Do you enjoy playing video or mobile games? If yes, you belong to the 40% of the population who spends a fair amount of their time gaming! Games are an intrinsic part of our everyday lives. The validation of winning a prize or earning points keeps us excited and motivated to play. Moreover, the challenges we face help us improve our concentration, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Nowadays, organizations use games to educate and engage their audiences. Event organizers are also embracing the power of gamification. This blog post will help you understand why gamification for events is a trend you should be following in 2023.
In blog post, you will find:
- What is gamification?
- Why is gamification in events becoming so popular?
- Benefits of event gamification
- How do you gamify an event?
- Event gamification ideas
What is gamification?
Some people consider gamification a new concept in business and other areas. However, this is a total misconception. Gamification is a technique that can be traced back to 1912, when a famous popcorn brand began to include a free prize in their bags. The term itself became popular in 2010.
Simply put, gamification is the method of using game elements to make non-game activities more engaging. Examples include gamification in marketing, education, and healthcare.
Now let’s dive into the topic of this blog post: gamification in events. Gamifying one or multiple elements of your conference, meeting, or trade show is one of the newest trends in the event industry.
Why is gamification in events becoming so popular?
Event gamification is all about applying game elements to enhance the overall experience during your event. Contrary to popular belief, this technique is not a new one. It has existed for many years. For example, rewarding the winners on trivia nights with gift certificates and tech gadgets is a well-known method for motivating participants. Nonetheless, the term gamification for events is becoming more popular among event planners nowadays.
The reason? The newest technology makes event gamification more powerful than ever before. Today, it is possible to go beyond traditional event activities. Event gamification enables companies to create memorable experiences for their attendees.
Scratch this card to reveal a curious fact about event marketing:
Are you ready to solve this problem with gamification for events?
Benefits of using event gamification
Gamifying your event has several compelling benefits for your organization. If we have to say it all in one sentence, here is why gamification in events is a trend you must follow:
Event gamification turns any event into an unforgettable experience for each guest. Share on XIn this paragraph, we summarize the main advantages of leveraging gamification for events.
Increasing attendee engagement
People sitting still for too long tend to become bored. Presentation after presentation might turn your excited attendees into sleepy and grumpy guests. Don’t worry! Gamification can keep your audience engaged during the whole duration of the event.
Creating better networking opportunities
Imagine the following situation. You have organized an event where more than 10 speakers will educate the guests on certain topics. Instead of listening to all 10 presentations in a row, your attendees participate in a discussion session where they share their learnings, play memory games, and answer questions together. All these mutual activities will strengthen the communication between them. As a result, your event will become a brilliant networking opportunity for each guest.
Higher return on investment
The higher the engagement and the better the networking opportunities, the more people will attend your next events. From a financial point of view, your company will enjoy a higher return on investment from every upcoming event.
Improving internal training
You can also implement gamification during your next internal training event. Combining game elements with educational material is a proven method to improve knowledge retention and maintain high levels of engagement. How does it work? Studies show that gameplay stimulates a strong hippocampal activation which, in turn, makes content easier to remember. Therefore, testing your employees’ knowledge through different games during their training sessions will increase engagement. As a result, you will improve the overall internal training quality.
Developing brand recognition
Regardless of the type of event you are organizing, gamification will make your brand stand out. A successful conference or trade show will leave positive memories in your audience’s minds. The satisfied attendees will spread the word about your brand. Furthermore, a gamified internal training session will boost your employer branding.
Getting to know your audience better
Among other things, gamification for events helps you gather consumer data. Especially during virtual and hybrid events, technology allows you to implement digital polls, Marketing Games, Interactive Quizzes, and Interactive Videos. Not only do these experiences engage your audience, but they also help you get to know the participants better through their answers and actions.
Related: Interactive event ideas that will make your event memorable
How do you gamify an event?
Gamification in events can take many different forms. Keep in mind that you can implement game elements before, during, and after the event. You can use games for everything from promoting an event to collecting feedback.
Pro tip: Gamifying your event does not mean turning your whole event into a competitive video game. Incorporating a few game elements is a brilliant idea, but don’t go too far.
Event gamification for physical events
Try to avoid long, boring presentations during your next physical event. Adding a gamified element every now and then will keep your participants focused. Here are a few ideas for turning your physical event into a memorable experience:
- Provide board games for your audience to enjoy during the breaks. Alternatively, you can set some video games up.
- Consider games that will help you attendees socialize and get to build their network.
- Organize a creative workshop with rewards for the best results.
