Debriefing the magic and aha′s of Play14 Luxembourg

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than a year of conversation - Plat0

With some time to spare at the airport packed with solo travellers, it makes it the perfect spot for self-reflection, to just sit down, hang out with yourself and to let your thoughts and emotions wander about what happened over the 2,5 days long gathering, the 6th edition already of Play14 Luxembourg...

Walking still around proudly with my Play14 totem bag containing the famous Debriefing Cube with its card deck I thought this game could actually serve very well it′s purpose now.

Moreover, as a true supporter of experiential learning I find the importance of a good debrief. So decided instead of letting the wind take my thoughts to treat myself for Starbucks, to roll the die, contemplate and write my impressions down.

Find below my randomly picked cards while I probably sipped away the most expensive Matcha Latte size small I ever had in my life (it seems airport Starbucks have some special prices in store for their thirsty customers who need their fix) ...

I) Emotions Card #30 - What was this experience like? Describe with a hashtag! What about it made it like this? What would be a good comparison?

Amazed as soon as I saw the view at the venue Technoport - near Belval, Cité des Sciences, de L′innovation et de la Reserche - As I have been told once a 100% steel site...where the blast furnace chimneys were once stoked is now where great minds are set ablaze - industry meets science and cutting-edge research meets the entrepreneurial spirit -

This perfect setting assured me Play14 magic was being brewed... The anual gathering where it all once started in 2014 I would compare it with the feeling we may had as a kid on christmas day or when celebrating your birthday. Your eyes start to twinkle, your smile reaches from ear to ear as you see an abundance of treats and gifts beautifully wrapped in shiny paper and due to the excitement not knowing which one to start unpacking first. Of course, if only you could, you would love to open the gifts all at once, call it #play14fomo* (*fomo=fear of missing out - in this context fear of missing out the games proposed at the Play14 market place and not being able to talk to all the amazing players)

From heavy graphic facilitation, talent and agile games, Lego Serious Play, possibly breaking the world record playing Happy Salmon, Extreme Speed reading (learning how to read 2 books in an hour), Spicing up meetings, learning how to contaminate emotions by Dov, Points of You, to the best meeting I ever had facilitated by Ricardo and Angela (Host Play14 Porto/Lisbon) to name a few of the games and activities proposed.

The beautiful opportunity to reconnect with old friends, connect with new ones like Stan and encounter fellow Dutchies, like Nancy, Edward, Peter or meet the coolest neighbours like the Portuguese delegation counting among others Ricardo, Goncalo, Nuno, Ana, Angela, Monika and many more :-)

?Although we might feel a bit sad as Play14 Luxembourg came to an end, the participants are back home, back to their families, loved ones and to the day to day obligations. The spirit is still very much alive, it is tremendous to observe that the community is busy unpacking their memories, as they are still highly active in processing and sharing their learnings and pictures.

As Alan one of the participants of Play14 Madrid would describe it "tired and happy" ;-) as we took home a heavy suitcase full of precious souvenirs, an exchange of giving and receiving. The greatest gift? Once again I experienced that the true value lies in the face to face interactions between the amazing people of this growing community, 38 events world wide so far and still counting.

II) Group Dynamics Card #15 - How did you organize yourselves? Who was leading/facilitating?

For the ones who are not familiar. #play14 is an international gathering of serious gamers, learning-by-doing practitioners, games designers, serious games facilitators from various communities like agile, education, culture, service design, improvisation theatre, psychology, language pathology services, creativity, HR services … During a weekend, people from various professional domains will share knowledge and practices around the topic of games. The beauty of this gathering is that it is self-organising, an unconference that follows the Open Space Technology, meaning there is no pre setup agenda, no rock stars as all attendees are equally important as session contributors and/or players.

During Play14 Luxembourg Cedric practiced more and more Training From the Back of the Room ;-) as Nancy, Rudi, Virginia and Monika did an excellent job facilitating the market place. And last but not least, what I truly liked is to witness the humbleness of 66 great professionals happy to share their kindness, magic tricks and knowledge among each other.

Learning is most often considered a process of getting rather 
than giving.

This is most evident in conceptions of student/teacher roles: 
teacher give and students get.

Yet, in adult learning both giving and getting are critical

- David Kolb

III) Process Card #9 - Did you assume anything that turned out to be wrong? What was your assumption? What led to this? Why was it wrong?

At the end a second day of serious fun, on Friday evening we had a surprise agile cooking session - which is of course extraordinary but after a full day of intense playing, laughter and giving it all, our batteries were running low so most of us were not directly in the mood to cook our own meals. Surprisingly, for me it was very interesting to see that no matter how tired you are if you work together as a team you can make it happen. It took a bit to start the engines but it only took 2 iterations to serve stunning appetisers, food and cocktails that eventually re-energized the participants with pride to say bon appetit! :-)

IV) Communication Card #28 - What is left unspoken?

Oh there are too many words unspoken as it is hard to find the right words. I feel the weekend went so quick, time flew by, many games played, nice connections made, stories shared and I am detecting a yearning within the community to spend more time together.

A special thank you for the founding team!!! Thanks to the fact that back in 2013 many people were left without tickets for play4agile as it was sold out in a few hours, instead of complaining about it, Yann, Pierre and Cedric created their own event, Play14 was born and they decided to make it as open as possible. Who would have thought it would grow into a such a big family worldwide?

Grateful to have met these amazing guys Julian, Karsten and the founder Cedric back in 2016 at Play14 Hamburg. You triggered me to take this great event either to Amsterdam or Madrid. Could not thank Cedric enough for his support, who is probably one of most unselfisch person I know, always willing to reach out a helping hand, thinking about the other people and common good.

Million of thanks to my beloved Co Play14 Madrid organisers Beatriz, Meryl and Sophie, these special human beings who I admire both personal as profesional, dedicate their precious time as volunteers on top of their real jobs. If it wasn′t for this well aligned dream team that I can trust blindly, Play14 Madrid could not have turned out so magical.

V) Take Away Card #38 - What did you do that will be beneficial in your day-to-day life? What would you like to happen? What first steps could you take? How would you know that you are succeeding?

As one of the Play14 Madrid organisers it was very nice to enjoy this time as a participant, see my colleagues in action in Luxembourg, a privilege to learn from the experts and to feel so supported by others in my transition towards freelancer.

On behalf of the Madrid team I can say, we are very much looking forward to host the 3rd edition and welcome our growing Play14 family on the weekend of 31st of May till 2nd of June to spread more playfulness among the world.

In this hyper (dis) connected world I guess people like the play14 spirit as it is about true connections, nobody is making money of it, nobody is selling it′s services, physical games over digital ones, the gathering feels almost like a retreat. It helps you forget about the serious stuff, your day to day troubles and enables you to unleash again your inner child but at the same time it make you grow professionally.

How can we not jump for joy when last year we sold out in a week and people are already reaching out to us for the next one to come. So we know our first step is to open up registration soon, thank you again for your patience :-)

Wishing you happy debriefing and hope to see you all at Play14 Madrid!

PS: Are you also tired of bad debriefings?

Grab your free version here of the Debriefing Cube co-designed by Julian Kea (Host Play14 Berlin/Hamburg) and Chris Caswell (Host Play14 London). I am sure they would love to hear about your reflections!