5 Creative Ways to Gamify Your Event Using Klik SmartBadges™

Imagine attending an event where every moment feels like an adventure, where participation is rewarded, and where learning becomes an engaging experience—not a chore.

This is the power of event gamification, a modern approach that transforms ordinary events into dynamic, interactive experiences. 

As event professionals continue doing everything they can to attract attendees and keep them engaged throughout their events, more and more teams are turning to gamification to deliver a fresh, fun, and exciting experience that leaves a lasting impression.

Keep reading to learn more about what event gamification is, how it’s critical to event success, and how you can gamify your events using the Bizzabo Klik SmartBadge™. 

What is event gamification?

Event gamification is the process of integrating game-like elements into the event experience to increase engagement, drive participation, and improve attendee satisfaction overall. By using rewards, points, challenges, leaderboards, and interactive activities, the event experience becomes more dynamic, enjoyable, and memorable.

Gamification is used in several contexts. For example, fitness apps like Peloton use it to reward users for meeting exercise goals. Similarly, education platforms like Duolingo offer points and badges for completing lessons.

In the event industry, gamification is applied through several creative and interactive methods. For example, a conference might feature scavenger hunts where attendees earn points by visiting different booths, or they might use live polling during sessions to encourage participation and feedback. Additionally, workshops and training sessions can use gamified quizzes to make learning more engaging while networking events might include interactive games designed to facilitate connections among attendees.

By incorporating these elements into events, organizers can create a more immersive and memorable experience, ultimately enhancing attendee engagement and improving event outcomes.

Why gamification is crucial to event success

There’s a simple reason why more and more event teams are embracing gamification: It delivers several transformative benefits that add up to better event outcomes, like:

• Improved attendee engagement. Event gamification captures attendees’ attention by making activities more interactive and enjoyable, resulting in higher levels of participation. This active involvement ensures that attendees are more likely to absorb and retain information shared during the event.

• Increased sponsor and exhibitor satisfaction. By incorporating gamification into your event strategy, sponsors and exhibitors attract more attention to their booths via engaging challenges and rewards, increasing foot traffic. This heightened engagement can supercharge lead generation and deliver a higher return on investment for sponsors.

• Enhanced overall event ROI. Gamification drives attendee participation and satisfaction, which can lead to increased ticket sales, repeat attendance, and positive word-of-mouth promotion — strengthening event ROI. Moreover, the data you collect from gamified interactions can provide valuable insights for improving future events.

• Increased networking and interaction among attendees. By incorporating interactive games and challenges into your events, attendees are encouraged to communicate and collaborate, which makes them feel more connected to the event experience. You never know when a one-off conversation with someone you run into at a conference can turn into a long-lasting professional relationship.

What is a SmartBadge and how does it work?

In today’s digital age, attendees increasingly expect in-person conferences to be powered by modern technology. In fact, according to data compiled by Bizzabo, 62.9% of attendees believe modern tools like SmartBadge technology should be event table stakes.

What is a SmartBadge?

A SmartBadge is a wearable device used at events that uses technology like RFID, NFC, or Bluetooth to enhance the attendee, sponsor, and exhibitor experience, streamline operations, and otherwise make events more memorable. Bizzabo’s Klik SmartBadge, for example, can be used to exchange contact information, participate in interactive sessions, and even light up rooms in unforgettable color patterns.

In addition to making events more enjoyable, SmartBadges help event teams collect valuable insights into attendee behavior, preferences, and engagement, which gives them the data they need to optimize the event experience.

How does the SmartBadge work?

The Klik SmartBadge is a Bluetooth-powered wearable badge that enables folks to easily exchange contact information with each other. At DPW Amsterdam 2023, attendees used the SmartBadge to make 16,571 contact exchanges, averaging 14 exchanges per attendee. The badge can also be used to check in for sessions, access content through Touchpoints, and participate in an event’s gamified elements. 

At the same time, the Klik SmartBadge gives event teams access to real-time data they can use to improve the event experience immediately. Even better, the Klik SmartBadge also helps exhibitors accelerate lead collection. For example, Customer Management Practice increased exhibitor leads by 315% using the Klik SmartBadge at Customer Contact Week.

