Stacey Rosenberg, Marketing Specialist at Aurora Diagnostics, wanted an interactive trivia game as part of their large booth at the American Academy of Dermatologists (AAD) show for three main reasons:
Aurora Diagnostics first used SocialPoint’s Challenge Bar Trivia Game at AAD 2018, with excellent results: “Wow! Quite the turnout!” affirmed Rosenberg. “About 30% of our booth visitors played the game.”
“I was happy to get 332 additional leads at the show. The game was actually an easier way to collect leads than asking everyone to scan badges, which some people are put off by.”
Plus, attendees came away from the show better informed about Aurora Diagnostics’ services and benefits: “We had some players who were there for hours, just wanting to be top on the leaderboard.”
Because of their success at AAD 2018, Rosenberg made the easy decision to repeat using their customized trivia game for AAD 2019: “The trivia game totally exceeded our expectations in 2018,” said Rosenberg. “SocialPoint is amazing to work with and they really went out of their way last year for us. Therefore, we did it again in 2019.”
“The cost for our second year was very minimal. And the process to set-up the game this year was less than a 20-minute phone call.”
At AAD 2019, Aurora Diagnostics had similar strong results, with 320 unique game players, who played 551 games, and answered 9,632 trivia questions.
Getting the game set up was “a seamless process that SocialPoint walked us through,” said Rosenberg.
“Both years, we had 6 iPads and an 80” screen leaderboard for our booth. For our first year, we set-up all the graphics, game questions and what questions we wanted our audience (mostly physicians) to answer for our leads being collected.”
To make the game quick (and not overdo attendees’ limited attention-span), Stacey asked SocialPoint to limit the game plays to 3 minutes. “SocialPoint did have other options, but I thought this was best for us,” said Rosenberg. Players could play individually rather than wait for other players before starting. This also let more people play the game. People who wanted to play more could simply play the game again.
Aurora Diagnostics created over 100 trivia questions, so attendees who played more than one game saw mostly new questions each game. Rosenberg requested their game Leaderboard display the top 20 scorers: “I wanted to put as many names as I could, so more people could be up there. They just liked seeing their name on the board.”
For visibility, both years the game was set up on the booth corner on the main aisle.
In 2018, Aurora Diagnostic’s exhibit counter supported 6 game iPads. Counter graphics promoted the trivia game with the words, “Faceoff here – Dermatology is not a Trivial Pursuit.” Aurora Diagnostics also had matching page-sized graphics atop the counter showing the Dermlite they could win by playing the trivia game. “We gave Dermlites to the top 3 people per day on the leaderboard,” recalled Rosenberg.
At the 2018 AAD Show, Aurora Diagnostics set up their first SocialPoint Trivia game on the corner of their booth on the busiest aisle to grab more attention and booth traffic.
In 2019, rather than put the game player iPads on a counter, Aurora Diagnostics put their 6 game iPads on kiosks, which made it easier for players to approach and see the game leaderboard. They renamed the game “DERM Master Challenge.” Aurora Diagnostics also promoted game with graphics on their exhibit components, and with 2 larger signs saying, “The top three scores will win a YETI” that included a photo of the prize. “The custom Yetis cost us only half as much as the Dermlites, but were an equal draw for attendees.” Aurora Diagnostics also used the trivia game as a “gate” to visit the candy bar they had in their booth, further motivating attendees to play their game (and learn more about their products).
After successes at AAD 2018 and AAD 2019, what will Aurora Diagnostics do for AAD 2020?
“Our booth was so well received this year,” concluded Rosenberg, “that we will do the same game again next year, and probably not change much. We are also considering using our DERM Master Challenge trivia game at another show, and other SocialPoint trade show games for our smaller shows. ”
“I want 100% of the attendees to participate in this activity!”
It’s a phrase that I hear from meeting planners all the time. They are convinced that the attendee engagement experiences won’t work if only 60% of the people do it.
I have an alternative point of view.
