How we design learning that works - scenarios, simulations, and building capabilities that matter.
The How To
From Ableton to Vibe Coding: When Creative Tools Break Open
Tracking trends, predictions, and innovations shaping the next era of education and professional development.
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Wavemakers
Future of Learning
The How To
The How To
Writing for 20,000 People Who Don't All Speak English at Home
We're writing voiceover for a global leadership experience. The hard part isn't clarity - it's keeping the narrative alive.
The How To
The Off-Site Pie
Planning an offsite is not a piece of cake. In fact, it's a pie. Every session is some slice of five things: Strategy, Alignment, Education, Inspiration, Vibes.
The How To
Teaching and Designing
"Teaching is the best way to learn something". We believed this for a while, but now we're not so sure.
Future of Learning
AI as Taste
Not "which AI should I use" - but which one makes decisions like you do. We built something to find out.
Future of Learning
Anyone Can Cook, But Someone Has to Taste the Soup
In 'Ratatouille', anyone can cook - but a great chef has to taste the soup. This applies to AI too. The skill now is judgment, not production.
Future of Learning
Three AI Bets Every Services Business Is Already Making
I gave a talk in Paris on AI acceleration. Not the "here's how to write better prompts" kind - the "where are you actually placing your chips" kind.
The How To
Just in Time Experience Design
We spent seven months building a program. Then we trashed 60% and rebuilt in two weeks. User research matters. Playtesting matters more.
Future of Learning
Mid-Career Might Be the AI Sweet Spot
Everyone's worried about juniors being replaced by AI. But what if mid-career professionals—with their judgment, context, and taste—are actually in the best position to thrive?
The How To
The Inside Intro
A quick tip for facilitators: get someone from the client's team to introduce you. It only takes 30 seconds, but changes everything.
Future of Learning
The format is the lesson
Why training doesn't change behavior - and 30 interactive formats we built to fix it.
Future of Learning
Family Reunion: Designing a 75-Minute Card Game for Family Office Executives
A custom card game for TBN Americas' Catalytic Capital Summit in Guatemala - where family office executives navigated fictional investment decisions through three competitive rounds, external judges, and real tensions about legacy versus innovation.
The How To
From Ableton to Vibe Coding: When Creative Tools Break Open
How Ableton Live turned bedroom producers into festival headliners - and why today's AI coding tools are following the same pattern of democratization, from Sasha's 2005 Essential Mix to Skrillex's basement-built drops.
The How To
Why 80% of AI Investments Fail (And How to Fix Yours)
Most companies roll out AI tools, provide training, hope for the best - then wonder why adoption stalls. The missing piece isn't technical knowledge, it's confidence built through practice under pressure.
Future of Learning
The Ultimate Playtester: How we use custom GPTs to design better live experiences
Learn how we eliminated workshop failures and delighted 135 senior leaders across 10+ countries without a single test participant.
Wavemakers
Hustle Athletics: How Two Founders Landed Nike (By Breaking All the Rules)
When you're looking to land a game-changing client, which move would your team make?
Wavemakers
The Matthew McConaughey Masterclass Nobody's Talking About
How revealing the messy middle of creative work teaches us more than any polished case study
Future of Learning
Beyond the Book: Remixing Knowledge into Multi-Format Magic
How extending core IP across new mediums creates deeper learning experiences
Wavemakers
The McCartney Method: When Details Meet Experience
Why the Beatle is a maestro of CX as well as music
Future of Learning
Inside Out: How a classroom experiment sparked the vision for Wavetable
When you stop presenting and start creating, something magical happens. This is the story of how one experimental classroom session evolved into a new vision for learning and growth.
The How To
How to Spot Talent: Two Questions That Reveal Creative Spark
Economist Tyler Cowen’s approach to finding talent is insightful—and flawed. Here’s how we can uncover hidden potential and level the playing field for the next generation of creators.
Wavemakers
What DJs Can Teach Us About Presenting Ideas and Standing Out
Carl Cox's DJ philosophy - think two tracks ahead, create unique blends - shows how standing out requires unexpected combinations.