- Use quizzes after every presentation to test your attendees’ knowledge.
- Don’t forget to organize energetic activities for attendees to restore their energy after every presentation.
We encourage you to select the ideas that will help you achieve your goals. Align with the event’s theme. Otherwise, you might confuse your audience. For example, if it is a health event – organize sports challenges where participants can compete with one another.
Pro tip: Make sure to align your entertainment ideas with the theme of your event.
Virtual event gamification
One of the biggest challenges with virtual events is online fatigue. Keeping participants active is mission impossible. Or is it?
Let’s explore some virtual event gamification ideas that will help you overcome this issue:
- Interactive Content can help you turn your virtual event into a phenomenal success. Marketing Games are particularly useful methods for retaining attention.
Pro tip: Virtual event gamification is also one of the best ways to generate leads for your business. You can add non-intrusive lead forms to every experience. As a result, your event will turn into a lead generation machine.
- Rewarding participation will keep your attendees excited. For example, you can offer rewards, badges, or loyalty points for every trade show stand they visit virtually.
- Gamify the feedback process! Every event planner wants to know whether the activities were engaging and practical for their attendees. Using polls is a great way to receive feedback, but how do you make sure that more people answer your questions? With gamification! Reward your attendees for every completed poll.
Hybrid event gamification
The key to a successful hybrid event is providing in-person and virtual attendees with equal access to all experiences. Therefore, the activities you plan in terms of gamification should serve as a bridge between both audiences.
- Encouraging user-generated content will bring in-person and virtual attendees closer together. Incentivize your customers and employees to share photos from the event on their social media to enter a contest. The motivating factor in this experience is the desire to win the competition.
- Use the same exhibition or trade show games for all participants. Offering an equal chance to win a prize regardless of the participant’s location will increase engagement. Networking games are particularly important during hybrid events. After all, you want to make sure that no one feels excluded during the event.
- Gather feedback by sending the same poll to all attendees.
Related: Hybrid events to inspire you in 2023
Event gamification ideas
In this paragraph, we delve into some of the best event gamification examples to get you inspired. There are thousands of different games that you can use for your next event. Let’s explore some Marketing Games ideas that will create an explosion of positive feedback on social media!
1. Marketing Games during the waiting stage
Turn the waiting stage of your hybrid or virtual event into an exciting time for your attendees. Embedding a simple Marketing Game to your microsite can increase engagement before the event has even started!
Any game can be suitable for the waiting stage. As long as it adapts to the event theme and your brand identity, users will love it! Some great examples include puzzles, games of chance, platform games, and tapping games.
Opt for challenging games. These will spike your guests’ dopamine levels, motivating them to take part in your event.
2. Educating with Marketing Games
Leveraging gamification will make learning funnier. Make sure to test your audience’s knowledge after every presentation with a fun game. A leader board will create healthy competition among the attendees.
3. Marketing Games to reward your attendees
Tap into the competitive nature of people with Marketing Games, where the best ones would receive a reward. For this purpose, you can pick any game that has a leaderboard.
Another great example is a game with discount codes. You can use it to reward early check-in, fast learners, active participants, or provide everyone with the opportunity to get a hot deal – the choice is all yours.
4. Marketing Games during breaks
Even the most curious people will feel exhausted after a long presentation, no matter how interesting it is. Therefore, enabling your attendees to play a mini game during the breaks will help them relax.
We suggest a simple game that will entertain your guests.
5. Interactive Quiz
Quizzes are a great alternative to knowledge games. You can entertain and educate your attendees with Interactive Quizzes before, during, and after your event. The thrill of getting as many answers right will keep your audience engaged and eager to learn more.
Related: What is an Interactive Quiz?
Quizzes can bring dynamic to any event. Selecting a quiz with game elements will guarantee an equally entertaining and educational experience.
6. Gamified Videos
A gamified video is an Interactive Video where you encourage viewers to participate actively in the experience. For example, you can insert certain items in the video and ask attendees to find them all. Then, you can reward whoever has strong attention to detail.
Pro tip: You can record your event and make an Interactive Video out of it. This can help you promote your next event in a highly engaging way.
Add some fun to your next event with event gamification!
Forget about boring, long events. Ignoring the opportunity to implement fun activities during your next conference, trade show, or internal training session might deteriorate your brand image. Gamification will set your organization apart during your next event.
Dot.vu is an Interactive Content platform that offers hundreds of customizable gamification templates. Explore our marketplace or book a meeting with an expert to ensure your next event is a huge success!
