One of the struggles for event planners and vendors is trying to create genuine engagement opportunities with attendees. With so many demands on your attendees’ time–work email, phone calls, social media, and more–finding ways to capture and hold their attention can be a real challenge. Instead of workshops or lectures, today’s top event planners are taking a page from game designers to capture the minds of attendees. From taking your event into the real world to capitalizing on the desire for swag, here are a few ways that you can use gamification to create more engaging events.
Cash in on geocaching
If you’ve spent serious time, effort, and money selecting the perfect city for your big event, why not make the city a star attraction? Modern-day scavenger hunts that use GPS to guide thrill seekers–geocaching is a foolproof way to get your attendees engaged and bring the excitement of the event locale into your event.
Work with event sponsors to hide “treasures” throughout the city or around the downtown area where you’re hosting your event. Not only will you provide more opportunities for attendees to interact with participating brands, but you’ll also make the larger community feel more connected to your event. Encourage participants to take photos at each stop with hashtags made custom for your event, and don’t forget to ask them to tag each stop’s sponsor and location! You can even avoid possible issues with app compatibility and connectivity by providing iPhone rentals or Samsung smartphone rentals preloaded with your geocaching app.
Top the leaderboard
Have your trade show vendors complained that attendees don’t seem all that excited or interested when talking with them? Boost excitement (and numbers of visitors) by making checking in with vendors at your next trade show an award-winning activity.
Give attendees points for checking in and snapping a photo at booths throughout the event space. Create a custom hashtag for attendees to use when snapping their photos and posting them to social media. Assign an intern or event staff member to track the posts and monitor the points each attendee has. Generate buzz for the contest by featuring the top 10 point earners on a leaderboard near the check-in area or other prominent locations. Ask vendors to donate items to create gift baskets to be given away to the top 3 point earners. Want an even easier way to track attendees’ points while giving vendors the opportunity to interact with them? Post iPad or tablet kiosks at each booth and have guests check in with the vendor through your app using their phone number or email address. A sweet bonus? You and your vendors will be able to capture even more reliable contact info from event attendees.
Put your knowledge to the test
Who doesn’t love showing off just a little bit? Help your attendees learn more about your event (and earn swag) all while giving your marketing team more opportunity to showcase your brand message, with an old-fashioned game of trivia.
Video wall rentals are an impressive option for creating a Jeopardy-style trivia game wall, or iPad rentals can be mounted side-by-side in a square configuration to create an equally eye-catching display at a lower price range. In addition to boosting engagement from your attendees, your sponsors and vendors can also benefit from these games. Invite vendors to submit marketing messages, like short videos, special event-oriented logos, and product demo videos, to play between rounds or on each screen before a question is asked.
Events are serious business
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