**Please note: This event is now at capacity and registration has closed. Please email training@neflin.org to be added to the waiting list.
The 2022 NEFLIN Hot Topics Conference is almost here! This year’s theme is Fun & Games. We want to showcase the ways libraries have integrated games and gamification into programs and services.
Libraries have turned to some innovative concepts to attract new audiences and inform existing users on how to best utilize library resources. We’re not just talking things you’ve done to offset the challenges of a pandemic environment – a lot of folks were bringing these ideas into libraries prior to that operational shift. These programs and services enrich library experiences and provide users a new way of looking at libraries.
This conference will showcase library efforts like:
- Using Escape Rooms to promote services.
- Holding Scavenger Hunts to orient new users.
- Turning Game Nights from family activities into library events.
- The various ways video games can be integrated into programs.
- The role virtual reality can play in libraries.
Keynote Speaker, Mickey Boyd
Library Gaming in 2022 – Dungeons, Discord, and Twitch!
Herein you will learn how libraries can use games to create engaging programming.
The gaming market has ballooned in the past two years. Professional competitive video gaming (eSports) has grown in popularity and revenue, offering big prize money, college scholarships, and high-paying jobs. High schools and colleges are establishing varsity eSports teams. Interest in table top role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons has also reignited.
Libraries are ideally positioned to take advantage of these gaming trends, and have shown this through a dramatic rise in game programs: virtual escape rooms, tabletop gaming programs, eSports contests, role playing, and events related to popular multiplayer games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. We will discuss technologies and strategies to help enhance your game-related programming, such as video streaming via twitch.tv and YouTube, community building with Discord, gamified learning through platforms like Minecraft and Roblox, and more.
Mickey Boyd has been teaching technical topics to Florida librarians for more than twenty years, and is known to many for his workshops on emerging technologies, computer security, virtual reality, and video gaming. See more at mrbcnc.com/