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Boost Event Engagement through Gamification

Thinking outside the box and keeping your audience engaged are two critical keys to any successful event. Now that virtual and hybrid events have become the norm, organizers must work even harder to keep energy high and hold their attendees’ attention.

Integrating games and competitions into events, also called “gamification,” is one of the hottest trends right now. Adding gamification to your event is one of the best ways to increase engagement, heighten brand awareness, and drive attendees to perform desired actions.

What is Gamification? The Basics

Despite its recent rise in popularity, there’s still some confusion about gamification and what it isn’t. It’s important to note that it’s not about turning your event into a big competition or creating something that resembles a fair; instead, event gamification is simply the process of incorporating game mechanics into the overall event experience. 

It works because humans, by nature, like to compete; they also feel a strong sense of satisfaction when rewarded for their efforts. Gamification taps into this psychology to drive desired behaviors in a fun and exciting way. 

Using Gamification to Drive Action

Defining your desired outcome is the first step to successfully incorporating gamification into your events. Whether you’re trying to build your prospect list, upsell to current customers, or increase brand awareness, it’s essential to know how you’ll measure your success.

While gamification can add a significant amount of entertainment to your event, this shouldn’t be the only purpose. Instead, it should always be linked to a specific goal that directly relates to the success of your event. For example, you may aim for a 30% increase in exhibitor interactions or a 25% increase in attendee referrals.

Once you’re clear on your goals, choosing the best gamification format for your event is much easier. For example, if you want to ensure your sponsors and exhibitors get plenty of traffic, you may offer points for each display they visit.

Some other ways to use gamification to drive action include:

  • Awarding points for correctly answering trivia questions during the event
  • Checking off boxes on BINGO cards for completing specific tasks
  • Hiding secret codes at various locations throughout the event space
  • Creating a scavenger hunt and awarding clues for taking particular actions
  • Offering the ability to earn titles and “level up” for completing several tasks
  • Giving points or rewards for inviting others to attend the event

Using a mobile app with gaming capabilities will help you design and launch your gamification plan. While it’s critical to have the right technology in place, simply providing access to an app isn’t enough. You’ll also need to motivate your attendees to participate in the games and make it worth their while. Do it right, and you’ll create loyal brand advocates who will be talking about your event long after it’s over.

Motivating Attendees

Since most people enjoy a bit of friendly competition, providing visual incentives like leaderboards, notifications, and personal scorecards can help keep your attendees motivated.

For in-person meetings, you may also consider giving out color-coded lanyards or badges for reaching certain levels. This will keep your gamification top-of-mind and encourage a competitive spirit.

Make sure your games are challenging enough to give participants a sense of achievement, but not so difficult or complex that attendees get frustrated or lose interest. It’s also essential to monitor your gamification in real-time. Keep an eye on how close participants are to earning awards and how engaged they are. If enthusiasm seems to be waning, make sure to send notifications reminding them how close they are to receiving a reward.

Choosing Rewards and Prizes

If you want people to get excited about your games, you’ll need prizes or rewards they want. While there are many options, ultimately, you’ll want to make sure the rewards you choose surprise and delight your guests.

For multi-day events, you may consider awarding experiences such as a VIP happy hour, a special dinner, a massage at the hotel spa, or an exclusive outing for those who reach certain levels.

Some organizations offer to donate to a charity of the winner’s choice, while others stick to traditional prizes, like a t-shirt and a coffee mug. As you choose the awards for your event, it’s crucial to think about what the prize says about your organization and the lasting impression you want to make.

Benefits of Gamification

Adding gamification to your event is an excellent way to guide your attendees to the actions you want them to take. It also makes them more comfortable, because they’ll know exactly what’s expected of them. In addition, when attendees are fully engaged, they’re more aware of their surroundings, allowing for deeper interaction with presenters and exhibitors.

Properly implemented, gamification converts “attendees” into “participants.” It helps them become fully immersed in the moment, learn new things, and get more out of the event than they otherwise would.

Gamification can create a fun and relaxed atmosphere and ensure a positive and rewarding experience. It can also significantly increase your return on investment by helping you to reach your predefined goals.

Add Gamification to Your Next Event

While the concept of gamification has created a lot of buzz lately, only a small number of organizers are currently using it to its full potential. By using gamification to upgrade your event experience now, you can ensure your events will stand out from the crowd. It will also allow you to increase both participants and sponsor engagement, encourage deeper connections, increase your session attendance, and improve the overall experience.

To learn more about how eShow can help you add gamification to your next event, request a personal demo. We’re happy to show you exactly how our mobile app works and help you choose the perfect line-up of products to ensure your next event is a stellar success.

