Gamification is a great way to engage attendees. It’s fun, drives up energy levels and can achieve specific event objectives. From boosting sponsor engagement to maximising networking connections, gamification is the versatile tool that delivers. The trick is knowing how to target your gamification strategy.
You might have mapped out a brilliant game that sends attendees on a high-throttle race around the event venue to the top of the leaderboard. Attendees may love it, but if your primary objective is to bolster networking connections, a team based game with minimal opportunities for attendee-to-attendee interaction will miss the mark.
Here are a few ideas for games to help deliver brilliant results against the right target:
Target: Engagement
Engage attendees through digital platforms such as event apps.
Via social media: before your event, entice attendees to get busy on social media. Offer a hot prize for the attendees who post and comment using the event’s hash tag. Got some hotshot wordsmiths at your event? Tell attendees you’ll be broadcasting the funniest and most popular tweets on any live display big screens.
Via Q&A: Use your event app as a platform for questions at the end of speaker sessions. Inject some energy into the Q&A session by offering a prize for the most interesting and/or innovative question.
Target: Cooperation
Enhance collaboration and community.
Via co-creation: Make speaker sessions interactive by asking the audience to choose the topic. Ask speakers to present the topics he or she prepared for the event. The audience then votes-up their preferred topic via the in-app polling platform. It’s a fun way to involved attendees in setting the agenda and making sure they get the information they want.
Target: Icebreaker
Get everyone connected quickly (and without cringe worthy ice-breaker games)!
Via connection games: an effective networking game is to place round tables in a suitable space. Name each table with a topic relevant to the event.
During the event introduction or at registration, attendees receive the name of the table where they have to sit. At the appropriate time a moderator gives attendees 5 minutes to talk about themselves to people sitting at the same table.
People present their thoughts about table topic of the table, then introduce themselves. It’s a nice way to connect people but within a structured environment that supports conversation and discussion.
Target: Networking
Boost networking.
Via social programmes: the social programme may relate to lunches, coffee breaks, dinners and cocktails etc. Invariably they take place in a relaxed and informal environment to encourage social interaction.
While these elements are all effective, think laterally to give your networking a boost. Tie social activities in with the event theme or attendees. For example if you have a physiotherapists’ convention how about organising a local hike.
Tailoring the shared experience to something closely aligned to attendees’ interests or looking for unusual or interesting activities is a great way to boost meaningful connections between attendees.
Target: Sponsor Engagement
Enhance attendee engagement with event sponsors.
Via a digital treasure hunt: getting attendees to engage with event sponsors can be tricky. An event app based game is the perfect way to connect attendees to sponsors.
Set the game up as a digital treasure hunt. Clues and badges can only be attained once teams or individuals have visited sponsor stands. At the stands they can collect a password or piece of information to unlock the next level or to gain points. Make sure attendees need to spend more than a few seconds at each stand to ensure sponsors have an opportunity to engage with game players.
Stage a mini-presentation for the winners. Sponsors can give prizes, or they can have their brand displayed on live display screens during the presentation.
