5 Reasons Why Gamification Is So Effective at Live Events

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On a basic level, people are hardwired to effectively learn from play. From the time of childhood, we learn through “play pretend”; creating imaginative scenarios that ultimately prove to be necessary for development and socialization.  Gamification isn’t simply a gimmick or a marketing phrase. Humans have been playing games and incorporating their effectiveness in learning and interaction for over 6,000 years.  Having become a tool across many industries, games have taken on a new role in the business world. When done correctly, utilizing gamification at trade shows elicits genuine human connectedness; improves engagement by providing great user experiences. With evergreen technology at our fingertips, we’ve found that gamification has no limits. There are countless reasons why people should play games and additionally implement them into marketing strategies. Audiencegage stands by five reasons why gamification is so effective when used to garner expansive attention at events such as trade shows, symposiums or small event shows, at which to promote their products and services and retain leads.

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1. Games encourage ongoing engagement

When applying game-like mechanisms to a non-game context, businesses are able to encourage their audience to carry out certain actions and behaviors. Customers are nudged towards these behaviors by rewarding them with the biggest impact on business goals and by promoting continuous engagement. The game-like  mechanisms in turn, can be used in the customer engagement strategies meant to drive attendee traffic, support business goals, increase leads, and reach wider audiences at your trade show. Trade show games will be one of the best tools you can adopt to stand out to your target audiences. 

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2. Games hold our attention more effectively

Games are such effective learning tools because they reach such a wider range of learners. To influence successful attendee traffic to and from a booth, this is an important thing to consider when educating audiences about a company, product or service. Many times attendees at trade shows and other live events are passively engaged with the event. Including gamification allows the attendees to focus more on the content of the company’s business as well as engage on different levels, depending on the diversity of colors, information, animation and graphics of the game. 

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3. Games improve our brain’s retention of information

Educators use gamification to have a positive impact on retention. Its effectiveness lies in getting a player to focus on a task that they might not have otherwise done of their own accord, while simultaneously enjoying it. Studies have shown that employee skill retention improved by 40% when gamification was integrated into the workplace. When trade show games are used at live events, exhibitors are able to reach the same level of retention as school educators and business organizers. Attracting wider audiences with the gamified information sticks with trade show attendees longer. They walk away knowing more, remembering more, and having enjoyed the learning process allowed to them, allowing for improvements for ROI and ROO. 

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4. Games provide automatic feedback

Gamification allows players to instantly know how they performed in the game. Whether or not the player wins or loses their turn, they gain insight based on data that is collected during participation. As for the game host, the skill or knowledge gaps will be easy to identify. Audiencegage tracks all the quiz data from your games, so that you have insight into the attentiveness of the attendees and which audiences you are attracting. This helps both player and instructor be far more agile. When utilizing trade show gamification, this automatic feedback proves to be invaluable. 

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5. Games allow the user a sense of control or autonomy

Implementing visual themes to a trade show booth, allows users to experience a sense of control over the gameplay, potentially enhancing their autonomy. The benefit of autonomy in an environment like live events, lets the users feel stronger in their decision to refer back to a business after the event. It enhances their experience, as well as improves brand recall. Trade show trivia games are a sure way to make an attendee feel like they are able to freely give their feedback and feel much more integrated into the exhibitor’s trade show presentation.  

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