As healthcare simulation continues to evolve into a cornerstone of professional training, education, and patient safety, simulationists in academic and clinical settings are constantly in search of innovative methods, tools, and partnerships to advance their practice. One of the most valuable opportunities to engage with innovation across industries is the Serious Play Conference. The Serious Play Conference 2025 will take place from August 13-15, 2025, in Rochester, New York. Lance Baily recently announced that a media partnership agreement was signed in April 2025 between Serious Play Conference and HealthySimulation.com. This Healthysimulation.com article explores the Serious Play Conference 2025 and why academic healthcare simulationists should attend.
What Is the Serious Play Conference?
The Serious Play Conference, North America’s largest dedicated games and learning event, is an annual, cross-disciplinary event focused on the use of game-based learning, simulation, and experiential design in education, training, social impact, and professional development. Unlike conventional tech or education conferences, Serious Play brings together thought leaders from healthcare, military, corporate training, K–12 and higher education, government, emergency response, and non-profit sectors to explore how serious games and simulations can create real-world impact.
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Founded by Sue Bohle in 2006, the conference was created to bridge the gap between learning professionals and the fast-evolving serious games industry. Initially hosted at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington, the conference has since traveled to major academic and tech hubs. Each year, the conference attracts speakers from organizations such as Johns Hopkins University, Yale University, MIT, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, the U.S. Army, Boeing, IBM, and dozens of universities and startups that create simulation-based solutions.
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Serious Play Conference’s mission is to empower our growing community to tap into the transformative power of play, games, and simulations to carry out meaningful learning, training, knowledge mobilization, and to address real-world challenges. Together, we will learn, create, and innovate for a better future.
Why Healthcare Simulationists Should Attend in 2025
While Serious Play spans a wide range of sectors, the healthcare simulation track has grown steadily. This conference offers healthcare educators an unparalleled opportunity to step outside their usual echo chambers and explore innovative methodologies. For healthcare simulationists, the Serious Play Conference represents a rare and rich intersection of industries, where instructional designers, educators, technologists, game developers, researchers, and simulation leaders gather to explore how serious games and simulations have transformed training, behavior, and performance.
Here are key reasons why healthcare simulationists, particularly in academic environments, should attend:
- Exposure to Cross-Industry Innovation: Simulationists often focus on clinical fidelity, manikin-based scenarios, and standardized patient strategies. At Serious Play, insights can be gained from industries such as aviation, defense, and emergency response—each of which has long-standing expertise in high-stakes simulations and debriefing. These sectors often pioneer the techniques that eventually influence healthcare simulation pedagogy.
- Emerging Technologies: The 2025 conference will again feature deep dives into XR, AI, gamification platforms, and data analytics for simulation. These technologies are increasingly relevant in healthcare, and presenters frequently showcase live demos or case studies of their use in medical education, surgical training, and telehealth simulation.
- Networking and Partnerships: Serious Play attracts stakeholders across the learning technology ecosystem: start-ups, faculty, instructional designers, curriculum developers, and funders. For healthcare simulationists in search of research collaborations, how to integrate digital simulation into curricula, or want to commercialize their simulation projects, this event opens doors to explore solutions.
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Types of Presentations at Serious Play 2025
The 2025 program promises a variety of session formats designed to inform and inspire. For healthcare professionals and simulationists, key presentation categories include:
- Case Studies from Healthcare and Allied Fields: From nursing education to surgical simulation, past conferences have featured rich case studies.
- Design and Development Tracks: These sessions break down how to design, prototype, and implement simulation games, from early concepts to classroom integration. Healthcare simulationists can learn how narrative structure, behavioral triggers, and assessment layers can be embedded into digital and physical simulation formats.
- Research Paper Sessions: Academic attendees can engage with empirical studies that evaluate simulation outcomes across knowledge retention, skill acquisition, engagement, and transferability to clinical practice. Presenters explore theoretical frameworks such as constructivist learning, transformative learning, and situated cognition as they apply to simulation.
- Interactive Workshops: Some workshops are hands-on to allow participants to test learning platforms, build game prototypes, or map out curriculum plans. For simulationists in academia, this is an opportunity to develop or refine programs using real-time feedback from experts in design and pedagogy.
- Keynotes and Thought Leadership: Each year, keynote speakers include prominent figures from healthcare, education technology, and military training. Past keynote presenters have included leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Harvard Medical School.
How to Make the Most of the Conference
The Serious Play Conference has a well-established history to foster meaningful dialogue and collaboration across disciplines. Here are tips to maximize the experience:
- Submit a presentation proposal: The call for speakers welcomes healthcare simulation professionals to share their innovations, case studies, or research findings.
- Attend across tracks: Even sessions outside healthcare can offer fresh perspectives, such as how the military simulates moral decision-making or how corporate trainers use narrative choice games.
- Join the community year-round: The Serious Play community extends beyond the annual conference. Many presenters and participants collaborate post-conference through webinars, LinkedIn groups, and grant-funded projects.
As the healthcare simulation field grows in complexity and demand, academic simulationists need to remain at the forefront of educational innovation. The Serious Play Conference 2025 offers a unique opportunity to explore new tools, connect across disciplines, and expand the pedagogical toolkit. By attending this dynamic, cross-industry space, healthcare simulation educators can find inspiration and actionable strategies to enrich their healthcare simulation programs and better prepare students for real-world clinical challenges.
Serious Play Conference 2024
The 2024 event offered over 80 sessions and 120+ speakers, and covered everything from game development to education, and from healthcare to heritage. The conference offered hands-on workshops, panels, talks, networking opportunities, and the chance to play innovative games that included XR, VR, and AR.
