No matter how old you get, you’re never too old for playtime. Children are encouraged to play as much as possible because it helps with their learning and development. Even as adults, playing games is still a great (and fun) way for us to learn, socialize, and accomplish things.
In her book Reality is Broken, visionary game designer Jane McGonigal found that 1 out of 4 gamers is over the age of 50. She also stated that 61% of surveyed CEOs, CFOs, and other senior executives say they take daily game breaks at work.
With the planet spending more than 3 billion hours a week gaming and people using their mobile phones for games more than any other category of app, event organizers should seriously consider incorporating gamification – event app gamification, in particular – into their events.
But wait, what’s gamification?
According to Forrester, gamification is the insertion of game dynamics and mechanics into non-game activities to drive a desired behavior.
Content Marketing World held their opening reception this year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. In order to help attendees network at the reception, the organizers decided to have some fun with the theme. At registration, attendees could get a sticker with a famous rock band and the name of a band member printed on it. The object was for the band to “reunite” and if you could find all the members of your band, you all won a prize.
The game helped attendees meet new people and made them a part of an instant tribe just by giving them an easy conversation starter and tapping into their desires to succeed.
Create the best event app game possible
Given that 67% of people’s time on mobile devices is spent on mobile games, your event app is a great place to incorporate a game.
Hallmark’s Gold Crown Retail Summit event app had a custom game that awarded points for activities performed within the app, such as messaging other attendees, uploading photos, checking into sessions, completing surveys, and downloading Hallmark apps.
To create a really great game, it first starts with understanding who your target audience is and what they want to achieve while at your event. Do they need to attend sessions for certification credits? Are they into networking?
Once you understand your attendees better, you need to think about what your own goals are for your event. Is it to find out which sessions attendees enjoyed the most? Deliver more ROI to your sponsors? Get everyone to attend the opening reception?
When you know what you want to achieve and what your attendees want, work with your event app developer to create a game that hits on these objectives.
At Citrix Synergy 2013, exhibitors got more face time with attendees thanks to the event app. One of the game challenges required attendees to visit an exhibitor’s booth and complete an activity in order to receive a code that converted to points in the app. The attendee with the most points at the end of conference won cool prizes, such as free registration to next year’s conference.
If you start to plan your event app early and work with a highly experienced event app developer, there are virtually endless possibilities for the kinds of games and fun you can create.
