Who doesn’t love a game?
Whether it’s backgammon, Connect 4, or a game of tag, not only are games fun, they also connect you to fellow players and offer active engagement opportunities for participants. Plus, a little friendly competition gets the blood pumping.
So, what if you could incorporate game play into your next virtual event? Well, good news –– you can.
Enter gamification. It’s the process of adding games or game-like elements to tasks and segments to encourage participation.
Gamifying portions of an event can help you hold your audience, especially in the virtual world where barking dogs, crying toddlers, buzzing phones, and good old-fashioned web surfing are all vying for your attention.
Ready to get started? Read on for 5 gamification tactics to try at upcoming virtual events.
1. Put on a virtual scavenger hunt
Designing a virtual scavenger hunt for your event is an easy way to provide a customized interactive experience.
Start by drafting a list of actions your attendees will have to complete while they’re on the hunt. Provide clear instructions including how to complete the tasks and how to navigate the event platform.
Encourage attendees to explore areas of your event to find hidden “tokens” and earn prizes. For example, a hidden token could be a phrase that was said in the keynote presentation or in a session chat. Tailor these tokens to reflect the theme of your event or support sponsor activations.
Here are some examples of virtual scavenger hunt tokens to spark inspiration. You could ask attendees to:
- Snap a photo of a cocktail-making class they participated in
- Grab a photo documenting their participation in a yoga break
- Schedule a one-on-one meeting with an exhibitor, asking participants to provide the name of the exhibitor, the exhibitor’s company, and a screenshot of the calendar hold
- Identify a keyword mentioned in the keynote
- List all of the event sponsors
- Visit the platinum sponsor booth and speak with the representative on audio and video to retrieve a hidden keyword
- Snap a photo from the virtual happy hour
- Attend three breakout sessions, asking participants to identify names and confirming attendance post-event
- Share an introduction in the general event chat
- Answer a poll question
Once you’ve determined what your tokens will be, you’ll need to establish ground rules for the competition. Let attendees know how many tokens they need to collect, as well as when, where, and how to submit their tokens.
To ensure the scavenger hunt runs smoothly, keep all instructions simple and clear, give attendees time to put their game faces on, and communicate the rules in advance.
2. Launch a sponsor raffle
The promise of an exciting prize is a great way to encourage attendees to visit virtual exhibitor booths.
When an attendee is viewing an expo booth on RingCentral Events, they can click a call-to-action button to connect with the sponsor. This triggers an email to the sponsor with contact information the attendee provides — making post-event outreach easy.
Incentivize attendees to visit booths and click this button by hosting a raffle with a high-quality prize. Give attendees one raffle entry for each button click, generating leads for sponsor, and giving attendees a chance to win.
3. Kick off a round of sponsor bingo
Turn your expo hall into a playground with a game of bingo. Make each expo booth a square on a bingo card. When an attendee visits enough booths and scores a bingo, they can qualify for a prize.
To make the game a little more challenging, each booth can have a keyword that needs to be entered on the bingo card under the corresponding sponsor name. Keywords can be displayed in the booth chat or communicated verbally by booth hosts.
To get attendees to visit every booth, consider requiring them to fill out the whole card to achieve a bingo and be entered to win a prize. Once attendees visit each booth and have completed their cards, they can submit the cards via a designated email alias for verification. All winners can receive a small prize or they can be entered into a draw for a grand prize.
4. Tap into app experiences
Third-party app integrations can enhance the gamification experience and take some of the burden of planning or creating a game off your shoulders. Below are a few examples of services event professionals use to make their events a success:
- Kahoot!: Engage your audience with Kahoot! games and quizzes during workshops, breaks, and trainings. Integrate a fun single-player game for attendees to tackle on their own time, or take virtual presentations to the next level with Kahoot!’s interactive presentation tools.
- Picture Mosaic: A virtual photo mosaic allows guests to submit photos and see them placed in the mosaic in real-time. After the event, attendees can share their photos on social media to create buzz. Display, comment on, and share photos with your team or across social media.
5. Send some excitement with a virtual giveaway
Create some hype during your events and give attendees something to look forward to by wrapping up the experience with a virtual giveaway. Since it’s virtual, there’s no shipping required.
The prize could be an Amazon gift card, some Uber Eats credit, an Audible credit, or a discount on your (or your sponsor’s) product. Consider supporting small businesses or local shops near the winning attendees by exploring their options for digital gift cards.
Let tech make it easy to gamify your next event
Gamification options are almost endless in today’s digital world. So, let technology help you level up your efforts and creativity.
Interested in learning how RingCentral Events can help you gamify your event, and take some of the stress of planning, organizing, and hosting a virtual, hybrid, or in-person experience off of your shoulders? Try a demo or reach out to someone on our team.
Originally published Sep 01, 2022, updated May 14, 2024
