Defying categorization

I've been working on my presentation for DevLearn 08 in San Jose. The title is: Virtual Territory: The Future of Learning in Virtual Worlds. I'm really excited to present, first because I have more than 5 minutes, and second because I'm a ham that misses teaching. But the presentation slides, which I typically have no problem pulling together, are going SLOWLY. I finally figured out why. We're not just talking about the future of learning in virtual worlds. I'm really talking about the future of enterprise learning, and our Virtual Territory doesn't fit into a nice, neat category like virtual world or simulation or serious game, or even learning management system. Its all those things, and more.

How do you explain a new concept? By trying to compare it, or contrast it, to other things that people understand or identify with. It's difficult to do that with what we are doing. I'm not a real sales-y girl. I don't want to sound too cocky, or full of myself, or oblivious to what work others are doing.

At the same time, I haven't seen anyone else doing what we're doing. It makes what we're doing that much harder to explain and describe.

But I'm holding out hope that in a few years, people will be comparing what they do to our stuff.