exhibit booth gamification

Part 1 of 2

Creating an educational game in your trade show exhibit is a great way to drive attendees to your exhibit. In order to maximize your ROI and optimize your trade show marketing, 3D Exhibits has created the following guidelines, which we'll share in two parts:

1.  Thou shalt collect contact information from all participants. We've seen too many games and technology interactives where an exhibitor draws an impressive number of visitors—but has nothing to show for it (or follow-up on) after the show. What happens is attendees engage in the activity, then walk away with their prize—while the exhibitor is left with no idea who they connected with and no way to follow-up after the show to keep the conversation going. Make sure you leave the show with actionable leads and permission to continue the conversation with your prospects after the show by integrating contact information collection into every exhibit game and activity.

2.  Thou shalt integrate learning into your activity. Another huge faux pas our team has witnessed is games that don't require that the attendee learn anything about the company or its products to win. Increase your ROI by designing your activity in a way that engages visitors with your product or brand messaging. This can range from asking them to verbally articulate key points back to you—or to select the right answer through a multiple-choice technology interface. Putting greens and Whack-A-Mole can be designed to fit into an exhibit thematically, but message retention will suffer if you don't also ask attendees to express or process your message.

trade show interactive quiz

3.  Thou shalt position your game so it is visible from the aisle. This one is simple: crowds attract crowds—and activity draws attention. If you bury your activity inside of your exhibit, it won't be seen and therefore won't reach as many attendees.

4.  Thou shalt create an incentive to participate that appeals to your target audience. This gets back to knowing what drives the attendees you are most interested in. Some audiences are so competitive that they'll participate in almost any challenge—just for bragging rights. Others will want a small gift and still others need a larger enticement such as a t-shirt or the chance to be entered in a drawing for an iPad. By understanding what drives your target attendees you will be able to select the least expensive incentive that will get the job done.

group game leaderboard

5.  Thou shalt plan for throughput. Design your game to accommodate the traffic you expect to generate.  This may mean running your game more (or less) often—or creating several game stations so multiple people can play at once. After all, you want people to participate—not watch a bit, then walk away without interacting with your people or brand.

6.  Thou shalt interact with your visitors in the way your target audience prefers to interact. Make sure your game attracts the participation of your target audience by understanding the typical profile of the people you want to connect with. Are the attendees extroverts? Introverts? Male? Female? Sports fans? Nerds? Then build your game around that information. For instance, an auto-racing themed game is best suited for an audience that includes a large percentage of NASCAR fans. An activity that pits attendees against one another head-to-head will appeal to an audience of extroverts, while an audience of introverts will prefer a game they can play individually. Visit us again next week for the final seven commandments.