Games continue to engage when people play. Merely adding points
to something and a badge doesn't do it.
Creating an environment of play, fun and recognition helps event
attendees join in and participate in an immersive
experience.
At SourceMedia's 24th Annual Card Forum, BoothTag was given a
mascot dog, BoothTag Bruno. Bruno, wearing a smartphone dangling
around his neck, was boldly featured on a tee shirt awarded at the
100 point level.
Affinion, a loyalty solutions company, sponsored prizes for the
Card Forum and Expo game, including a first prize of $1,000, an
iPad 3, Amazon Kindles, and several gift cards for the top 10
points leaders playing BoothTag.
Affinion's Vice President of Sales and Strategy, Charles
Christianson, spoke at the Card Forum on gamification for the
loyalty and credit card industry. In a one-on-one conversation
Charles noted that with increasing competition among health care
providers offered opportunities to engage consumers with game-based
interactions to increase levels of loyal and thoughtful
interaction.
After-hours conversations with the good folks from MasterCard
additionally revealed that consumers are going mobile - with every
type of interaction and transaction available.
Acknowledging behavior with a badge puts a label on specific
behaviors. The Card Forum and Expo attendees using BoothTag this
week demonstrated that:
• At industry events, attendees want to connect with each
other
• Attendees feel empowered when *they* are scanning exhibitor
barcodes, not the other way around
• Fun happens, when game mechanics are shaped around real-world
business interactions
• Engaged players provide amazing feedback on both what they
love, and what they don't love about a game - and continue to play
no matter what
What exhibitors said:
• This game is awesome! (yep, we had an 'awesome')
• They universally love downloading an excel spreadsheet with
all the contact information of attendees who scanned the booth
barcode (average unique scan connections per exhibitor at the Card
Forum = 31)
• Not all booth traffic is qualified, but "you just send us the
traffic, and we *will* qualify it!"
Finally, some thoughts on managing an event with a game,
successfully demonstrated by Source Media (thanks, Alicia, Sasha,
Rebecca and the whole team - you did a great job!):
• Receive player feedback thoughtfully and graciously
• Encourage people to play
• Create incentive for participation
• Actively support anyone with a question
• Reward sustained engagement
• Create additional play opportunities when players ask for
more!
BoothTag was integrated at EXHIBITOR2012, the world
conference and exhibition for trade show and corporate event
marketing, March 4-8 2012, in Las Vegas.
Exhibitor Media Group used BoothTag to
drive attendee traffic to exhibitors that were in the Exhibitor
Magazine's Find It -
Marketplace, the buyer's guide to trade show exhibiting.
Hear what the Find It - BoothTag winner had to say on how
BoothTag helped him experience the entire trade show floor!
In a world where trade show mobile apps are ever more common,
BoothTag was selected by EXHIBITOR 2012, the trade show industry's
largest exhibit hall, to drive foot-traffic to key exhibitors in
its new Find It - Marketplace at the event.
BoothTag, a mobile game for trade shows and expositions, steps
onto the national stage in Las Vegas next week at EXHIBITOR 2012.
The BoothTag game awards points to attendees as they scan
exhibitor booth bar codes, and engage in event-wide scavenger
hunts. Exhibitors create their own bonus bar codes and download
spreadsheet lists of all attendees who scanned at their booth.
Not only is BoothTag a mobile game product, it's a successful
Milwaukee, WI technology startup company.
After a 2010 pilot and 2011 launch at the BizTech Expo in
Milwaukee, BoothTag incorporated in July 2011 and gained key
customers regionally and nationally, including InBusiness Madison,
CompTIA Breakaway 2011 in Washington D.C. and national corporate
internal trade shows.
Exhibitor Media Group chose BoothTag for the trade show
industry's largest exhibit hall because of the "gamification"
employed in generating attendee traffic to exhibitors.
Event attendees scan QR codes using the iPhone or Android
BoothTag app that has been branded for EXHIBITOR 2012. On-screen
notifications in the app encourage the attendee to explore new
areas, connect with fellow attendees by scanning their personal
game barcode, level-up by acquiring more points, and win prizes
provided by the event. Exhibitors and attendees can also manage
their game connections and profile information through a dedicated
portal at http://findit.boothtag.com.
With an anticipated 6,500 attendees, the game activity is
anticipated to be high for the nearly 130 destination booths with
barcodes. "Even limiting the participating booths the Find It -
Marketplace, roughly half the total exhibitors at the event, we
believe the scan activity will eclipse previous, very successful
BoothTag events. The best part is, BoothTag now shows feedback
graphically to attendees in real time, as it occurs, on both mobile
devices and a series of big-screen leader displays. That user
feedback critically motivates attendees to play, generating
real-time trade show floor analytics for the event."
BoothTag is a company delivering traffic and driving engagement
at trade shows and business events using mobile barcode technology
and game theory for increased attendee activity and measurable
exhibitor value. For fast response, contact us at info@boothtag.com.