Future of Learning
Education vs. Learning vs. Training: Why the Words We Use Matter
Education is done to you. Learning is opting in. Training makes it real. Simple distinctions that change everything.
Wavemakers
The Magic of Simple Ideas: What a Café in Paris Can Teach Us About Memorable Experiences
A Paris cafe uses Marcel Proust's questionnaire to create memorable experiences - proof that customer delight doesn't require screens.
Wavemakers
Inside Out: What the Premier League's RefCam Teaches Us About Empathy and Expertise
Premier League's RefCam puts viewers in the ref's shoes - transforming skeptical fans into educated insiders through immersive perspective.
The How To
Teaching with GPT: Building a Digital Persona That Thinks, Guides, and Surprises
Building a custom GPT for Columbia students means designing personality, setting boundaries, and creating 50+ rules for strategic learning.
The How To
The Power of a Great Question: Unlocking Worlds, One Inquiry at a Time
Great questions need design, timing, delivery, and follow-through - like a billiard break that opens up every ball perfectly.
Wavemakers
How H&M bring the Inside Out with Creator Studio
H&M's Creator Studio lets creatives design AI-generated merch while H&M gains data, optimizes infrastructure, and opens new revenue streams.
Wavemakers
Upleveling the Case Study: How AI Augmented a Real-World Entrepreneurial Journey
Columbia MBA students tackled live DIG growth scenarios - AI-generated briefs, board meeting simulations, and Adam Eskin's real-time feedback.
The How To
Going deep: Our approach to taking on Deep Work
Pull not push. Block Deep Work periods. Plan in weeks not tasks. Cal Newport's productivity principles applied at Wavetable.
Disney has one. IBM too. Even 50-person companies now hire fractional historians - turning archives into assets that inform strategy.
Wavemakers
Why your favorite TV's show #SceneRemix can unlock magic for brands and educators
YouTube creator remixes The Wire into character-focused episodes - proving curation and editing skills beat traditional CVs for career building.
Future of Learning
How can A.I. be used to augment the end-to-end experience of live events?
Royal Albert Hall panel at Barcelona conference - technology means technique, make small bets, friction isn't always bad if on-brand.
Wavemakers
Keyboard to Console: Why Every Knowledge Worker Needs a Creative Studio Kit
Figma's hardware companion offers hundreds of configurable shortcuts - bringing music production's tactile creativity to every knowledge worker's desk.
The How To
From 100 Days to Lifelong Skills: How to Spark Engagement in Online Learning
200,000 enrolled in Replit's coding course but dropoff was massive - ten fixes including missions, scaffolds, and meaningful incentives.
The How To
The Blank Slide Shuffle
Scott Harrison went pitch black mid-keynote - using a blank slide to mark rock bottom, ramp tension, refocus attention.
Future of Learning
Global employee engagement levels are shockingly low
Only 5% of Japanese employees engaged at work, 10% in UK, 32% in US - global average 23% means opportunity.
The How To
Understanding the Presentation Spectrum
Presentations live on a spectrum - performative keynotes at one end, decision-driven budget reviews at the other. Most work sits middle.
Wavemakers
Richie Hawtin’s next musical frontier? High school science class
Richie Hawtin and Erica Synths built educational synthesizer for high schools - DIY voice cards, immediate hands-on learning, physics meets music.
Wavemakers
Everything's a remix: transferrable skills from the genius of The Prodigy
The Prodigy's Liam Howlett sampled eight songs across genres in 1996 - teaching curation, tool literacy, and synthesis skills.
Wavemakers
Harmonizing Creativity: Inside the zen-infused world of Sebastian Mulleart's ‘Circle of Live’
Swedish artist Sebastian Mulleart built Circle of Live - rotating improvised electronic shows - then In Bloom platform teaching improvisation and creativity.
Wavemakers
Spain's €20k gift for every young citizen
Spanish minister proposes €20k universal inheritance at 18 - funded by taxing €3m+ earners - for study, training, business launches.
