It was a very busy 2025.
And if you came out to play with us in 2025, we have probably tagged you here!
Grab a cup of tea or mug of coffee for this not-so-quick look back at 2025. If you are celebrating, feel free to add a shot of anything that warms you up and join us for this spin around the Global Playing Field.
Q1: January - March 2025
January 2025 took Jacquie back to Royal Roads University, but this time she's not an instructor. She started a big research project and is officially a doctoral student in the social sciences department. A big thank you goes to her lovely friends for encouraging, inspiring, and supporting all her efforts.
Jacquie is presenting updates on her research at conferences. And in 2026, you will hear lots more. So keep an eye on the blog to learn more!
We started the year in New York City at the amazing headquarters of the United Nations. This was a wonderful opportunity to bring Strategic Play back to the UN. Paola who works hard and plays hard when the stakes are the highest – you are truly an inspiration to us! Hugo started out the year with the first of two trainings in Mexico. And in March, Leo trained a team in downtown Syracuse.
Q2: April – June 2025
The Spring was a very busy and exciting time with so many members of the community making the trip back to beautiful, supernatural, Whistler, BC, Canada for the Strategic Play Conference. Once again, Nita Lake Lodge hosted our event and a big thank you goes to the staff, especially Susan Bain, who helped behind the scenes to make this event amazing, from food and beverage to setup—simply amazing. Another big thank you to staff at the Squamish Liľiwat Cultural Centre for opening the event. And also, thanks to those who travelled from long distances to attend. Also, thank you to all the presenters:
Paul, Matt, Laura, Scott, Steve, Paola, Paul, Devon, Joe, and Brian and the amazing Sara - who did the beautiful graphic recordings!
The conference was followed by advanced training, with many picking up their LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methods Master Certification Certificates. In May, Kari and Steve travelled to Miami University to play with the team there and for Karri C. and JS B. to bring the Playsonality™ to the university, along with advanced LSP courses. New trainer Etienne began running workshops in Chile. June took Stephen and Jacquie to Seattle, where they presented the Playsonality™ at a Google in-house event; and Jeremy headed to Sidney, Australia for an in-house Playsonality™ workshop at Google Australia. Also in June, the SPG team headed to CPSI. Only this time, Matt and Laura stepped up as our official SPG representatives and presenters. Sven kept busy training EY teams in two different locations: Munich and Berlin. And finally, Brian and Joe certified the very first LSP Master Facilitators in their region in Hong Kong. Congratulations to all!
Q3: July – September
The heat of the summer took Stephen back on the road to New Mexico and Florida delivering Teams and Groups training to the United States Air Force. He also headed back to New York City for another training at the United Nations headquarters, this time in Creative Conflict Management. Dr. Steve Ralph and Steve Walling then teamed up and worked together to deliver the Master Class Training in beautiful California. I stayed behind, digging deep into academic papers. We were also happy to deliver a workshop to a local Pharma manufacturing organization, right here in Vancouver, with Kyle as our playful LSP assistant. Paola began leading workshops at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Van ran training in Culver City, California. And Kari, Jacquie, and Paulo had the exciting opportunity to run training with a team at Mercedes Bens AG in Brazil.
Q4: October – December
The fall was also full of surprises, with the SPG team hitting the skies to attend the amazing ACRE Conference in South Africa. Jacquie gave a keynote on the Power of Play. Our team also presented the Playsonality™ in two breakout sessions, to an astounding group of nearly 70 people. Our time in South Africa can only be summarized with WOW. We are so appreciative of the people we met and the knowledge we gained. We truly have new creative friends for life!
After ACRE, we spent an incredible week in Johannesburg. The SPG team joined the Six Bricks certification training with the Care for Education team, and Jacquie was also invited to present the Playsonality™ to the group of facilitators in attendance. Here we reconnected with some new and old friends from LEGO®; or rather, young old friends. We are so grateful to have them in our personal and professional lives.
SPG also presented to a senior team of leaders at the University of Victoria. A big thank you goes to our amazing and wonderful Barb, who is the most unlikely lawyer and has been our friend for years.
November brought us back to the United Nations, this time online in Zoom for the UN Skills Fest, where Jacquie presented Play DNA™ and the Playsonality™.
Closing out this wonderful year, we traveled to small town Canada to Swift Current, Saskatchewan to offer the Playsonality™ to 110 educators at Great Plains College. The wonderful and lovely Kelly came with us. Not only did she collect us from the airport, but she brought that wonderful Prairie Spirit out to play. One of our newest trainers, Laura, ran her first SPG training in Puerto Rico. And last but not least, Arturo spent another busy year training throughout Spain and Latin America—in each quarter!—wrapping up at Universidad CEU San Pablo in Madrid.
If 2025 went by too fast, don't worry. 2026 is coming in with a bang. Here is what we have planned so far for the first half:
2026 Play Plans Are Unfolding
Jacquie will be back at Royal Roads to continue her exciting learning journey. Steve will be heading to South Carolina for the USAF training. Together, they will then be heading back to South Africa (this is still in the planning stage) but a big thank you to Care for Education for the invitation to the Six Bricks Conference. We will then plan to head to Cambridge in the UK for a week of building fun with the team at Play Included C.I.C. In April, we will all be at EPIC Impact Society ‘s EPIC International Summit. And then in May, the team—including Kelly and Laura!—are heading to Hong Kong to present at the Strategic Play Conference.
HONG KONG? Yes. Let us know if you have time to join us there in May 2026! You can register here.
Looking for LEGO SERIOUS PLAY certification training?
Or a workshop in the Playsonality™?
Send us a note at hello@strategicplay.com.