification Summit (June 19-21, San Francisco) today announced several significant additions to its speaker lineup, including thought leaders, academics and experts from a variety of disciplines. New speakers that will take to the GSummit stage to discuss the latest in techniques for engaging employees and customers in the new economy include Tim Vandenberg, one of the world’s top-ranked Monopoly players and inspiring educator; Richard Bartle, renowned game designer and professor; Jeffrey Ma, card game expert and protagonist of the book Bringing Down the House and movie 21; and more. GSummit organizers have also revealed that the hands-on Gamification Workshops featuring experts Gabe Zichermann and Mario Herger are nearly sold out with fewer than a dozen confirmable spots remaining.

Additions to the GSummit speaking lineup include:

• Tim Vandenberg – The #2 ranked Monopoly champion in the world, Tim is an elementary school teacher who uses Monopoly to teach economics in k-12. Hear Tim’s inspiring story and get a chance to play with him in a special, hands-on event.
• Jeffrey Ma – Currently the CEO of Tenxer, Jeff is a poker expert and protagonist of the New York Times best-selling Novel Bringing Down the House and Hollywood hit movie 21, which told the story of a group of MIT students who made millions beating Vegas casinos at their own games. At Gsummit, Jeff will discuss how to think about gaming the system and the power of incentives.
• Nicole Lazzaro – An acclaimed game designer and one of the top women in Gamification, Nicole will discuss the importance of emotionality in Gamification and how to design extraordinary experiences.
• Byron Reeves – Stanford Professor Reeves is also the author of the book Total Engagement. Byron will show attendees how leading enterprises will use Gamification to spur innovation, reimagine their rewards and recognition processes, and attract top talent.
• Richard Bartle – A highly acclaimed game designer and professor, Richard is the developer of Bartle’s Player Types, a seminal work and core concept in Gamification. In his first ever presentation to the Gamification community, Richard will discuss the evolution of player typology and how we can segment audiences in new and exciting ways.
• Nir Eyal – An expert in behavior design, Nir is a veteran of the tech startup scene and serves as a mentor in several startup incubators, such as The Founders Institute, the Thiel Fellowship, and 500 Startups.  At GSummit, Nir will present on the subject of building irresistible user experiences.
• Andrea Kuszewski – A researcher and author on the subject of creativity, intelligence and autism, Andrea will discuss the importance of fluid intelligence and designing experiences that speak to intelligence while helping to increase it.

These exciting thinkers join Dave Anderson of United Airlines, JP Rangaswami, CSO of Salesforce, Dan Porter, CEO of OMGPOP (and designer of Draw Something), Adeo Ressi, CEO of The Founder Institute and nearly 50 other speakers from Google, Cisco, NBC, Oracle, Microsoft, eBay, JD Power, Ogilvy, Mozilla and more. Attendees at GSummit share best practices, knowledge, data and hands-on techniques on customer and employee engagement over the event’s three days.

Attendees interested in GSummit’s Gamification Workshops are encouraged to register right away, as the workshops are filling up fast. These full-day events will allow attendees to get hands-on with a number of gamification principles and techniques, and those who participate can earn a certification in gamified design.

The Gamification Summit will take place June 19-21 in San Francisco’s Councourse Exhibition Center. To learn more and to register, please visit http://GSummit.com.

About Gamification Co
Gamification Co is the only transmedia company exclusively dedicated to Engagement Science and Gamification. The group publishes the Gamification Blog and related books, organizes The Gamification Summit & Workshops and provides consulting expertise to facilitate this burgeoning industry.

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences, and its power is radically reshaping industries from marketing to HR, education to health care, improving lives, solving problems and generating unprecedented growth. Gartner Group forecasts that Gamification will be used by 70% of the Global 2000 by 2015, spending over $2Bn on related products, services and technologies according to M2 Research. For more information on Gamification Co and how to leverage the power of game mechanics, visit http://Gamification.Co.

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