On October 19, 2011, business professionals around the Greater
Madison area, attended and exhibited at the first annual In
Business Conference & Expo, which took place in Madison,
Wisconsin. We were very excited and honored to participate in such
a great event!
On two nights in September, one thousand truck parts dealers
gathered (500 on each night) in a cavernous ballroom large enough
to house four different entire semi trucks, a bus, 96 other truck
parts exhibitors and 2 large prime rib and barbecue buffets.
All this required considerable expense in logistics, freight,
displays, food, hotel and many other expenses.
The point of all of it was an investment designed to attract
dealers and get them closer to purchasing parts from the exhibiting
suppliers.
If you build it, will they come?
But even if I set up a lemonade stand, there's no guarantee that
customers will visit, or even that they'll make a purchase if they
do. Even if you build it, they might not come.
Even with sleek LED lighting, 3D animation on big screens,
eye-catching polished aluminum, free candy and giveaways, getting
dealers to stop, engage with sales staff and move closer to buying
is a challenge. Those elements help with packaging an experience,
but we still need to deliver valuable traffic to the exhibitor
booth.
Competition rules!
That's where gamification comes into play. Gamification taps
into our inner desire to compete, rise above and be rewarded for
our efforts. At this truck parts event, gamification exposed this
powerful inner desire with exceptional results.
The game itself was simple: about 25 of the 100 parts suppliers
exhibiting invested significant dollars for premium sponsorship
recognition. Each premium supplier received an iPod Touch specially
configured with Microsoft Tag Reader to scan the barcodes on each
dealer-attendee's name tag.
Dealer-attendee's were given the challenge of a scavenger hunt
(with helpful clues) to find and talk with each of the premium
exhibitor sponsors to get their name tag barcode scanned. Every
scan registered 10 points in the BoothTag game system, and when you
achieved the maximum number of points, you were eligible to win
some very nice prize packages. Prizes included an iPad,
high-quality brand apparel and several gift cards with values of
$100, $250 and $500. Those incentives carried strong appeal for
these dealers!
Proof of engagement
The dealer-attendees took to this game in much the same way they
rallied around their college football teams. Groups from the same
dealership competed against other dealerships. Individuals competed
against each other, returning frequently to peer at the big-screen
leaderboard displaying the names of points leaders, and to look for
their name in the scrolling list of up-to-the-moment scan
activity.
Where can I see how many points I have?
How come I'm not on the leaderboard?
Can *you* scan my name tag?
How can I tell if I've hit all the right spots?
What do I have to do to *win*?
Some played for fun. Some played because it was interesting
technology, Some played for keeps. All played to win the
prizes.
Features that got the game on
A few features were added to the game to make it more
interesting - and have greater business value:
Bonus scan points could be earned by taking a survey rating the
experience of the event. When word got out that you could earn
extra points by taking a survey with a roving representative on an
iPad, the survey reps were kept busy for a span of three hours
straight.
Random selection of winners from the group of top points
leaders, coupled with more than 25 different available prizes made
sure that everyone felt included and had decent chance of winning
something. The shouts of triumph and cheers as the prize winners
were announced made it clear that all the attendees had a good
time.
While everyone had a good time, the BoothTag game system was
hard at work delivering value to exhibitors and the event
producers.
Delivering traffic
The game construct with barcode scavenger hunt gave suppliers a
steady stream of traffic. Attendees wanted a scan, and exhibitors
provided a scan after talking with the dealer-attendees about their
product and service offerings.
Delivering record of activity
Supplier-exhibitors will receive an Excel spreadsheet with name,
company, contact information and time and date stamp for every
person scanned at their booth. BoothTag integrated with the event
registration data to make sure that activity records were complete
and accurate. Exhibitors were relieved to know they wouldn't have
to spend their evening entering business card information into a
spreadsheet!
Measuring value provided to exhibitors
BoothTag's administrative dashboard displayed real-time
information on total number of engaged attendees, total scans for
the event, average and peak scans per attendee, average and peak
scans per exhibitor, and more. With this information, the event
producer could clearly demonstrate to premium sponsors the value of
their investment in terms of volume of traffic over time.
Dramatic Results
Most dramatic was the amount of scanning that took place over
the three hour event: roughly averaging 28 scans per minute. You
might say that's more than one scan per participating exhibitor,
per minute, isn't there a question of quality of traffic?
When you consider that each exhibitor maintained multiple booth
staff to engage visitors in meaningful discussion, the volume
becomes very valuable.
Wrap-up
The game concept? Simple. Technology? Easy-to-use, responsive
and feedback-rich. The incentives? Strong. The results?
Business-valuable for attendees, exhibitors, and the event
producer.
When you work with BoothTag, you get
help managing all the elements and delivering on that
lightning-strike of trade show event success.
