Why play belongs in serious learning, at Learning Technologies
At Learning Technologies 2026 Kelsey Kates from Google reframes playfulness as a professional capability that strengthens learning and work.
In complex, high-pressure environments, engagement and creativity don’t emerge by accident; they are designed. This session reframes playfulness as a strategic mindset rather than an activity, showing how it supports psychological safety, collaboration, and learning in meaningful ways. It challenges the assumption that play undermines professionalism, offering practical insight into how intentional playfulness can strengthen both learning experiences and everyday work.
The Serious Power of Play: Designing Learning and Work That Engages, Connects, and Creates - Kelsey Kates
Playfulness is often misunderstood as something informal or optional; a nice to have, but not essential. Yet research from neuroscience, psychology, and organisational science tells a very different story. Playfulness is a powerful driver of engagement, psychological safety, collaboration, and creative problem-solving at work and in learning.
Learning Technologies Conference Chair, Donald H Taylor, said: “Kelsey Kates explores what it really means to be playful in professional contexts and why playfulness is increasingly critical in environments shaped by complexity, pressure, and rapid change. Drawing on neuroscience findings and real-world examples, she introduces the five dimensions of playfulness and eight distinct play personalities, offering a more nuanced view of how people engage, experiment, and learn.”
Rather than treating play as an activity, this session reframes it as a mindset, one that can be intentionally designed into learning experiences, meetings, and everyday work. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for infusing playfulness in ways that feel authentic, inclusive, and appropriate to their audience, whether through small shifts or more deliberate design choices.
Key Topics Include:
- What playfulness really means at work and why it’s often misunderstood
- The five dimensions of playfulness and eight play personalities
- Neuroscience insights on how playfulness supports engagement, safety, and creativity
- Practical ways to design playfulness into learning and everyday work
- How to make playfulness authentic: knowing your audience and using “just enough
The Serious Power of Play: Designing Learning and Work That Engages, Connects, and Creates takes place on day two, 30 April at 11:15.
The full programme is available on the event website: Learning Technologies 2026 Conference. Conference passes are on sale: Learning Technologies 2026 Conference Conference Passes.
Your Conference Pass includes all conference tracks and theatres, networking lunch and drinks and full access to both days of the exhibition. There are two ticket types, including our premium option for those looking to get the most out of your experience at Learning Technologies.
Speakers include: David Kelly, Dani Johnson, Lori Niles-Hofmann, Laura Overton, Michelle Ockers, Egle Vinauskaite, Nigel Paine, Kelsey Kates, Serena Gonsalves-Fersch and Simon Gibson; just a few of the 80+ speakers on the programme.
More information
Learning professionals can keep informed of the conference’s developments and announcements by registering for the Learning Technologies Newsletter.
Learning Technologies 2026
29-30 April 2026, London Excel
#LT26UK
learningtechnologies.co.uk
Kelsey Kates
Global Head of Live Learning Experiences and Faculty Enablement, Google
Kelsey's been awarded multiple Brandon Hall Awards for the design of marquee Google programs - Facilitation Academy, Deliver Like a Boss, and her team's delivery of Google Way of Coaching and Google Sales School. In 2018 she won the Rising Star Award for Analytical Academy, a new multi-course program at Google to train and develop the finest analytical thinkers. As the Global Head of Learning Experiences at Google Kelsey Kates looks after the activation and delivery of 15+ facilitated programs within the Global Business Org for more than 20,000 Googlers, as well as the team's marketing and communication and the enablement and management of their 150+ facilitators.