Last year due to the pandemic, the event industry resorted to virtual events. And as a result, we saw various kinds of virtual events. Some of them are virtual conferences, hybrid event, virtual trade shows, virtual award shows, virtual fest, and virtual fairs, etc. Now things are getting better in many parts of the world. And people are returning to the physical world. The demand for Hybrid events is increasing. And the reason behind this is the convenience and engagement level offered in Hybrid events. In other words, Hybrid events give the best of both worlds.
Just like virtual events, the challenges for Hybrid events are the same. And one such challenge is engaging the audience. It is easy to entertain the live audience, but what about the virtual audience? The answer is gamification. Before we jump to gamification ideas, first, let’s understand the concept.
As the name suggests, gamification means adding games. Or the element of playing games. It is one of the most popular techniques to engage the audience, especially in virtual and hybrid events. There are many benefits of gamification. Let’s look at some of these.
These are some of the benefits of gamification. Now let’s look at the element involved in gamification.
It is the most crucial aspect of gamification. In fact, it is the working principle for gamification. Rewards help in generating interest among the attendees. And compel them to take action. Here, in this case, it is playing games.
Another essential element of gamification is to increase the interaction. Gamification motivates the attendees to interact with each other. This helps the audience to participate actively.
Analytics means calculating the points earned by the audience. So keep a record of all the activities and how many points they are scoring. You should have a more transparent process. This will increase the excitement and confidence of the audience.
Provide clear instructions for each game/activity to avoid confusion. If there is ambiguity in the rules that it will create changes of confusion or even conflicts.
The fun element is what defines gamification. An attendee can have fun by playing games while waiting for an online session to begin. Or while switching from one online session to another. Also, because of fun elements, you can retain attendees for longer durations.
Now that you know the elements of gamification, design activities that contain these elements. Coming to the gamification ideas, it is not necessary to stick with few ideas. So let your creativity flow and come up with innovative ideas to engage the audience. However, we have some amazing gamification ideas for your virtual/hybrid event.
Often many event organizers face the challenge of bringing attendees on time. And this challenge becomes more significant with virtual events. So instead of requesting the attendees to join the event on time, you can have rewards for punctuality. You can give points for punctuality. This will motivate attendees to join the event at the set time.
Rewarding the points to attendees for posting about the event on social media has several benefits. One, it helps you to promote your event on social media. And two, it helps in engaging the audience by motivating them to post something about your event on social media. Also, it will grab the attention of those people who are not present at your event. Hence attracting more people to your event.
It is common for attendees to leave the event without submitting feedback. But you need feedback, as it helps you to determine how impactful was your event. So what should you do? The answer is award points for submitting the feedback. This will encourage more people to fill in the feedback forms. And there will higher for you to get crucial information about the audience through these feedback submissions.
One of the best ways to create hype in your virtual/hybrid event is to host a scavenger hunt. But how can you organize a scavenger hunt for a Hybrid event? Don’t worry. There are multiple ways. You can have a digital scavenger hunt for both live and virtual audiences. Alternatively, you can organize two separate scavenger hunts for virtual and live audiences. Or else you can have a physical scavenger hunt for both audiences. But this method requires Virtual Reality glasses for the virtual audience to participate. Nevertheless, you have plenty of options to host a scavenger hunt.
Another interesting way to engage the audience in your event is by organizing a photo contest. Ask the attendees to share photos of themselves with the event. And the photo which gets the most likes throughout the event will win. It is an effective way of increasing the interaction and excitement level.
Many people like to showcase their talents whenever they get the opportunity. So use this thing to your advantage by organizing a talent hunt. And why host only one competition. You can host various talent hunts like singing competitions, dancing competitions or acting competitions, and so on.
Bingo is one of the most liked games. And there are multiple reasons for it. First, it does not require any particular skills. Also, it has a surprise element. And that is why it attracts a broader set of people. Therefore entertain your audience by hosting a game of Bingo. Also, this game can be played by both audiences simultaneously.
There are various benefits of polling. First, it lets you understand the preferences of the audience at your event. And second, it helps in creating excitement in your event. Also, you can use polling to engage the audience at your event. And it’s up to you how you want to use it. You can conduct multiple polls to maintain the excitement level.
Some competitions require a group or team to participate instead of individual participants. Use these types of competitions to increase the interaction while engaging the audience.
Giveaways are one of the most exciting ways to attract people. Also, if the giveaway is sponsored, then it helps in promoting the sponsor. So they serve two purposes. Hence, you should try to arrange giveaways that are sponsored by brands.
These are some gamification ideas that you can deploy at your hybrid event. However, you can come up with your own ideas. So share your thoughts on gamification in Hybrid / virtual events.
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