Member Spotlight: Mark
Date postedAugust 1, 2023
Meet Mark Collard!
Mark grew up and still resides in Melbourne, Australia. Mark is an Experiential Trainer, Author & Speaker, and Founder of playmeo.com
Tell us a bit about what you do at your organization.
playmeo curates a massive online database of fun group games & activities that help people connect. While my career of 33+ years has been imbued with 1000s of training days and travel all over the world, these days most of my time is dedicated to writing and curating content to share via playmeo's online platform. (AEE Member discount details at the bottom of this blog post!)
Tell us more about yourself!
I'm based in Australia, have been hit by lightning - twice - and I count my days inspiring groups to play and connect as some of the best days of my life. My story could start as far back as the kid I sat next to in kindergarten, but…Let’s start with my reluctant decision to attend a ‘youth leadership’ retreat as an unassuming 20-year-old. A conscientious, polite young man, I was unwilling to give up any time over my Easter break because I had lots of homework to do. Okay, I was a geek. I had very few friends, spent most of the time in my bedroom studying and barely knew what a girl was. But, thankfully, I did attend and I am forever grateful. Learn more: https://www.playmeo.com/about-playmeo/mark-collard/
What excites you when you think about the future of Experiential Education?
It's growing relevance and the fact the impact of what we do is now well proven and supported by stacks of science and research.
Who or what inspires you?
Karl Rohnke was and continues to be my mentor and inspiration. We worked together a lot and model a lot of what I have learned as an experiential trainer on him. I am always, always inspired by play - and by this I mean the truest definition of play, not just "playing games."
In your free time, we can probably find you:
At home with my family, or on occasions, traveling some other part of the world with my family.
How long have you been involved with AEE?
My first conference was in MN in 1990. I have volunteered and been active with many similar outdoor education / camping / adventure programming based organizations and communities in Australia since that day. At a guess, I've been to 4 AEE conferences, and my business playmeo was the major sponsor of the Florida annual conference.
What is the most rewarding part about being a Member of AEE?
Being with your people, and connecting and learning from others who have a passion for fun, interactive group games.
Find Mark here: https://www.playmeo.com/
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