The Game is a series of challenges, each with its own unique code to earn points. Use challenges to ask attendees questions, or have attendees complete tasks to receive codes from specific people. The Game is one of the best and most flexible tools to encourage session attendance, foster networking, and highlight sponsors. Whatever key actions you want your attendees to take during your event, the Event Game can help accomplish them.
This article offers tips for creating a Game that's delightful for attendees and helps you and your sponsors achieve your goals! Let's start with planning your Game.
Planning the Game
Planning and building your game (or games!) takes some thought and time, and it’s well worth the effort. When the event is over and your attendees, sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers are all buzzing about how much fun they had, you won't regret a single minute you invested. Consider the information and guidelines below to help you start planning your Game.
Scope
Consider all the following elements when deciding how long you want the Game to last:
Some events incorporate the Game into the entire Event App experience across multiple days.
Some use the Game as a smaller component during one day or even a few hours.
If your event is hybrid, you might decide to make two separate games for the two separate audiences. This keeps virtual attendees from feeling left out and gives them a better chance of winning prizes.
Size
Plan to create enough challenges to keep people who love the Game busy.
Organizers have made games with well over 100 challenges, and attendees completed every one and were eager for more! Start by creating 30-50 challenges of various types and degrees of difficulty to encourage a diverse leaderboard. Read the 'Crafting the game' section of this article for more inspiration.
Sources
Some of the challenge suggestions in this article rely on specific information from sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers. Rather than planning time with stakeholders to figure out each challenge, consider using a survey to ask for information that will help you build challenges that create conversation, like trivia and fun tasks.
Cooperation
Your Game can reach far beyond your Event App and your venue. Work with sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers to include Game codes in their websites, blog posts, YouTube video descriptions, and more! Give your sponsors a chance to sponsor the Game prizes and include their name in the Game feature's name.
Printing, staffing, and prize distribution
Consider the resources and people you'll need, and form a plan to coordinate them:
Will challenge codes be included on printed signs or in graphics in your Event App, such as banners?
Will some challenges rely on actual people to tell attendees the challenge codes?
Will someone be moderating a scavenger hunt or verifying participation in an activity?
If a game challenge involves an activity that rewards a code, let attendees know in the challenge description how the code will be distributed. Here are two examples:
No staff required - "The challenge code will be available on the big screen on the stage."
Staff required - "The event staff at the session will provide the challenge code."
Also consider how you'll recognize and distribute prizes to attendees:
Will you have a ceremony at the venue?
Will you mail prizes to virtual attendees?
Will you post the leaderboard online?
💡 Keep in mind, if sponsors, speakers, and staff will be handing out codes, try to keep those challenges as maintenance-free as possible. For example, you could make distribution effortless for sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers by printing their unique codes on their badges!
Prizes
Rewards don't have to be expensive — a small prize can go a long way. Consider the kind of prizes your specific audience would want. While we've witnessed $10,000 giveaways (no, really), simply awarding gift cards, special goody bags, or simple recognition are great motivators.
⚠️ Caution! If you're using a Branded App, make sure to specify in your Game rules that Apple isn't a sponsor of or involved with the game or any related prizes or rewards.
Need some inspiration? Consider these prize ideas:
Offer more than one prize to encourage attendees to reach for the top five or top ten spots.
Give the top person on the leaderboard the grand prize, then raffle off the remaining prizes at random to the top 25. 50, or 100 attendees. This will keep folks motivated and make sure that everyone has a chance to win something.
If your event is internal, offer a paid vacation day as a prize.
Offer a free ticket and accommodation for next year’s event.
Host a swag shop where attendees redeem their points from the event game for swag.
Get sponsors and exhibitors to provide prizes and add extra challenges for them in return.
Crafting the Game
By now, you should have a good idea of the number and kinds of challenges you want to have. Use the following guidelines and challenge text examples to help inspire you as you write instructions and create individual challenges and codes.
