Gamification: A creative way to amplify user engagement with fun and entertainment

Gamification is one of the most creative ways to amplify user engagement with fun and entertainment. When you espouse gamification for your events, it always creates a win-win situation. For event planners, it increases engagement among the attendees. For attendees, it makes sure they find some value and be rewarded for participating in the events. Recent surveys show that businesses have integrated event gamification to enhance their branding and revenue, keeping the short and long-term business objectives in mind.

But what is gamification? Gamification is the process of applying game elements and game mechanics, such as rewards or competitions, to non-game contexts. All of us are already experiencing gamification in the day to day lives, whether you notice it or not. Do you have a credit card which adds reward points on a swipe; have you ever filled a survey to win a prize or posted an announcement on social media for free vouchers? These are examples of gamification. It is not necessary to adopt heavy technology or complex ideas to implement gamification for your
events. It is a mindset to motivate your attendees and clients to trigger an action by offering an incentive for tasks.

While implementing gamification for your business events, make sure it achieves your business objective. Define your objectives clearly – what you want to achieve, and precisely outline your KPIs. For example, if you wish to increase attendance, you can offer lucrative prizes for the winners of various categories to motivate and make your event a memorable experience for them. When you utilize gamification effectively, it enhances the potential of your business to promote learning gains using interactive strategies.

Give Autonomy

Giving the power of choosing from certain options for themselves triggers a feeling of autonomy and the attendees become more connected to the event. You can tell your attendees that it is not mandatory to participate in an in-event game; it is voluntary to participate in the game. Or you can ask attendees to vote for various organizational tidbits, such as ‘vote for the keynote speaker’s theme’ or ‘select which food items you would like on the menu’. You can also ask them to submit some questions for Q & A sessions. Once they choose their preferences, they get the feeling that they are being heard which increase engagement.

Periodic Motivation

Motivation works on one concept which is “The Dopamine Effect”. In completing every task, a person feels pleasure, which in turn releases a substance in the brain called dopamine. When dopamine is released, your brain transmits a message that something is about to happen, which naturally motivates you. Gamification works on the concept of dopamine, after completing every task your event attendee feels to move on further. Plan your event where participants have to do something fairly regularly, and they get some reward every time they do it. For example, you can choose hourly winners among people who shared something about your event on social media.

Real-Time feedback

Do you know that you can get real-time feedback about your events? It helps to assess the success of your event and also helps to get ahead in case of any negative reviews. Instant feedback helps you to have insights into popular features, vendors, and activities, data gathering for future events and even proactive prevention of negative feedback during the event. For example, your participants can notify if anything is bothering them and you can rectify it
immediately. It also increases engagement.

Effortless Networking through ice-breaking exercises

Event Gamification creates an environment which motivates communication and thus encourages effortless networking. It has been observed some participants attend an event only for networking but it may be difficult to begin. Through ice-breaking games, it becomes easier to approach one another and it breaks down the stumbling block to interact. Through the consent of your attendees, you can connect attendees with similar interests, background or profiles.

Event app

Your event is lucrative when your attendees are engaged and entertained from start to end. This helps your attendees to stay involved in all aspects of the events. You can also organize other gamification techniques like games, polls, and feedbacks using an app. It also makes it possible to award badges to participants for various activities. Depending on your budget, you can also integrate augmented reality (AR) with your event app to gamify your venue. Explara provides a very easy way to build a personalized app for your event.

Team Explara

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