Gamification is a mysterious word as it can mean about a million and one different things. But in the event world, event gamification means activations at your event that have game-like features for your attendees to interact with. It could be a scavenger hunt on-site or a trivia question mid-presentation for a prize in a virtual session. Anything that gets your attendee’s attention and gets them involved in a fun and exciting way can be gamification! So, how do you implement it for greater overall event engagement? That’s what we’re going to cover today.
How Event Gamification Increases Your Attendee Engagement
People love a good incentive. Whether it’s bragging rights or a real prize, incentive-based activities are always going to be a highlight for those who love a little friendly competition. Companies that use gamification can see up to a 7x greater customer conversion rate. Plus, over 85% of event attendees said that an event app made their time at an event more fun. These stats show that gamification is effective because people enjoy it, and it gives them a greater reason to connect with your event!
How to Get Started
So, we know it’s effective. So, how do you get started with implementation?
The first step, as always, is to outline your goals. What do you want the outcome of your event gamification strategy to be? Why will you invest time into brainstorming and executing event gamification ideas?
Maybe you want to extend your reach via social sharing. Perhaps you want to add an avenue for sponsor engagement. Or maybe, you want to direct attendees’ attention to a product launch or special offer.
Using that as your guide, meet with a group of stakeholders to brainstorm some ideas. Then, create a list of event gamification opportunities to fulfill those goals.
Will you do all of them or some of them? Narrow it down or go for the
Ideas for Your Next Event
Event Gamification for Virtual Events
Virtual Escape Room Breakout Sessions: Great for team building or networking events, breakout groups into Zoom breakout rooms, and have them participate in an Escape the Room Challenge. The winning team can take away the virtual trophy and bragging rights!
Trivia Questions: Who has the most knowledge about your brand? During the keynote or breakout sessions, offer a trivia game. Whoever gets the most questions right wins!
Event Gamification for In-Person Events
QR Code Scavenger Hunts: Now that QR codes have made a comeback, capitalize on that! Scatter branded QR codes across your show floor, session rooms, etc. The codes can be linked to special deals or exclusive VIP event invitations, or whoever scans the most can win, depending on your ultimate goal.
Event Gamification for Hybrid & Any Event
Incentivized Social Sharing: Part of the marketing of an event is always social sharing. By getting your attendees in on the game by sharing pre-event, during the event, and post-event, you’ll extend your reach. Connect this option to an event app so you can track shares and engagement. Then, whoever has the highest social engagement score at the end of the event can be crowned the social king or queen with a grand prize.
Exhibitor Booth Passport Challenge: Who can visit the most exhibitor booths by the end of the conference, checking off meaningful 15-minute appointments?
Winners for any of these can receive free products from sponsors, complimentary attendance for the next event, cash prizes, Amazon gift cards, and more! Think about your target audience and what they want. This will spark ideas for what you can give away to inspire participation.
EBA Can Help You Design Productive Event Gamification for Your Next Event
The key to event gamification is ensuring that while the activations are fun, they’re productive for your business. What is the outcome? What KPI can you attribute to at the end of the event? While sometimes event gamification options are solely for fun, there needs to be a productive and measurable outcome for them to engage and create ROI. That’s what our team is an expert at! Schedule a strategy session to brainstorm event gamification ideas for your next event.
