Hello World!

What is the most common question heard about using a custom business simulation within corporate training and development?

Here goes:

Top 3 Questions About Business Simulations

Questions 1) I'm not familiar with business simulations, what should I know?
This is a huge question. Here are 3 tips to get started using business simulations and serious games:
1) Start small! Don't try to do everything in the first go around. You can always add to the size of the solution later. Start small and build up. This will prevent early failure.
2) Start with a simple branching story. You might already be doing this, but try to make the story more aligned with the goals and objectives of your corporate strategy.
3) Call around and ask others. Talk to either people who have done this before within companies or call vendors that are friendly and happy to talk to you without the sales pressure. Tell them what you're hoping to accomplish and get some advice where to start using a custom business simulation.

Question 2) Do I need a custom business simulation or pre-made?
If you need to align your training around your corporate strategy or leadership model, an off the shelf business simulation might be challenging. If you're looking to train a more standard topic such as business acumen, an off the shelf solution will save you time and money.

Question 3) How do I get started?
Try to go on to forums or groups and find others who have already used a custom business simulation before. Ask lots of questions. This is probably the best place to get started.

Hope this helps!

Hello World!

Apologies that its been awhile between posts. Travel to Asia and Europe. Anyway, the topic today is:

Gamification of Corporate Training

I know you're saying, "I just got used to business simulations, business games, and serious games. Now you're throwing this at us?" Agreed. This is yet another 'cool' buzzword that helps marketers sell. It just has more sizzle. Gamification is nothing new. Its simply a business game. You can relax. This is the point of this post. Gamification of corporate training is nothing new. This is the exact same thing as business games, serious games, and business training simulations. It gets quite irritating to see marketers make an already confusing world even more confusing. Thus, you can remember this:

Gamification is the same as business games, serious games, and business simulations.

The reason this is being discussed is that it seems to be causing confusion with people we talk with. Once again, its all the same thing.

Have a great weekend!

5 Tips- Self Facilitations is Definately on the Rise!

Hello Community!

It is now overwhelming, self facilitation of business simulations and serious games is seriously on the rise. This is terrific news! Facilitation belongs with the owner. Since this is on the rise, here are some tips to self facilitation:

Tips to Business Simulation and Serious Games Self Facilitation

1. Help Build the Solution- If you didn't build it yourself (or don't plan to), work with a simulation provider who is happy to have you very involved in the process. This will help transition the simulation faster!
2. Practice Practice Practice- Work with the simulation expert to get up to speed on how to facilitate these solutions faster. The goal is to move the program management to you!
3. Start Small- Don't try to build a business simulation or serious game that is huge. You'll get buried. Start small where its more comfortable. You'll thank yourself later!
4. Build a Facilitator Pool- Don't try to do everyone of these on your own. See if you can get a business simulation facilitation helping hand. You have enough work to do.
5. Partner Wisely- If you don't do this on your own, find a partner you trust, enjoy, and can learn from. This will help you greatly.

That's it. It getting close to the weekend so we tried to keep this one short and sweet. Hope it helps!

Business Simulation Serious Game Focus- Say No!

Hello Community!

After all these years of experience, one thing is for certain, when it comes to business simulations and serious games, you should really keep a very keen eye on the size of the simulation. Monster multi-day simulations are sort of a thing of the past. Most of the most effective customers have very tight and highly integrated business simulations within their corporate training and development or leadership development program. This includes large companies as well.

Historically, business simulation and serious games have been very large. Much of this was due to a blanket content strategy. One effect of the economic downturn has been extreme focus. This is a good thing. When you are working on either building your own business simulation or hiring an outside company to do it for you, you should really carefully watch the size. Remember, the larger the business simulation, the more resources it will take to support and facilitate the program. This includes travel costs, facilitation costs, facility costs, etc.

The main point is this: See if you can more effectively focus your business simulation or serious game around your training content and business requirements. You'll wind up saving money and people's time.

Hope this helps!

Resources to Learn About Business Simulations and Serious Games

Hello World!

Does anyone know of any resources to learn more about business simulations and serious games? We've searched Amazon, the web, and even the local library. There really aren't very many out there. We've read a few books that cost upwards of over $100, but they are incredibly theoretical and not very practical from a 'where do we start' position. The reason we ask is that a lot of our customers are asking about a simple guide about business simulations and/or serious games and we just don't have a good place to point them.

Does anyone know of a simple entry level and easy to understand guide to using business simulations and serious games? If you do, please drop us a line. This is something we think people would find valuable. We might try to write an eBook about this. If you have anything you'd like to see covered in the eBook, please let us know. We'll do out best to incorporate it.

Have a super weekend!

Help! Business Simulation or Serious Game?

Hello World!

By now, you may be confused, "Do I need a business simulation or serious game?" This is a very very good question. Knowing this is swimming upstream in the industry, there is very little difference. Serious Games is just one heck of a lot more sexy to market than business simulation. Serious games has boarded the buzzword train and providers are happy to board the train as well. Business simulations and serious games are all part of the same genre of action or applied learning. There is no need to feel confused about it. If you think you need one, you probably need the other.

The main solutions where serious games are commonly used are situational. In other words, scenarios that take place in a setting such as an office, room, or building. In other words, these are commonly the 3D type solutions (called simulations as well). As has been suggested because we have only seen marginal ROI on these very expensive solutions. If you have a monster budget, then go for it.

We know, this is a short post. We'll post more this week. If you have any topic you'd like us to talk about, drop us a line.

Tip: Business Simulations and Serious Games Size Matters!

Hello World!

Here's a simple question: Does size really matter when it comes to the size of a business simulation and/or serious game? The answer is: Yes and No - Very political, yes, but let's clarify. We have yet to see a business simulation or serious game that is too small. But we have certainly seen sims and business games that are too large. A business simulation or business game that is too large turns into a distraction. A business simulation or serious game that is too small is often just perfect.

You should emphasize focus and not 'do-everything-for-everything' type of solution. Customers have had to completely trash many many days, weeks, months worth of work to basically start all over after their solution did not focus on the goals of the program. In most cases, their business simulations and/or serious games were created by an outside vendor who, of course, was happy to make a huge solution. This wound up a waste of time and money.

In the end, I recommend you err on the side of simple. This is often the best bang for your buck and we've seen higher scores with smaller focused solution.

Hope this helps!