5 creative ways to gamify your event with the Klik SmartBadge

Klik is the only event tech system that gamifies the in-person event behavior you want. In other words, if your goal is increasing networking opportunities, encouraging attendees to meet with sponsors, or having folks attend more sessions, the Klik SmartBadge can make it happen. It’s way more powerful than giving points to attendees for actions that add little value. 

How exactly can you use the Klik SmartBadge to gamify your next event? Let’s take a look.

1. Networking

According to recent data, 81% of attendees are interested in networking with experts at events while 68% enjoy meeting any new contacts. If your goal is to meet attendee expectations by increasing networking opportunities, the Klik SmartBadge can help. Simply award points when attendees meet other attendees. For example, attendees might get 10 points for meeting 10 people and 100 points for meeting 30 people. 

2. Connecting with exhibitors 

Want to drive more value for exhibitors? Give attendees points for stopping by and clicking to connect with exhibitors — and also when they click with their Touchpoints. Want to draw a lot of attention to a big sponsor? Award more points when attendees connect with that specific exhibitor. What’s great is that this action doesn’t have to happen at a booth; it can happen anywhere, even off-site dinners. (The badge locally caches contacts; when an attendee returns to the venue, it uploads that data when they are near a hub.) 

3. Checking in to sessions

If your goal is ensuring each session is well-attended, award points to attendees simply for walking into a session and staying put for a specific period of time. You can also do this for key areas of the event (e.g., the exhibition hall). Additionally, you can require attendees to actively check-in by clicking on an iPad to check into certain or several sessions.

4. Treasure hunts

Using Touchpoints, you can devise treasure hunt activities where attendees use their SmartBadge to find and check in at different locations across the venue or with specific individuals. It’s an easy way to ensure attendees see everything your event offers by exploring every nook and cranny.

5. Giving out badges

Event organizers can also award badges to attendees who cross certain point thresholds or perform specific behaviors (e.g., attending 10 sessions on AI or networking with 30 people). Pro tip: Looking for a way to drive more sponsorship revenue? Ask companies to sponsor these badges. For example, why not ask companies like OpenAI and Nvidia to sponsor an AI badge for folks who attend at least 10 sessions on AI?

The bottom line? Any action an attendee takes with the badge can be gamified. All of this information lives on the Klik timeline, so all participants can see the leaderboard and learn how their actions are translating into points at any time.

Want to dive deeper into the power of event gamification and maximizing ROI? Listen to our podcast episode with Kelly Markus, ‘Unleashing Event Creativity and ROI,’ where we explore innovative strategies and real-world examples of successful event experiences. Tune in now!

How to overcome common gamification challenges

Are you worried that attendees are not too eager to participate in the gamified elements of your events? Don’t be. In this section, we examine some common gamification challenges event teams encounter — and what you can do to overcome them.

Challenge #1: Identifying and addressing potential technical issues

By thoroughly testing all gamification elements and SmartBadges before the event, you can identify and resolve any technical issues before they impact the event experience. To ensure a smooth experience, have a dedicated tech support team on standby during the event to quickly address any issues.

Challenge #2: Ensuring attendee adoption and participation

Whenever it comes to any new piece of technology, at least some folks will resist. By creating clear and engaging signage explaining how to use the Klik SmartBadge and the benefits it delivers — and ensuring plenty of staff is on the floor to answer questions and guide attendees — it’s easier and more enjoyable for attendees to get involved.

Challenge #3: Balancing fun with professionalism

To ensure that gamification activities don’t detract from your event goals, design them so that they are engaging and align with the event’s objectives. Use themes and challenges that complement the event’s content and create meaningful interactions while maintaining a professional atmosphere.

Challenge #4: Measuring the success of gamification efforts and iterating

No matter how successful your event is, the next one can always be better. Set clear metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of gamification, such as participation rates and engagement levels. During and after the event, feedback from attendees will be collected and used to refine gamification strategies for future events.

Bring your next event to life with Bizzabo’s Klik SmartBadge!

Today’s top-performing events teams are laser-focused on optimizing attendee engagement, and gamification is an easy way to get folks more involved with your event experience. 

By incorporating Klik SmartBadge technology into your next event, you can increase attendee satisfaction, deliver more value to sponsors and exhibitors, and collect the data you need to improve future events. At the same time, you can use the SmartBadge to gamify your event, making it an unforgettable experience.  

To learn more about how you can accelerate your event strategy with the Klik SmartBadge and put on events that attendees will be talking about for ages, request a demo of Klik today.