What is Gamification?

Gamification refers to the use of gameplay elements, such as point scoring, rules of play, prizes, and competition with others, in different non-game areas of business. In the context of software applications, gamification is typically used as a marketing technique to increase engagement with a product, service or event. When applied to an event, gamification encourages attendees to engage with sessions, speakers, activities and materials.

What are the Elements of Gamification?

Gamification is a vast area and can include numerous game design elements, such as points, prizes, badges, leaderboards, avatars, stories, and teammates. Corporate event gamification elements offered by different software applications include points for partaking in event activities such as question and answer, surveys, live polls, and event sessions. The software awards points to each attendee and lets them compete with each other by viewing a leaderboard.

Applications of Gamification

Gamification has wide-ranging applications in almost every area of modern life. From recruitment to marketing and healthcare to education and training, elements of gamification have been used successfully to create engagement and encourage adoption. For example:

• The US Army uses gamification as a recruitment tool
• The confectionary company M&M has successfully used the Eye Spy game to drive pretzel marketing campaigns
• In education, scoring a GPA (grade-point average) can be compared to scoring points in a game. Students compete with each other and receive recognition and rewards for winning.
• Gamification is extensively used in marketing to promote products and encourage interaction
• In event management, gamification motivates attendees to engage with other attendees, speakers, and event materials such as documents, presentations, videos, etc.

Benefits of Event Gamification

When applied to events, gamification can make even boring events fun. Here are some of the benefits of using gamification during events:

• Improved attendee engagement: Gamification offers attendees the chances of winning prizes and standing out from others, encouraging them to respond to event activities.
• Enhanced learning and retention: By incorporating games and interactive activities into the event, attendees can learn and retain information better. Games can help attendees absorb complex information in a more fun and memorable way.
• Improved networking: Many of your attendees come to your events because they want to network. You can use gamification to encourage attendees to interact with each other and with the speakers. For example, Evenleaf allows you to assign and award points for viewing speakers, exhibitors and sponsors.
• Increased motivation and participation: Games and challenges can motivate attendees to participate more actively in the event, leading to a more positive experience and higher attendance rates.
• Better data collection and analysis: Gamification can also be used to collect and analyze data on attendees' behavior, preferences, and interests, providing event organizers with valuable insights that can inform future events.

How to Use Eventleaf Gamification

Eventleaf offers simple gamification features that can improve engagement significantly with little effort by the organizers. All you have to do is enable gamification from the Games & Prizes tab in the Communications menu. After that, you can set up points for active participation in the event activities such as polls, Q&A and survey. You can also set up points for viewing event information including sessions, exhibitors, speakers, and sponsors.

To get the best results from gamification, you should know the specific activities in which you want the attendees to participate. For example, if most of your sponsors would like people to engage with their content, you can set up points for viewing sponsored material. Eventleaf will automatically award points to the attendees who view the sponsor and will add up the points for each attendee. You can declare up to three winners at the end of the event. Make sure that you offer exciting prizes to the winners and mention the prizes prominently when promoting your event.