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Spice Up Your Tech-Driven Events

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly impacted the event planning industry. However, it’s not the only challenge event planners face. While today’s events need to be safer and more versatile, organizers also have to work harder than ever to impress their attendees.

While “traditional” events typically feature things like live music, buffets, and keynote speakers, these offerings rarely excite a demanding audience. To truly make your mark, you’ll need to add in some spice.

Innovative events offer new twists that capture an audience’s attention and keep them talking about it long after they’ve packed their bags and headed home. If you want to impress your guests, you’ll need to modernize your events, make them more interactive, and incorporate a significant number of surprises. Use these seven outside-the-box ideas for inspiration!

1. Virtual Reality

While virtual reality (VR) isn’t a new invention, it’s a novel experience at most events. You can use VR technology to immerse your audience in a wide range of settings, making this useful for everything from demonstrating an important concept to creating fun competitions for guests to enjoy during their breaks.

Consider using VR to create 3D models of flagship products or to offer interactive training sessions. You can also use VR to create a fully immersive tour of the sponsor’s warehouse or home office. Once you start using your imagination, the options are literally endless.

Depending on your budget, you may consider sending inexpensive VR headsets to at-home guests so they can enjoy the experience as well. This is a great way to keep them engaged, even when they’re enjoying your event from a distance.

2. Digital Display Walls

Digital display walls are a great way to set the mood for your event. Not only is this an excellent way to showcase products and highlight a company’s message, but changing the wall can completely transform the look and feel of a room in a matter of seconds.

Animated, panoramic, or even static projections are sure to astound your guests and make them feel like they’ve stepped into a whole new world. 

PRO TIP: You can also engage your off-site guests by providing 3-D or VR tours of the event space so they can enjoy the same immersive experience as your in-person attendees. 

3. Magical Transformations

Often, the biggest impacts are found in the smallest of details. For example, instead of allowing guests to arrive in a large, open hall and awkwardly look for their table, consider managing your floorplans to move guests through various themed areas designed to make them more comfortable before they ultimately sit down.

You can also hold your attendees’ attention by continually pulling exciting tricks in all directions. For example, you may set up dueling stages, turn overlooked spaces into unique art displays or performances, and offer unexpected surprises – like placing a small open bar inside an elevator.

4. Showcase Local

For in-person events, consider ditching the traditional catered dinner and instead showcasing food and drinks from local artisans, chefs, and nearby farms. Encourage your food and beverage providers to find innovative ways to create single-serving portions, making mealtimes interesting and fun while still keeping COVID-19 precautions in mind.

For virtual and hybrid attendees, we highly recommend sending a care package that includes promotional items from sponsors as well as snack-sized versions of non-perishable, locally made food items.

5. Interactive Engagement

Direct audience interaction is one of the hottest trends in event planning today. This is particularly important when planning hybrid and virtual events. By pulling the audience into your presentations, you’ll capture their attention and make them feel like they’re an important part of the event – even if they’re watching from home.

Try using technology like mobile apps and event management software to crowdsource questions during events, integrate live Q&A sessions, and poll the audience. Allowing both live and virtual participants to speak their minds will make everyone feel more engaged.

For in-person events, it’s common practice to pass a microphone around so audience members can ask questions or make comments. You can make it more fun and exciting by using a wireless throwable microphone instead. Not only will this turn your Q&A sessions into a fun game, but it will also allow for more questions by saving the time it would take to pass the microphone around. 

6. Creative Use of RFID

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been used for event registration and tracking session traffic for some time. Now, event planners are getting more creative with this technology. For example, you can give each participant an RFID lanyard and allow them to use it to check into various stations throughout your event. This makes it more interactive and encourages participation. 

You can also take this concept to the next level by using sensor-enabled checkpoints at various locations to trigger custom messages on LED screens. If you want to add another element of fun, turn this into a game, like a scavenger hunt, or offer entries into a raffle or giveaway for each check-in. 

7. Pervasive Themes

Every good event has a theme, and the best ones incorporate this theme into everything they do. You can make a lasting impact on your guests by making sure your theme flows through into all of your event’s design elements.

For example, if the host is all about sustainability, make sure you use recycled utensils instead of plastic silverware – but don’t stop there! Consider hanging repurposed art throughout the venue, using reclaimed furniture, and looking for other creative ways to carry your theme into all aspects of your event. If you’re sending packages to virtual attendees, make sure everything in them clearly conveys the theme as well.

Incorporate Innovation into Your Next Event

To continue “wowing” your guests, you’ll need to include your fair share of surprises, ensure flawless execution, and incorporate a series of unforgettable experiences. This isn’t always easy, but if you do it well, you’ll certainly make your mark. 