Game instructions
Unclear instructions are the enemy of fun! Clearly tell attendees how to play the Game, the date and time the game ends, how to earn prizes (if any) and how many prizes are available.
💡 Keep in mind, if the prize is very big, healthy competition can devolve into bickering if the rules aren't clear and easy to understand. Be very careful to write instructions that don't leave room for misunderstandings. Encourage decorum, integrity, and a spirit of fun in the instructions.
Create a "Read the Game instructions" challenge and put the code inside the instructions. This helps ensure people read the instructions and gives them an opportunity to learn how entering a challenge code works. 🧠
Mention key sponsors in the Game feature title or instructions for a boost to sponsor Return on Investment (ROI).
Remember to thank everyone who made the game possible, too. 🧡
Read our guide to setting up the Game feature for instructions on how to edit the instructions. 😉
Challenges
Explore these tips and ideas to make a Game that's memorable, fun, and interesting.
Above all, make sure the Game is a source of fun for your attendees. If every challenge is a bland attempt to spotlight sponsors or force interactions, attendees won't enjoy the Game. Brainstorm with your team and your sponsors, exhibitors, and speakers. Get silly. Get poignant. Get creative!
🥱 Say hi to Slido at booth E13.
😍 What was Slido's secret mascot?
Remember that challenge codes have a 25-character limit, including spaces and special characters.
Avoid creating "filler" challenges that aren't related to the event. Make sure that even the silly "for fun" type of challenges reinforce the event's ideas and themes. Here's an example of a fun question in an event that revolves around sustainability:
🥱 What do you call a baby penguin?
😍 What's the oldest known terrarium?
Offer more points for more difficult challenges, or challenges you want to make sure everyone completes. For example, if you've sold different sponsorship tiers, award more points for visits to your top-tier sponsors. Read our article about showcasing sponsors for more ideas!
If sponsors and exhibitors want to meet with certain types of attendees, find ways to encourage those types of attendees to complete sponsor-related challenges.
🥱 If you like team collaboration, visit the Miro booth.
😍 Miro identified one common theme that's always found in teams that work well together. What is it?While clear instructions are crucial, solving even a small mystery or easy riddle can be a lot of fun. Offer enough information to get started or avoid confusion, but don't spell out every step of how to complete a challenge.
🥱 Find the hidden code in the dining hall.
😍 Are you hungry? This code is waiting where you’d do something about that.Reward attendees for meeting with particular people. Use personal trivia answers as challenge codes to foster discussion.
🥱 Talk to Jewel Hudson.
😍 How many pairs of funky socks does Jewel Hudson have? (Answer is a number)
Make learning fun with challenges that encourage attendees to explore the venue and the Event App. Find ways to reward attendees for each Event App feature they explore. This isn't only useful for virtual events — everyone benefits from knowing how the Event App works and what it can do!
🥱 Enter the code from the Maps feature.
😍 What animal is hiding on the 2nd-floor map?Give sponsor and exhibitor staff a Game challenge code for people who simply visit the booth, and another secret code to reward attendees who let booth staff scan their QR code in Lead Retrieval. When the challenge list contains several items that simply say "Secret code 1”, “Secret code 2”, etc." people get curious and determined to solve them.
🥱 Ask Slido to scan your badge.
😍 Secret code 5.
If push notifications are a key source of information, occasionally put codes in announcements throughout the event so attendees have to pay attention to all announcements to find the ones with codes.
Use the game to reinforce knowledge and reward attendees for attending sessions, answering surveys, and engaging in Q&A. Simply include a code on the last slide of a presentation, or encourage attendees to pay attention by picking one of the speaker's talking points as the code.
🥱 Enter the code from the 'Greening the Financial System' session.
😍 What's Connie's number 1 most important rule for making greener financial systems?
Encourage in-person and virtual networking by handing out codes to people who attend happy hours and join Video Room hangouts. Crowds aren't for everyone, so this gives folks an excuse to join in the fun!
