Audience engagement is crucial for an amazing event. And with virtual and hybrid events taking over the landscape, it's even more important for event organizers. Event organizers have employed many strategies, including online shows, specialist training, and more. One of the best strategies, which fundamentally requires attendees to actively participate, is gamification.
In this article, we'll look at what gamification is and how you can actively include it in your event. We also describe some tips for incorporating gamification into your event.
Gamification is the process of applying game mechanics and elements into a non-game activity to increase participation. It aims to inspire participation and encourage interaction and collaboration. Gamification has recorded a good amount of success in several fields, as it employs the competitive streak in us to thrive.
In events, gamification incorporates game tactics and elements into the show to make attendees get more involved in the event. For example, attendees may be awarded points for performing specific tasks or doing certain activities. You may even have a leaderboard where attendees can see top performers and rank their performance.
Gamification is a great way to boost the quality of your event. And this is not just because it increases engagement. Gamification also encourages your attendees to interact and work with one another less formally. From this, attendees can exchange contacts and keep in touch for business purposes, helping them advance their careers.
Here are some ways that gamification can boost audience engagement at your event:
Gamification transforms your attendees from bored watchers to active participants. With tasks to do and activities to engage in, attendees have an extra reason to participate in the event, boosting their engagement.
Gamification gives attendees a role in the event, ensuring they're not just passive listeners. With something to achieve on the line, your attendees are more motivated to pay attention throughout your event.
According to a report by Zippia, 95% of employees enjoy gamified aspects of their work. This is also true for events. With gamification, you can break the cold formality that's typical of business events with some good-natured fun.
With a bit less formality, attendees feel more relaxed and able to participate in activities. Also, they're better able to connect with your event and its theme, allowing them to derive increased value from your sessions.
Virtual games and event gamification are a break from the typical 'handshake and introduction' method of meeting business acquaintances. By providing something simple and interesting to talk about, gamification boosts the confidence of attendees to meet new people.
With 59% of event organizers using gamification strategies in their events, you'd never go wrong in including it in your event. Your attendees will record more participation, meet more people, and improve their chances of boosting their careers.
According to CNBC, networking is responsible for filling up to 80% of jobs. Additionally, a study carried out by LinkedIn showed that around 80% of professionals believe that networking is crucial for career success. With gamification, you boost the ability of attendees to connect and interact, opening doors for career success.
Improved networking boosts the value derived from your event, allowing you to indirectly help your attendees advance their careers. This way, members of your target audience would be more likely to attend your events in the future.
Here are some helpful tips for incorporating gamification into your event:
When choosing gamified content for your event, remember your event's purpose. You don't want the games or polls to overshadow your event or take away from its seriousness. So, go for activities that best mirror the ideals of your business and its event. Ensure that gamification helps meet your event's goals rather than obscure them.
One way to help sponsors derive more value from your event is to enable them to gain more leads. To drive attendees to sponsored content, you can attach points to specific sponsorship-related tasks. This way, you incentivize attendees to engage with sponsored content, helping your sponsors boost their ROI.
Tasks you can gamify might include visiting a sponsor's booth, signing up for a free trial, subscribing to their email, etc. You can attach event-related goodies as prizes or work with the sponsors to create rewards for participants with the most engagement.
Games can easily elevate the fun and entertainment level, introducing a more exciting atmosphere to your event. If you're up for it, you can include one or two arcade games in your event and have participants play one another in small groups. You can even have attendees team up to solve puzzles, encouraging collaboration. Working together to solve problems allows teammates to show off some of their skills in a fun way, eliminating the need for awkward icebreakers when it's time to network.
Everyone wants to win, and even more, know when they're winning. By publishing the results, you can boost the competitive streak at your events. With real-time data showing who's on course to win a prize, you encourage the top performers to keep participating. At the same time, you also encourage other participants to engage more so they can try to beat the leaders. This adds more excitement to the event.
Having a prize is crucial for the gamification strategy. There should be a tangible reward to motivate participants to engage in collecting points and completing tasks. Ensure that this reward is made public to everyone to maximize the experience and boost motivation. You can also host a small awards ceremony at the end of the event to award prizes to the most active participants.
Gamification is a great way to boost engagement at your event while boosting your sponsors' ROI. Are you interested in improving the experience at your event by incorporating gamification? Give us a call at Performedia; we'll help you create a fantastic gamified event!