If you’re ready to take your events from traditional and monotone to innovative and vivid, eShow is here to show you how. We offer a full line of event management tools to help you take your events to a whole new level.

Our experts are happy to help you explore the tools we offer and design a custom package to meet your unique needs. Contact us today to learn more.

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How to Spark Memorable Conversation At Your Next Virtual or Hybrid Event

One of the beautiful things about in-person events is the ability to make true connections with the people you meet. Whether you’re interacting with clients, vendors, or speakers, there’s just something about being able to engage in natural, organic conversations.

The good news is, it’s totally possible to spark memorable conversations during your virtual or hybrid events as well! The key lies in taking deliberate steps to increase interaction in ways that create a natural and exciting experience for your attendees. Start with these tips.

1. Allow for Detailed Profiles

Allowing attendees to create detailed profiles is one of the best ways to encourage engagement. Make sure your virtual event platform gives online attendees the ability to add a photo, bio, contact info, and more. Not only will this allow everyone to showcase their personalities and interests, but they’ll also easily be able to follow up with each other after the event is done.

2. Add a Private Social Feed

Adding an environment where both in-person and virtual attendees can chat with each other during the event will create bonds. This will also allow them to share their thoughts and ideas and interact with each other in a way most people are already familiar with. To ensure the best possible participation, make sure you let attendees know about the platform ahead of time and encourage them to use it throughout the event.

Once your social feed is in place, you can also spark interesting conversations by asking interesting questions. This may be something event-specific, like “Which upcoming speaker are you most excited to see?” or something more random, like “What smell brings you back to your childhood.”

3. Use Breakout Rooms

Using a virtual event management platform will allow you to incorporate breakout rooms into your virtual and hybrid events. By allowing smaller groups to get together at certain points during the event, you’ll give everyone a chance to speak, ask questions, and share their thoughts and opinions.

4. Make it Fun!

No matter how exciting your event is, sitting in front of a computer all day can start to feel a bit boring. Break things up by adding in some fun and light-hearted sessions throughout the day or, at a minimum, at the end of the day. Virtual happy hours have grown in popularity. If that doesn’t appeal to your audience, you could add a cocktail class, virtual baking class, or a fun craft.

You can also involve your sponsors by having them offer swag that goes along with your planned event. For example, a sponsor could mail each attendee a cocktail glass engraved with their logo. While this is will require some pre-planning to make sure all attendees have the materials they need, the payoff is well worth it.

5. Add a Chat Feature

Providing a chat feature will keep your off-site attendees engaged and ensure they feel like they’re an important part of the event. By allowing attendees to chat with each other, you’ll also encourage personal connections that they can pursue after the event has ended. For best results, make sure your platform allows for both group and one-on-one chatting.

6. Group Attendees by Interests

During sign-ups, it’s a great idea to ask attendees why they’re joining the event or have them choose from a list of interests. Then, when you’re planning your smaller breakout rooms, you can use this information to match up attendees based on their shared interests.

7. Create Comfortable Spaces

When planning hybrid events, it’s important to pay attention to the comfort of both on-site and off-site attendees. In addition, you’ll also want a set-up that makes it comfortable for in-person and virtual attendees to interact with each other.

Luckily, there’s plenty of modern technology that does just that. Many event spaces are already equipping their conference room with systems that help everyone communicate. While it’s normal to focus on the comfort of your in-person space, it’s also critical to make sure you can make it work for everyone. Live attendees must feel that they have enough space to walk around and not feel over-crowded, while virtual attendees must be able to contribute to the conversation just as if they were there.

8. Pan to the Crowd

One of the benefits of hybrid events is the ability to use cameras to make everyone feel connected. When recording your events, take advantage of the opportunity to cut to the crowd and put their faces up on the big screen right alongside your featured speakers. This can break up an otherwise monotonous event and create unexpected conversations. Even better, the randomness of this unexpected move can make everything feel even more real.

9. Add Some Friendly Competition

There’s nothing quite like competition to get the conversation going. Plan a fun event that both virtual and in-person attendees can do together. This could include taking certain actions during the event, solving puzzles, posting photos, or having a scavenger hunt. You may even consider creating teams made up of virtual and in-person attendees, so they have to work together to achieve their goals. This is also another way to involve vendors, as they can provide branded prizes to the contest winners.

10. Get Social

The excitement of your event doesn’t have to end after everyone goes home! Consider creating a Facebook group for attendees. This will allow them to connect more deeply. You can also share photos of the event, create posts to spark additional conversations, and start generating excitement for the next year’s event right away.

eShow Helps You Create Unforgettable Events!

At eShow, we provide the technology you need to make true connections during your virtual and hybrid events. Ask us today how we can help you create memorable conversations that will have your attendees thinking about you and your company long after your event is done.

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