Wavemakers
Why David Marchese's skills remain underrated
NYT's David Marchese gets celebrities to reveal hidden lives - unusual questions, pushback, overcoming the desperate desire to be liked.
Wavemakers
Why world-class athletes have been roughing it
Track World Championships built Q Room for athletes waiting on results - comfy chairs, TVs, stretch bands, cameras capturing tension.
Wavemakers
Meet the mysterious designer who secretly remixes street posters
Brooklyn designer Max Kolomatsky secretly redesigns street posters for handymen and yoga - elevating local businesses, teaching design skills publicly.
Wavemakers
How Coldplay use Inside Out dynamics to hit all the right notes
Coldplay built comprehensive sustainability tour report and explorable timeline archive - bringing fans inside through transparency, benchmarks, historical artifacts.
Wavemakers
Christopher Nolan's 26 principles for creative work
Christopher Nolan's 26 principles for creative work - constraints breed resourcefulness, flip ideas, mute the world then build your own.
The How To
11 tips to improve your writing skills
University of Chicago professor Larry McEnerney breaks down writing - purpose is changing reader worldview, sentences create microstresses, jargon varies.
Wavemakers
Flipping the script: a movie studio launch an app for fans
A24 Films launched app during Hollywood shutdown - behind-scenes content, new angles, product extensions prove constraints encourage creativity.
Wavemakers
How cricket is reshaping culture and the world of work
Indian women's cricket league valued second globally with 50m viewers - coaches using sport to empower girls, especially rural areas.
Wavemakers
How Jay-Z's new exhibition opens up new ways to engage
8 reasons why 'The Book of HOV' stands out from the crowd
Wavemakers
🚌 “We should do a school… or something?”
Allbirds goes open source, edutainment as a springboard, and the opportunity to build what's next
Wavemakers
How a TV show is using Edutainment 3.0 to open up exciting new spaces
'Space Junk' encourages audiences to create new stories using web3 and AI technologies
Future of Learning
Making Moonshots: The power of open source brand toolkits
How brands of all shapes and sizes can use the power of open source
The How To
Why the best experiences have invisible structure
A lesson from one of the great movie directors
Wavemakers
The surprising human-centric approach used by a Premier League team on the rise
How Brighton & Hove Albion use data in all kinds of interesting ways
The How To
How to set up speaker notes in a live presentation (simple 3-step process)
Notes can end up distracting and confusing. So how do we best use them?
Wavemakers
5 lessons from Hollywood’s 14 year old animator
The power of constraints, explorations, and feedback
The How To
Introducing the Presentation Elevation Tool
A free tool packed with unconventional prompts to help you get unstuck
The How To
Presentation Skills: 3 Levels of Speaking (and two ways to level up)
Master the fundamentals of public speaking with three progressive levels and practical techniques to level up your presentation game.
Wavemakers
How a soccer star is helping young athletes translate their skills into alternative career paths
A new education initiative is helping bridge an ever-widening gap
7 elements that keep people coming back... and a view to what's next
The How To
Air Time: How to elevate your next presentation deck
A simple trick to make your next presentation flow
The How To
Create some Client Magic: join the free Micro Course
A 5 day email course to transform your client interactions
The How To
What's Your Presenter Type?
Our free self-assessment tool will help you level up your presentation skills
The How To
3 ways to make your Training and Development more engaging
How to avoid your training falling falt
The How To
Workshops & Meetings: How to avoid the pre-read trap
Why advance information can ruin the whole experience
The How To
Inside Wavetable's brand refresh
Our new visuals, and a new way that we see the world
Wavemakers
Riding the Wave of Resourcefulness: What We Can Learn from Garrett McNamara's Epic Surfing Adventure
3 tips on how to elevate your resourcefulness, plus a free assessment tool to test out your team dynamics
Wavemakers
Spinning Knowledge: What educators and creators can learn from one of the world’s best DJs
Why the space between Warm Up and Prime Time can be magical
Wavemakers
How backpack brand Herschel are banking on underserved creators
A mentoring program takes over an NYC financial institution
Future of Learning
Learning is invisible ink
People don't really want to learn. So what can we do instead?
