Ellis in Wonderland

what does ellis do?

ellis in wonderland’s range of services foster participation on the topic of innovation, creativity and applying play.

her services range from minimal participation to total participation (scale of interactivity 1-10).

1 – challenge

challenge ellis in wonderland with a “how might we…?” – problem. email ellis and see if she can come up with a solution.

2 – read

buy & read Apply Play and experience play as a d.i.y. experiment. execute the book’s challenges and ask ellis questions when required.

3 – invite

invite ellis over for a talk about the impact of play and how a game or game elements can be used as a tool – playful interaction and dialog included. examples of talks: how to get ahead of the game – do you want to age happy?; how to design and engage extraordinary audiences; power to the player; and addicted to learning.

4 – expert review

ask ellis in wonderland for an expert review as a “users’ advocate” to learn how things might be improved from a user’s perspective on an existing or in-development product or service.

5 – assumption killer

add “assumption killer” tests to service 3 to determine if the rational for development decisions or improvement of existing services are true… or not.

6 – execute QA

ask ellis in wonderland to execute QA (= Quality Assurance) tests on the user experience, user journey and desirability (including target audience testing, depending on the requirements and need).

7 – conduct

invite ellis in wonderland to conduct a hands on play for impact workshop (12 to 25 participants, 2 to 4 hours duration) to:

  • gain knowledge and understanding of the design process
  • have a dynamic dialog on applying play as a solution in different domains (health, education, business, governance)
  • create a game concept in teams resulting in a tangible prototype and presentation, plus the best team wins a reward.

8 – impact

invite ellis for play for impact workshop XL (12 to 35 participants, 4 to 7 hours duration) to take service #7 to a new level including a prepared challenge based on a specific context. this workshop is designed for participants and teams tackling a certain challenge, requiring a kick start for projects or needing a push to get unstuck. participants will take part in team building and team communication, which will help to get all stakeholders in alignment.

…. up to you, what do you need?

this is what ellis in wonderland has done (in short)

these are some of ellis’ talks

  • 2021 Games for change festival Crossing border in/with play >>
  • 2021 Hyderabad IndiaGDC (online)
  • 2021 Kayseri Turkey – matching cultures
  • 2020 Jakarta and Surabaya…
  • 2020 Kuala Lumpur One Academy on play
  • 2020 Kuala Lumpur Improv performance
  • 2020 Hyderabad plus Dehradun: play!
  • 2019 Hyderabad IndiaGDC apply play >>
  • 2019 Wandering games conference Bangor University (UK) “The Ma of Meandering”
  • 2019 Gaming Istanbul Conference – “Apply Play • to get ahead of the game”
  • 2018 Compliance Experience – “Best compliance officer ever?”
  • 2018 THNK FSTVL – storytelling: “let the games begin”
  • 2018 NRC live “Future of education Event” – “Addicted to learning/how to design motivation”
  • 2018 Games for Health Conference in Eindhoven – “Do you want to age happy?”
  • 2018 Games for Health Conference in Eindhoven – Keynote “Apply play!”
  • 2018 Serious Play Conference (Buffalo New York) “designing games for/with elephants”

hands-on workshops on the value of play and creating play in teams

for several organisations and context i have been invited to explain more on what play can do in a certain context or problem. after talking and explaining often, I realised I need to make people play to understand the value and power of play, so in five years time i created several tools to make people understand and make play. this has been done now with groups of:

  • kids in the age of 8 to 12, primarily school teachers, technical teachers who teach to teenagers, international students media design, students game design, health institutes, professors with students design, caregivers with caretakers, patients, innovation consultants and even with game professionals ; )

in this wide divers group, the learnings were always met. great play-concepts have been invented, and most of all problems were deconstructed and reconstructed to gain insights and perspectives on the context, the role being played, the powers at hand, this is also proven to be a good method to get to know each other and each other role in a team or project and to set a proper context to continue to work together in a longer term, creating a framework together, defining boundaries and house-rules, it is al one big game really.

Some examples of workshops (including photos):