Games have always scored high as a traffic- and
engagement-building tactic. The reasons why are well understood. Games satisfy
attendees’ innate needs to compete and win recognition. They also offer attendees
the opportunity to bring home highly coveted “swag.”
But today, with the appearance of “gamification” on everyone’s hot-topic
list, plus attendees’ near-universal fascination with new mobile technologies, games are undergoing a renaissance at events.
In their own way, ITN's near-field communication (NFC) event badges are contributing to the renewed enthusiasm. Event producers who use ITN have a distinct opportunity to "wow" their attendees with a game, because they can treat every attendee's badge as a "virtual swag bag."
What makes this possible is the ability to encode, as well as read,
an NFC chip. That feature of the chip
makes the event badge a key ingredient of a buzz-worthy and highly memorable
game.
To succeed, you need to design a
game aligned with your event's goals and that attendees will find alluring.
Here are some design alternatives:
Skills competition. Suppose you want to increase traffic at some specific location. You could design a game that challenges attendees’ physical
or mental skills—anything from hitting a target to taking a quiz. An attendee could earn the right to play the game by
completing an action (answering a simple question, for example), for which she earns a digital token that you write onto the attendee’s badge. The attendee then redeems the token to
play, and earns more tokens (also written onto the badge) based on the number
of points scored in the game. Afterwards, the attendee redeems all the digital
tokens won for a matching-level prize by visiting your winner’s station.
Treasure hunt. Suppose you want to offer exhibitors a traffic-building sponsorship opportunity. You could design an old-fashioned treasure hunt. Attendees could earn points toward prizes by visiting a series of exhibits, where each participating sponsor rewards them with tokens written onto their badges. After the series of visits, the attendees would circle back to the lead sponsor's exhibit, where they would enter a prize drawing by redeeming their digital tokens.
Game show. Suppose you want attendees to
actively listen, while you communicate a lot of information. You could train
a presenter to act as MC, and design a game show that challenges players’ knowledge. Attendees
would play by using tablets that—before activating the game—capture their
contact information with a touch of the show badge and prompt them to answer a quiz. Based on their game-show scores, players would be
awarded variously valued digital tokens (written onto their badges), which they
could redeem for the corresponding prizes.
Mission. Suppose you want to collect
market research from attendees. You could send them on a “mission.” Under this scenario, attendees would earn digital tokens on their badges by
visiting a series of kiosks, where they complete your research surveys, presented
on tablets. Players who take part in the mission (even the ones who don’t complete
it) would receive real-time recognition on a leaderboard and through
social-media posts, as well as collecting digital tokens they can redeem for
rewards.
Chance. Suppose you want to draw a crowd and maximize word-of-mouth throughout the event. You could design a game
of chance. Attendees who play would win digital
tokens worth various amounts that they could redeem for refreshments at
participating concessions throughout the venue.
Want to boost attendee engagement? Consider integrating a game into your next event.