Future of Learning
Why human capital is the driver of Fortune 500 success
Intangibles are becoming way more tangible
Future of Learning
Why tension in learning can be magic
Like great movies that keep us on the edge of our seats, strategic tension in learning creates engagement and memorable experiences.
The How To
Notes On… Obstacle Courses for Learning Experiences
Why your program, workshop, or course should take a tip from the military - and kids’ playtime
Future of Learning
Notes on how brands can help solve Wicked Problems
Brand activism is on customers' minds, but unpacking wicked problems requires more than good intentions - here's how brands can make a real difference.
The How To
How to bring the power of Telenovelas into learning
Discover how a 1970s TV producer named Miguel created a powerful method for making complex messages resonate through storytelling.
Wavemakers
How Airbnb used education to drive their most profitable quarter ever
How Airbnb shifted from performance marketing to brand education and drove their most profitable quarter ever.
Future of Learning
Of Note - #7 - YouTube college credits, Buzzfeed training, and a unique playground
Three examples of Inside Out dynamics in action - from city design, creator economy, and corporate training.
Wavemakers
Of Note: Michelin's reimagined company HQ
How the French transport company focused on their employees - and the public - first
The How To
Notes on... DIG's Winter marketing campaign
How we went about showrunning a video production campaign for cooking company DIG
Wavemakers
Of Note - Burberry's rebrand goes inside out - and back in time
What Burberry's rebrand reveals about the power of looking inward - and backward - to move forward.
Future of Learning
Why the future of learning is in the middle
How becoming a workshop creator can unlock magical opportunities for learning and growth.
Future of Learning
Why your employee retention problem isn't what you think it is
The employee retention challenge isn't what most leaders think - here's what's really driving people away.
Wavemakers
Why an indie rock band may hold the ticket for the future of education
Big Thief's innovative soundcheck invitation to schools is an early contender for the smartest education idea of 2023.
Future of Learning
Why the future is Hot & Cool
The How To
Why 6 is the magic workshop number
A quick guide on how the number 6 can serve as your secret weapon for designing and delivering effective workshops.
Future of Learning
What Next? Notes from a conversation with Renetta McCann, Chief Inclusion Experiences Officer at Publicis Groupe
Key takeaways from a conversation with Renetta McCann on complexity, adult learning, and the untapped potential of people managers.
Future of Learning
What's in a name?
Why we're called 'Wavetable...'
Wavemakers
Whiplash: From side project to 47 awards
Even the geniuses don't go from zero to 100 - how Damian Chazelle's Whiplash proves the power of starting with a proof of concept.
Future of Learning
Welcome to Edutainment 3.0
An explorable trends report by Wavetable
Future of Learning
What people really want from new technology
They don't want features, or even benefits. It's about something more human
Future of Learning
We're seeking curious humans
Wavetable is seeking curious, T-shaped humans who want to create transformative learning experiences at the intersection of art and science.
Future of Learning
The rise of the residency
What DJs know about connection and craft - and why the art of the residency matters more than ever in our choice-saturated world.
Future of Learning
The Community Corner podcast: using Edutainment to create engaging community experiences
Howard shares tips on edutainment, James Bond-style openings, and how to make community gatherings more fresh and exciting.
The How To
The reverse reference: Why hiring talent is a two-way street
What if employers offered references to the people they interview? A simple shift that could transform how we build trust in hiring.
Future of Learning
The new Edutainment
Education as business development (and beyond), teachers becoming more than just the new DJs, and the foundations of a big shift that’s here to stay.
Future of Learning
The Educator in Residence
Why a different type of EIR could be your firm’s new secret weapon
The How To
The Joy of 6
From cabaret tables to De La Soul to Marc Lewis's School - why six (and 36) is the magic number for workshop design.
Future of Learning
Rewriting The Playbook: Creating a portal for a Netflix documentary series
How Netflix's The Playbook documentary could become an immersive portal for fans to connect, learn, and discover with their heroes.
Let's build something that works
Got something in mind? We'd love to hear about it.