What is Event Gamification?

Everyone enjoys a good game, including your event attendees. Gamification is a great way to create an environment that will encourage active participation and won’t leave attendees in a passive listening mode. Using gamification at your event provides an exciting opportunity to create a better attendee experience.

What is it?

Gamification is simply creating a game out of something that isn’t. To gamify your event is to make it interactive, fun, and engaging for attendees… while allowing you to collect attendee data, increase session attendance, drive booth traffic, and boost the event’s engagement. If done effectively, your attendees will have a fun and memorable experience without being aware of the benefits you have accrued.

Gamification isn’t limited to technology, but it is among the most common and easy to use. It’s inexpensive, because you can make use of your attendees’ smartphones through social media and apps. Use of a mobile app is an effective way to keep your attendees focused on your event. Most attendees will be actively using their phones already, so why not put your event game right where much of the attendees’ attention is already going to be?

How can you make it work for you?

With some creative thinking, turning your event into a game is easy. Before you begin, you need define an objective. What do you hope to gain from doing this and how can the results be measured? Once your goals are established, it’s important to identify your target audience of so that you can modify your gamification method accordingly. It’s important to keep in mind what will attract the target audience’s attention and what methods can be used to collect the data. Once you’ve done this, you can then work to develop a custom game strategy that will best help you achieve your main objective.

Examples:

• Award badges for booth and session attendance. Give prizes to those who reach the highest marks.
• Hold Q&A sessions via a social media hashtag, allowing session attendees to both ask and answer questions. Display the social media page onto the presentation screen. Award prizes to the attendees who answer other attendees’ questions correctly.
• Conduct an Instagram scavenger hunt, providing attendees with a list of items to find and post.

Gamification fosters interaction between attendees, event organizers, presenters and sponsors. Competition encourages participation, and everyone loves to win prizes. Attendees are less likely to forget something they took an active part in; as opposed to something they just sat through.