Consider adding challenges in phases each day of the event or after certain activities. This creates a cycle of excitement and anticipation that keeps the playful spirit alive.
If networking is crucial at your event, give a code to the top 10 networkers in the app. Use the feature comparison chart’s attendees tab, sorted by the ‘Connections’ column to find this information. To award credits, have a staff member send the winners an email, or get fancy by adding them to a special hidden group and sending that group an announcement.
Encourage engagement with the Wall feature by offering codes to make certain types of posts. This is a great way to get attendees engaging with sponsors and exhibitors.
😍 Post your AI selfie created at the Madeupface booth on the Wall to earn 100 points.
Take the edge off mistakes like schedule errors and misprints with an announcement containing a Game code.
😍 Whoops! We originally said the “Go Hybrid, Go Green” session was at 3pm. It’s actually at 4pm! In honor of our mishap, enter the challenge code OOPSIES for 100 extra points!
Want even more great examples of different types of Game challenges? Use our In-person challenge samples and Virtual challenge samples!
Promoting the Game
Start promoting the Game as soon as possible, maybe even before you're ready to welcome attendees in to the Event App. Here are some ideas to help you with your promotion strategy:
No matter how much work went into making the game, make sure everyone attending knows about it. If the game is a big part of your Event App, mention it on your event website, social media, and event emails. Mention it during the keynote and in promotional materials around your event. Post reminders on the wall and in announcements.
Offer Game codes in marketing emails so attendees can earn points right after registering for your event.
Give the Game extra exposure by rewarding attendees for early actions like checking in, downloading the Event App, or reading event emails and check-in reminders.
Once attendees start playing, they'll find it hard to stop! Use the early challenges to get attendees familiar with the Event App, the venue, and your Sessions. When it's showtime, your attendees will have a smooth experience. Offer earlybird codes for the attendees that join your Event App first, then deactivate the challenge when the earlybirds have all landed.
Use the Announcements feature to notify attendees about the Game. Link the announcement to the Game feature to make joining the fun easy!
Put your leaderboard on the big screen with Live Display. Live Display is a great way to nurture attendee awareness, competition, and engagement. Read our Introduction to Live Display article for more information.
Celebrating the Game
When the Game is over, it's time to award prizes, recognize your winners, and celebrate the Game's success!
Refer to the 'Leaderboard' section of the Event App Metrics page to identify your top ten contenders and award prizes. Remember to recognize the runners-up, even if it's only a mention.
💡 Keep in mind, the Game breaks ties based on who completed the challenges first.
Download the Event Game export and use the information on the 'Leaderboards' sheet to award prizes beyond the top 10. Read our guide to Event App metrics for more information.
Celebrate everyone's participation in the Game with fun metrics at the award ceremony, on your event website, and in a Wall post. Get creative with the 'Challenges' sheet in the Game export. What was the challenge attendees completed most? Who figured out the trickiest challenges? Who spoke to the most sponsors? Let your imagination run wild!
Share metrics with sponsors and exhibitors about Game codes they sponsored or distributed so they understand their impact.
Now you know our best tips and tricks for making a stellar Game in your Event App! 🌠
Pro tips! 😎
Choose one of your staff to be the ‘Game Wizard' who’s in charge of answering questions about the game, verifying actions, and distributing codes. Create an attendee profile for them and offer a code to any attendee who connects with them in the Event App.
Remember that your event changes from year to year, and so should your Game. If you recycle most challenges, people will lose interest. Get creative and crowdsource ideas from your team and even from people who attended past events.
Once you have a "rough draft" of your game, share it with your team, your top exhibitors or sponsors, or even your speakers. Ask them what they think. They'll probably have some awesome ideas. 👍
The challenge export can help verify actions taken. For example, if there's a challenge for submitting a video, and someone entered the code without submitting the video, it’s easy to disqualify them.
Make codes tough to guess! For example, instead of using each sponsor's company name as the Game code, find more creative options.
Questions? Chat with us or email support@socio.events.