New hire onboarding is often a missed opportunity—overloaded with slide decks, disconnected from day-to-day work, and too slow to build competence or confidence. What if you could turn that around in the first 30 days?

In this high-impact session, we’ll explore how gamification and augmented reality can radically transform the employee experience. You’ll learn how to shift from content overload to hands-on engagement by designing onboarding that sparks motivation, builds confidence, and accelerates performance. Whether you support new team members in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, or other operational environments, you’ll leave with practical ideas to revitalize onboarding—and reduce time to competency.

Using proven game mechanics and immersive technology, you’ll discover how to create onboarding that connects, empowers, and retains new employees—especially in frontline and operational roles. Whether you're overhauling an outdated process or building one from scratch, this session will help you reimagine what onboarding can be.

In this dynamic session, you will:

• Explore how game mechanics like progression, feedback loops, and challenge-based learning drive engagement in onboarding
• Learn how to apply gamification to build early confidence, connection, and cultural alignment
• Discover how augmented reality can safely simulate real-world tasks to accelerate skill development
• Examine real-world examples of onboarding programs that increase retention and reduce ramp-up time

Monica Cornetti, a celebrated gamification expert, leads Sententia, Inc., specializing in game-based learning for corporate training and adult education. Renowned as a top gamification speaker and strategist, Monica held the #1 spot in the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” from 2015-2020 and was named the #1 Most Influential Woman in Gamification in 2021 and 2022. She co-authored "Deliberate Fun: A Purposeful Application of Game Mechanics to Learning Experiences" and orchestrates the annual GamiCon International Conference for the Gamification of Adult Learning.

Monica holds a BA in Psychology and a Master's in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship. When she is not busy changing learning with gamification, Monica can be found “researching” gameplay with her grandsons.

Destery Hildenbrand is a Learning Technology Consultant and founder of Destery1Kenobi LLC. With a focus on immersive technology, he helps organizations bring training to life through virtual, augmented, and mixed reality. Destery has authored industry publications, including TD at Work: Bring Training to Life with Virtual Reality, and frequently speaks at national learning conferences. His work blends instructional design expertise with emerging tech, empowering teams to integrate immersive tools into their learning strategies with confidence and creativity.