Breaking News: NASAGA 2025 Info!

NASAGAns, we know you’ve been anxiously awaiting word on NASAGA 2025! Without any further delay, here’s an interview with NASAGA 2025 Chair and all-around great guy JS.

Any news to break about NASAGA 2025? 

Yes, lots! The conference website is now up, and here’s the key info that’s on it now and coming soon:

• The biggest news for everyone is the date: October 15th through 18th in Oxford, Ohio. The conference itself will take place at the Marcum Conference Center, which is one of the potential places that people can also get rooms.

• We’re also announcing the conference theme: paahpioni iiši-neepwaantiinki, “A Path to Playful Learning.” One of the exciting opportunities we have with Miami University hosting is the amazing relationship they have with the Miami tribe.  The Miami were the original settlers in this area before their forced movement to Oklahoma. One of their big projects they've been doing is reclaiming their language; so anytime we list the theme, it'll be in both English and the Myaamia language.

• With the theme announced, we’re also opening the Call for Proposals. There are lots of different formats for proposals, including posters, case studies, playtesting, workshops, and a longer conference session. If at all possible, we want people to incorporate the conference theme into their proposals. Proposals are due by Monday, July 14th.

We’re also ready to talk about the first keynote, which will be presented by representatives of the Miami tribe who will showcase how games and simulations for learning have been used in the tribe for centuries. We’re currently drawing from other people in the field to give great keynotes as well, and we’ll announce those as they are confirmed.

What's most important for you as you and your team plan this conference?

This is my second time as the conference chair, and my priority pretty much has remained the same for both times. If I'm in charge of planning a conference for NASAGA, the conference has absolutely zero to do with me. It has to do with the people who show up and are going to attend, making sure they get the best experience and are offered the best opportunities they can. We’ll be taking advantage of all Oxford has to offer, but there's a number of ways that we'll be able to host interesting learning opportunities right here on campus. We can tweak things based on people's feedback to make this a spectacular conference. Being here on a college campus, where gaming and games for learning is a major component of the college, means that there will be a lot of interaction with faculty, staff and students that you might not get when we're at a conference center somewhere.

What kinds of things are you hearing from local faculty, staff, and students about what they’re hoping to get from NASAGA 2025?

One of the interesting things about NASAGA is we all do similar things, but in very different markets. There are people from higher education and PK-12, but there are also consultants and  people who work for corporations. There are a lot of different and amazing ways that people are using games for learning and training. One thing that I have to be ready for is a chance that the number of attendees from campus could be larger than the attendees from off-campus. Finding that balance for things that will benefit everyone who wants to attend is really important to me. Last time we hosted NASAGA at a college, we had several sessions presented from various faculty and staff members and students who were coming to playtest games or to show how they're using games and learning. With the emphasis on games-based learning here, we'll definitely have some interesting homegrown sessions from campus.

You mentioned tweaking things based on people’s feedback. What are some lessons learned from past NASAGAs that you’re implementing?

I chaired the 2018 Rochester conference which a lot of people enjoyed. While I had been around NASAGA for several conferences at that time, I hadn't been heavily involved. I wasn't on the board. I hadn't done any of that level stuff. For that conference, I was bringing my event planning knowledge from almost 30 years of doing it. But now I’ve been more involved with NASAGA over the last few years, attending more conferences and serving on the board, and I’ve had lots of opportunities to talk to people about things they'd like to see. One of the things I'm extremely strong about in any of the discussions we have is that NASAGA needs to be NASAGA. 

We are focusing on interaction. We are focusing on learning by games and learning by doing. We're not focused on someone going up and talking at you for an hour. NASAGA is all about the interaction, the way people come together. That's going to be a critical part of everything we do, and it’s going to start with the first keynote we have. I've already talked to them and know how their keynote is going to be interactive. That's extremely critical for who NASAGA is. There's nothing wrong with how other conferences present, but it's what makes NASAGA unique.

On that note, hopefully we’ll have some first-time attendees at NASAGA 2025. Given how different NASAGA is, what would you tell a first-time attendee about why NASAGA is worth their time and money?

My first time going to NASAGA, I had already been to a number of other conferences with other organizations. So I brought my laptop ready to sit there and take notes and take pictures of all the slides I was sure would be there. I quickly found out that none of that was needed, that I was going to be learning in the purest way of learning, and that is learning by doing. I quickly found that I was learning more at that conference and getting more ideas to implement than I had in all of the previous conferences combined because I was engaged. You can't come to NASAGA as a passive person. If you are at NASAGA, you are going to be active in your learning and that's important.

One other thing I’ll recommend, because in my first conference in 2021, I didn’t do this: Take advantage of opportunities like game night. Being together with people, sitting around, playing games and talking will make amazing connections. It will show you why NASAGA intentionally isn't an extremely large conference where we're trying to draw in thousands or even multiple hundreds of people. We are trying to keep it small because it is a community of people who know each other, working together and bringing new people into the fold who are interested in using games and simulations for learning.

One of the really cool things about NASAGA is that it rotates to different places every year. What are some of the parts of the local area that you're most excited for attendees to see?

I've lived here 20 years, and one of the things that I want to prepare people for is that Oxford is about 45 minutes from the closest airports (Cincinnati or Dayton). So you're not landing and taking a five minute taxi ride or quick shuttle from the airport to where you're coming. But you are coming to an amazingly rich region where there is so much going on. There's so much in the area that NASAGAns will be interested in: whether it's for pure fun, for learning, for professional opportunities. We have so many colleges and universities within a half hour of us that people can easily connect at the conference with colleagues from those institutions. Cincinnati is a place where top companies were formed and have headquarters. If people want to engage with Proctor and Gamble and companies like that, Cincinnati is a place where those things can happen. If you're a consultant and want to set up meetings around your time here, you can absolutely do that. 

But even more than that: Oxford itself is an amazing little town. People who come here, when they see Oxford and when they see Miami University, they always leave saying This is what a college town looks like. Their whole life, when they pictured a college, they had this image but they hadn't seen it in person until they got on our campus. Robert Frost said that it’s “The most beautiful campus that ever was.” Another common saying out here is It's not easy to find your way to Oxford, but once you do you'll never want to leave. Not only alums, but visitors will come here and say, I want to relocate. I want to settle. I want to start a business here because this community is just amazing.

JS is the 2025 NASAGA Conference Chair and Assistant Director of Student Organizations in the Center for Student Engagement, Activities, & Leadership (SEAL) at Miami University.