How To Use Gamification In Your Next Virtual Event

 

Virtual events are a low-cost marketing tool businesses can use to bring like-minded individuals together to connect, collaborate, and learn. The flexible format makes it easy to plan, schedule, and create meaningful experiences for everyone that attends. 

However, how do you know if virtual attendees are engaged and entertained? How can you ensure everyone leaves with information? Are you simply speaking to your audience or inviting them to participate in the experience?

That’s where gamification comes in. 

Gamification is the process of adding game design elements to everyday experiences. Through this, you can create meaningful experiences, improve engagement levels, and build a thriving atmosphere for attendees. 

Here’s everything you need to know:

What is gamification?

Gamification is the process of adding game elements to mundane tasks and activities. These game elements are designed to add an entertaining and engaging edge to everything you do. When done correctly, gamification can lead to higher engagement and increased participation and help attendees retain valuable information. 

There are many different types of game elements you can add to an experience. These different elements can be integrated into the virtual event experience to create a thriving atmosphere similar to an in-person event. 

In a recent survey, over 59% of event planners have a gamification strategy to improve audience engagement. Whether it’s a leaderboard, a series of mini-games, or an interactive Q&A session – these small game elements can turn your virtual event into an annual must-attend for working professionals. 

Virtual event gamification benefits 

Improve attendee engagement 

Why do people love playing video games? Because they’re engaging! When you gamify an experience, you add elements similar to a video game. These game design elements are interactive and designed to keep attendees engaged at the moment, helping them pay attention from start to finish.

Entertaining

Did you know over 85% of event attendees believe that incorporating an event app makes an event more fun to participate in? The event app turns the virtual event into an interactive experience for learning and networking. If you don’t have an app, you can use other game mechanics, like badges, a reward system, or leaderboards to keep everyone entertained and engaged.

Helps individuals process information

Consider this: Are you more likely to remember a 30-minute Powerpoint presentation or a pop quiz session? You’ll most likely remember the pop quiz. (even if you get a few questions wrong!)

Gamification helps attendees stay engaged with the event platform, content, and the information your speakers give them. This will help you ensure that your experience is a worthwhile virtual event that individuals can benefit from attending.

Improves focus

Adding rewards and a point system to the event is a great way to keep attendees focused. When you have a random pop quiz or a quick icebreaker added to the experience, you can feel confident that everyone will pay attention. If you need interactive components, like a leaderboard, app, or trivia session, your attendees may get distracted with their phones, browse the web, or start multitasking. 

Understand the ROI of Events

One study suggests that 27% of event planners use gamification participation to measure the success of their events. When you have a point system or a trivia session, you can easily track the engagement levels of your event. You can see how many individuals are answering the questions and how many of them they’re getting right. If you have low engagement, even with gamification, you can adjust your strategy and look for new opportunities. 

Five event gamification ideas

Ready to start adding gamification to your next virtual event? It’s easier than you think! 

Here are five ways to implement gamification techniques. 

Trivia

There’s nothing better than a good ol’ fashion trivia game. Trivia questions are fun and interactive. They are designed to inspire friendly competition and keep participants engaged. At the end of every session or presentation during your event, you can ask a series of 3-5 trivia questions. Whoever gets the questions right can reward with a gift card or a small prize.

You can also choose to do one bigger trivia session at the end of the event – the choice is yours. When planning trivia for a virtual event, ensure that the video conferencing software you utilize can accommodate trivia. This will ensure everyone has a fun, interactive experience.

For the best results, use leaderboards. This helps attendees visualize their success and know how many questions they need to get right if they want to take home the win. 

Ice breakers

If you have small intimate groups, icebreakers can help individuals familiarize themselves with other attendees and develop connections with other like-minded individuals. Ice breakers also help “break the ice, ” meaning attendees are more likely to engage and communicate throughout the experience.

Here’s a list of icebreakers to help you get started:

• This or That
• Never Have I Ever
• 20 Questions
• Two Truths and a Lie
• 10 Things in Common

Scavenger hunts

Virtual scavenger hunts are a fun, interactive way to encourage attendees to pay attention to all the small details during the event.. Suppose you ask them to look for images, objects, information, or answers to a list of questions. In that case, each individual is more likely to pay close attention throughout the event game experience, looking for clues and hints in the commentary. 

Here are some example scavenger hunt questions you can use for virtual events and event games.

• Name one of the five businesses that spoke
• Write down an interesting statistic that was mentioned in a presentation
• Connect with another attendee on LinkedIn and send them a message
• Network with three new people

The best way to use virtual scavenger hunts for event gamification is to get creative and keep the questions unique to your virtual event. At the end of the event, you can reward the attendees that get everything right on the list.

Leaderboards

Hosting a small intimate group of professionals for a workshop? Consider incorporating leaderboards. Leaderboards allow participants to visualize their success. With this visualization tool, all attendees can see who has gained the most points, who’s in last place, and who still has a chance to snag the lead. Leaderboards inspire individuals to pay attention during presentations, Q&As, and breakout sessions.

Interactive Q&A

A Q&A session can be a worthwhile virtual event gamification idea. In fact, some people attend events only to hear the questions and compelling answers from speakers during the Q&As! These moments encourage attendees to come to the table with enticing questions and think outside the box. 

To make the Q&A session more interactive, you can add a chat box where individuals can comment on the questions, include polls to survey the crowd, or bring the discussion to social media – the choice is yours. These small game mechanics will stir up meaningful conversations that increase audience engagement and inspire more attendees to speak up and engage.

Gamify your next virtual event with Spinify

Ready to create an event gamification strategy that delivers results? You’ve come to the right place. At Spinfy, we have many resources you can use to improve audience engagement session attendance, break the ice, and keep your attendees engaged in the moment. Whether it’s leaderboards, progress trackers, or points and badges – we have what you need to create a rewarding experience. 

Book a demo with our team today.