Increasing engagement at an event is constantly on the minds of event planners; after all, without engaged attendees, an event is sure to fall flat. When it does, it lets down all involved — from the attendees to exhibitors, sponsors, speakers and maybe most especially event managers. No one wants to work hard to put on a lackluster event; unfortunately, and despite even the best efforts, without the right technology, like event app gamification, your event might well be a flop.
As we all know, attendee engagement at events is critical for its ability to: enhance learning and information sharing, create a positive experience in support of valuable networking opportunities, inspire repeat attendance, deliver better ROI for event stakeholders like exhibitors and sponsors, provide actionable feedback to event managers, and nurture professional growth for registrants.
This is why event app gamification for event managers has proven to be a, well … gamechanger, and therefore should get top billing when building an event engagement strategy.
With so many shiny objects out there in the world of event apps, event managers strive to find that one thing that will actually engage their attendees and event gamification has proven to do just that.
In the interest of keeping you engaged with our content, we present the following short article crafted to help you boost engagement at your next event by providing answers to these questions: How do you gamify an event? What is an example of gamification application? What are some event gamification examples and conference gamification ideas? Finally, will event app gamification really boost engagement for my team?
It’s a lot to cover, so we will get right to the point and let you get back to managing strategies to gamify your next event in order to increase engagement.
Understanding Event App Gamification
Understanding the purpose and potential of event app gamification starts with its clear definition: event app gamification involves implementing gaming elements into a mobile event app in the hopes of increasing interaction and, therefore, engagement among attendees.
While games are intended to be light-hearted and fun — in fact, we believe you can never go wrong with games for improving attendee engagement — their role in event management is weighty. Done right, gamification motivates and incentivizes attendees to actively participate in the event. The trick to doing this requires leveraging meaningful interaction by fostering a healthy and exciting spirit of competition.
Interactive Elements and Challenges
Event app gamification offers a fun way for attendees to connect with each other, as well as the event content, and certainly taps into anyone’s competitive spirit by incorporating principles like points and rewards. This is a system through which attendees are essentially rewarded for attending certain sessions, completing polls, stopping by exhibitor booths, and communicating with speakers.
Once so many points are accumulated, an attendee might unlock a reward having completed a specific challenge; for instance, attending a certain number of sessions or exchanging contact information with a target number of fellow attendees.
Rewards are varied in nature, but can include event swag, exclusive opportunities like meet and greets with keynote speakers, free content downloads, along with access to otherwise restricted or VIP event opportunities.
Other popular gamification principles include leaderboards, upon which attendee rankings are broadcast based on achievements or points earned; interactive polls and quizzes are also popular and do help foster participation and communication during sessions; virtual scavenger hunts motivate attendees to navigate the event space more thoughtfully and thoroughly than perhaps they otherwise would.
Quizzes are also a fan favorite, along with live contests and scheduled trivia sessions, which can help drive excitement and create an urgency to participate in order to potentially benefit from exclusive rewards or even just recognition for winning a round or outsmarting a competitor.
While these elements all appear to be geared towards individual competitors, the fact is these gamification opportunities can be tailored to include team-based gaming that nurtures networking and collaboration.
Not only will your attendees be excited to interact with your event sponsor directly, but your sponsor will also reap the benefits of those interactions and the additional, arguably more spotlighted event exposure.
Don’t hesitate to approach your event sponsors with this opportunity because that’s what it really is. A chance for them to engage with your attendees in a fun way that increases engagement, fosters good-natured, friendly competition and connects everyone in a single experience among the many others that will make up your entire event.
It really doesn’t get more win-win than this.
Driving Desired Behaviors with Rewards
Perhaps an obvious point, but most of us could do with a reward or prize from time to time. While event app gamification is cutting-edge, the idea of driving desired behaviors with rewards is as old as time. All it takes is a quick trip down memory lane to our school years, a time rich with sticker charts and pizza parties for the number of books read off a pre-approved list.
Rewards work because we recognize them. This is what makes it a cinch for event managers to present incentives for completing specific tasks, such as attending specific sessions or visiting certain exhibitors.
And while offering rewards seems like a simple solution for event planners, the fact is, gamification increases attendee satisfaction with an event, which in turn increases attendee retention. Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most impactful.
Measuring Gamification Impact
Event app gamification, in theory, isn’t a hard sell. Of course, the most successful event managers prioritize data and proof that a solution, tool or initiative actually works. In this case, data analytics make tracking attendee engagement and gamification performance not only easy but meaningful.
Analyzing data post-event offers event managers invaluable insights relative to refining gamification strategies in the future. By accessing data-driven insights, event organizers can train their focus on event improvements in pursuit of stronger ROI.
Let Core-Apps Play on Your Team
As fun and impactful as event gamification might be — and is — we recognize that, from an event planner’s perspective, it’s just another thing to manage. To borrow the expression, “If you want to make your dream work, try teamwork,” we suggest picking Core-Apps to be on your team and let us manage your gamification capabilities.
As the leading event app partner for an impressive roster of conferences and trade shows, the team at Core-Apps invites you to learn more about our solutions and request a demo!
