Event gamification is the creation of game mechanics that gives you an edge by offering a unique virtual event experience. It’s using game principles like goals, points, badges, and leaderboards to enhance event engagement as attendees solve challenges.
You can execute this strategic attempt to increase the enjoyment of participants through creative activities and exciting prizes that await them.
If you are keen to know some new ideas to gamify events that motivate attendees to participate and finish until the end, look no further.
In this article, we will discuss the benefits of gamifying virtual events and several techniques to leverage gaming online.
Benefits of Gamification
Would you like attendees to connect with each other and create growth for your organization? Do you want to create an event experience for virtual attendees that gain positive feedback on social media?
Here are some benefits of gamification that can help you transform online event planning:
- It proactively engages online attendees to participate and connect with the virtual event.
- It’s a form of ice breaker that keeps the atmosphere relaxed.
- Creates a worthwhile experience leaving guests satisfied.
- It spreads positivity throughout the event.
- It gives everyone a shared purpose and common ground.
- It creates a deeper bond, contentment, and more social buzz.
- Promotes interaction among event staff, speakers, members, and other guests.
- Encourages participants to speak as they exchange ideas and insights on how to solve challenges with each other.
4 Techniques to Effectively Gamify a Virtual Event
Gamification increases attendee engagement and has been proven to facilitate collaboration among event attendees. Here are some gamification tips that can help you enhance the virtual event experience and make it fun, engaging, and interactive.
1. Find the Best Event Tool for Gamification
The gamification options of an event will depend on the kind of virtual event platform, event, or gamification apps that you use. There are apps available that you can customize depending on your requirements.
For example, you can have the option of giving either your event team or event sponsors access. On the other hand, some apps let you choose from some challenges that feature exciting games.
Always choose an easy-to-use tool, one where your attendees can enjoy spending time to explore and engage.
Games like puzzles or connect the dots are resistance training for the brain that you can do. Prepare leaderboards, including networking event games, and promote on social media.
My Glue app is an all-in-one app that allows your attendees and members to engage, network, and receive important information with ease no matter where they are. It keeps attendees up-to-date during physical and virtual events as they continue to build meaningful connections.
2. Give Rewards or Incentives to Event Attendees
Rewards are important to keep virtual attendees engaged by playing games they enjoy. Engaging attendees by giving out rewards enhance their event experience. Therefore, making sure that rewards are structured matters too.
When planning your gamification, you need to understand what motivates participants. To stir excitement, rewards should be worth the effort.
Identify and understand audience interests. In line with this, adding survey questions to the registration form to get the information from them could be a good start.
Another option in this gamification strategy is to create a leaderboard in the virtual lobby and display the prizes that will attract their interests.
For example, you can offer a giveaway to attendees who arrive early that you can flash on the welcome session screen. Another option is to offer VIP access, a one-on-one meeting with a guest speaker, or a post-event virtual party.
Think carefully about your audience and what is likely to motivate them. You can consider adding a survey question or two to your registration form to find out more about your audience and what drives them.
You can also send out a survey after the event. Make sure to make it easy for online attendees to respond. Offering prizes to those who send valuable feedback can work as well.
If you want to get to know your audience better, check out Glue Up’s Surveys Solution. With it, you can easily create surveys, quizzes, and polls for different audiences to measure and understand feedback.
3. Offer Prizes to Online Attendees
Prizes add more excitement to virtual events. Whether it’s being recognized through a small token of appreciation or by offering any gift of cash, gift card, gift certificate, or cash equivalent, you can use prizes to incentivize event attendees to participate in games.
Once you prepare the prizes to be given away, remember one gamification strategy, which is to think of the value of the prizes and the number of items that will be offered to the players.
The terms and the rules are going to keep them motivated and stay in the game. Also, they can be more interested in participating longer if there's a high probability of winning.
Therefore, we recommend that you offer all participants, both winners, and non-winners, giveaway products like mugs, caps, shirts with your organization’s logo and the event name. It’s one way of making your appreciation memorable that will encourage them to attend your future events.
4. Organize a Q&A Session
As an event organizer, you can encourage more attendees to ask good, relevant questions through gamification.
Q&A sessions encourage knowledge sharing and allow participants to share and acquire new skills. They can help initiate insightful and relevant discussions that are useful to the attendees.
You can run a competition through a Q&A session. Before the virtual event begins, the speaker should ask participants to send their questions about the event’s topic or theme.
Consider convenience when choosing the medium through which they can send their questions. It could be through an event app, social media, or email.
The attendee with the most relevant and insightful question gets to win. To gamify the experience further, ask attendees to vote for the best question asked.
In this way, even if their questions didn’t win, they’ll feel that they belong and incentivized to participate.
Leverage Virtual Events With Gamification
Keeping the attendees engaged during virtual events should be a priority for event planners. When guests can participate, relate, and connect with the event, they will find it more valuable and memorable.
Using these gamification strategies we’ve just provided is a powerful way to compel your online attendees to actively participate in virtual events and return for more.
If you’re looking for ways to simplify and modernize your event processes, be sure to check out our Event Management Software. Book a demo with us, and the Glue Up team will help you scale up your events using our latest technology.
