How We Practice
We don't begin by asking people what they want. We begin by creating experiences where communities discover what matters together.
Method
We design the conditions for people to create change together.
PLAYCE teaches people how to design for human connection.
We bring together play, design thinking, behavioral insight, facilitation, systems thinking, and community practice to help people uncover the wisdom, creativity, and capacity already present within a community.
We don’t simply facilitate conversations. We design experiences.
We don’t simply collect input. We cultivate ownership.
We don’t create dependency. We build capacity.
Because the goal isn’t for people to need PLAYCE.
It’s for them to become more capable of creating meaningful change together, long after we’ve gone.
The shape of the practice
We Design Experiences
Not meetings. Not workshops. Experiences that invite curiosity, generosity, imagination, and shared discovery.
We Invite Contribution
The future isn't designed for people. It's imagined with them.
We Build Capacity
We prepare you to lead. Because your community deserves a relationship with you—not your consultant.
Why play
Play is the condition, not the outcome
People often assume PLAYCE is about making engagement more fun or leading better meetings. In reality, play is not the outcome. Play is the condition that allows people to lower risk, build trust, think differently, discover empathy, and become willing contributors to a shared future.
The methodology is grounded in play science and decades of research showing that play helps people lower defensiveness, increase curiosity, strengthen emotional regulation, and build social connection. Researchers like Dr. Stuart Brown have demonstrated that play is one of the most powerful ways humans learn, adapt, collaborate, and solve problems together.
PLAYCE is not teaching games. PLAYCE is developing practitioners who know how to create those conditions.
Why it matters
Most public engagement was never designed for real participation
Traditional public engagement often asks communities for feedback after major decisions have already been shaped. People attend meetings feeling skeptical, defensive, unheard, or disconnected. Design teams leave frustrated. Communities leave exhausted. And projects move forward with lingering resistance instead of shared ownership.
Engagement should do more than collect opinions. It should build trust, create understanding, reduce conflict, and help communities imagine what's possible together.
Ways to practice with us
Every offering is an expression of the same discipline. Wherever you begin, the practice is the same.
The Engagement Academy
A three-level path in designing community engagement, through live cohorts with certification or a self-paced track.
Work Alongside Us
We design and lead engagement with your team: meeting design and facilitation, public participation strategy, stakeholder engagement planning, and play-based methods for insight and inclusion.
Keynotes and Workshops
Sessions for conferences, retreats, universities, and summits, plus immersive full-day and multi-day workshops tailored to your group's objectives.
University Partnerships
The methodology embedded into real-world studio courses, preparing design students to become confident facilitators.
What practitioners say
"We had full participation, active discussions, and everyone had FUN! Some of the attendees were engagement professionals and said it was the best public meeting they've ever attended!"
"PLAYCE not only enlivens and expands engagement and interaction with the community, it also helps redefine the entire design process and its priorities."
"I used what I learned from PLAYCE the very next day in a team meeting, and it changed everything. People opened up, we got to the heart of the issue faster, and there was laughter instead of resistance."
Join the Practice
Every community deserves people who know how to create meaningful conversations. Wherever you are on that journey, there's a place to begin.