Feedback from i2c2 and a quick reflection

At the very end of i2c2, I asked "What was the best thing about i2c2" and "What would you change about it". The full feedback follows at the end of this post, but I thought I'd pull a few bits and pieces out to reflect on here, though I'll be reflecting on it all offline properly later on!

1) "...this process has taken me down a very exciting path." Out of all the feedback, this struck a chord with me. Any event that has helped attendees change and develop, in such a positive manner, must be worth organising!
2) I'd thought I'd put together quite a light programme with lots of time built in to reflect and create within it, including lots of social time. We had long tea breaks and lunch breaks, all the sessions had time to "do" things rather than just listen, we finished fairly early on an evening and had the social events within the venue itself. The festival of dangerous (library) ideas was a big opportunity to reflect on our profession, our workplaces, and what we'd heard so far. We finished at lunchtime on the 3rd day so people without an horrendously long journey might have time for a little explore of the area. But a recurring theme in the feedback was the opposite, it said stuff like "more time to reflect  & create"; "More “break-out” time for games and conversation"; "More free time to reflect / play". I need to think much more clearly before I do something like this again about how we can explicitly label time to make the reflection / action clearer and to label sessions on a timetable in such a way that it gives permission for people to have this time out and reflection. One to ponder on for me... must be able to do this much more effectively!
3) We had a dog (Panda) come along to the conference... "Panda has loved her first conference"; Q: What was the best thing? A:"Dog!". I think all conferences from now on should have at least one dog attending. Please make this happen fellow conference organisers 🐕.

Helsinki escape room workshop and feedback

I ran a workshop in Helsinki earlier this week - a full day of creating educational escape rooms with a lovely bunch of Finnish librarians.

All the groups created prototype escape rooms during the day, I was really impressed with the variety of things they created and the ideas they came up with.

Next version of this will be an open workshop I'm running in Huddersfield on 13th April, bookings are via Eventbrite for anyone who wants to come along.

The quick (post-it at end of session type) feedback from the Helsinki event is below:

• This was an awesome day! Thank You!
• Really enjoyed today's session, it was thought-provoking and engaging. Thanks.
• Thank you for the workshop. I got lots of good tips and will definitely use this method.
• I learned about escape rooms!
• I'm happy with this workshop, plus I had a lot of fun! I liked the balance of hearing / listening and creating by ourselves. Andrew was very helpful whenever we got stuck with our plans. Altogether I feel I have some new ideas and methods to bring back home.
• I liked how I had to think in totally new ways!
• An interesting (and exciting) workshop! I'm not sure if I can use this in my teaching. Thanks!
• Thank you for an inspiring day! :-)
• Thank you! Great day and collaboration. I got new point of view to training. This helps me with my Masters in Library Sciences.

Feedback!

Chuffed to get some feedback from a recent Games for Libraries workshop:  

“I found the day exceptionally useful and well done. I was really impressed by how well Andrew Walsh incorporated theory and background into a primarily hands-on training. I got quite a few tips for teaching and engaging students through play that were totally new for me and I believe that certain aspects of what he taught will stick with me, particularly the caveats and pitfalls for developing games in university contexts.” 

“I found the Games Day session very useful and informative. The whole nature of the day appealed to my inner child and I found I was able to bring out creative ideas in a friendly environment very easily. Not only was the day very enjoyable but I feel I gained some great ideas that can be taken forwards elsewhere. I particularly loved the embedding of game elements throughout the day, little things like the ideas cards having extras like ‘steal someone else’s idea card’ forced real positive interactivity to the session which added both to the atmosphere and the embedded learning.” 

“I thoroughly enjoyed the event. It was well structured and presented, and the slight indifference I felt before the day quickly dissipated. Andrew reminded us that game playing and play takes us beyond the norm – we step through the magic circle he described to a world of holiday and difference where anything may happen. It may be the wood in A midsummer night’s dream or the island in Lord of the flies: one hopes for the former. From confusion represented by the many tiny pieces of Lego, counters, pens, pots of Playdoh, etc., through the thought processes and the group collaboration, to order and the making of actual games, that could be played, it was a fascinating process.” 

“I found the day really productive and interesting. Having experienced workshops with Andrew before, and also taken part in lego workshops with Andy Priestner, I didn’t have some of the reservations of my colleagues, and it lived up to expectations. I think the game our group came up with is worth polishing up and pursuing further, maybe with some added lesson plans and other ideas for including it in teaching.”

Feedback from Making Games for Libraries event in Leeds

I circulated an online feedback form after the Leeds event (if you attended and haven't filled it in yet, please do!) - thought I'd just share a few things from it!

• 100% of those filling in the form so far (19th December) rated the workshop Good or Excellent, which I'm quite pleased with! 
•  92% of people said they Probably or Definitely will develop their game further, so hopefully we'll get some great games being developed in more libraries!