CrowdComms saw an excellent use of gamification as part of an event app whilst on site at a recent conference for a large pharmaceutical company. Gamification is the perfect tool to boost networking and engagement amongst attendees. 250 challenges were available on the event app throughout the three-day conference and showed a carefully orchestrated and highly effective use of gamification. Below are just some of the ways audience participation games were used at this conference, and how they helped fulfil the organisers’ aims for the event.
Gamification in Practice
Gamification was used to encourage engagement with the event app in the lead up to the conference. Attendees could win points for creating their profiles. Uploading your name and picture within 24 hours of the event app launch would earn you maximum points.
Stickers were hidden throughout the venue, each sticker had a different code which could be entered on the event app for 50, 100 or 200 points. Event app users also answered a crop of daily questions which were tiered bronze, silver and gold. This was a great way of getting people to move around the venue and to promote attendee-to-attendee networking.
Attendees were also quizzed on the city of Madrid, where the conference was held. These questions were a refreshing change for the delegates and, although games are optional, the competitive aspect makes them very popular!
At this conference gamification was woven into the fabric of the event, hidden gems were everywhere which meant even more points for the more intuitive delegates. On the social wall, random codes were tweeted out and hidden in the event app itself.
Attendees also received points for good deeds, for example saving the company money by sharing a room with a fellow attendee would earn you 500 points!
At the end of the three day conference the winner came away with around 36,500 points, a very impressive score!
Overall
This was an original and inventive way to use gamification as a part of an event app. It’s an excellent example of how to integrate games directly into an event, all whilst boosting audience engagement and valuable networking opportunities.