First, understand that there really isn’t any single activity that will get 100% attendee participation:
Second, I believe that there are different types of attendees that have different types of preferences in your event. Here is a list that we adapted from the book Groundswell years ago. The list has held up pretty well:
These different attendee types have different needs from technology and your audience engagement experiences:
Creators – This is the person that can take a white piece of paper and make something magical out of it. They represent about 10% of your audience.
Critiquers – These are the people that couldn’t do anything with a white piece of paper. However, they are more than willing to write 40 pages of reasons why the creators creation is really bad. You have them all around you. They represent about 30% of the audience. (In an event – you can use this skill to your advantage.)
Collectors – These are the people that like to collect a set of something. You know they want all the badges, or to get to all of the stations, etc. These people are about 25% of your audience.
Sharer – These people prefer to share the ideas of others, rather than come up with their own.
Joiners – These people like to join. Sign up for this, that and the other thing.
Inactives – These people don’t want to get involved. They want to try and hide. They represent about 20% of your attendees.
Now the percentages are just rough estimates – some crowds vary in size. In our experience – if you use these numbers as a guide post – you can increase your outcomes.
Knowing that, if only 10% of the audience willing to create videos and other content, you’re winning! Even though almost everyone carries an astounding content-creating tool called a smart phone in their pocket, they won’t all want to use it. Sure, they’d love to see a picture of themselves with their arm around their friend’s shoulder, but 90% won’t go to the effort to create videos.
You can increase your overall participation rate by giving opportunities and rewards for attendees to behave the way they prefer, whether it’s to create, critique, collect, share, or join.
Also, rather than trying to get maximum involvement within a single session or workshop, instead go for layered engagement. When designing your meeting, we have different types of activities that appeal to these different audience behavior types. Sprinkle these different kinds of engagement activities throughout your one day or multiple day event. Eventually you’ll get a higher percentage of your audience participating, just not all at the same time.
So, you’re not going to get every attendee to create, but if you can focus on appealing to these different groups and accepting the percentages won’t reach 100 percent but perhaps 30 or 50 percent, you will succeed.
If you’d like to see how you can create more engaging and interactive content using the wide variety of choices within our SocialPoint Audience Engagement System, feel free to contact us with questions or to discuss your event with one of SocialPoint’s Digital Strategists. We’ll help you generate greater attendee engagement at your events.
Adding a trade show interactive has become one of exhibitors’ favorite tools to getting today’s more reluctant show attendees to cross from the aisle and into and their booth space.
Why are trade show interactives more necessary than ever? Let me count the ways:
For all these reasons, trade show interactives are more popular than ever.
What actually is a trade show interactive? It can have many elements about experience, senses, journey, and more. Here is our definition:
A trade show interactive takes attendees beyond just looking at displays or conversing with booth staffers. With a trade show interactive, attendees interact in a staged, planned, personalized, multi-sensory way with objects, technology, games, and people to more memorably experience the exhibitor’s marketing message or story. A trade show interactive can be as small as a trade show game on an iPad or as large as an entire island booth.
Now that we have a more formal definition, let’s do deeper dives into various key aspects of trade show interactives.
Creating a trade show interactive requires a shift in perspective. Marketers and agency creatives have expertise about their company and client brands. They represent those brands in digital marketing campaigns, print ads, direct mail, and other mediums.
Now, the goal is to create activities that help trade show attendees experience, absorb, and retain brand elements and competitive advantages.
You can get inspired for your own trade show interactives by:
Exhibitors love trade show games because they give attendees a fun, non-threatening way to enter their booth and enjoy themselves. Games shake attendees out of their trade show stupor and put them in a more heightened state. At that point, exhibitors can more easily engage their booth visitors in meaningful discussions.
Trade show interactive games can run the gamut from an off-the-shelf activity that sits on a table top or fits in the hands of attendees, to large-scale customized tech marvels played on a stage and overseen by a game host.
The best trade show games not only fun for attendees, but also:
For many exhibitors and attendees, touch screens are an integral part of any trade show interactive. Perhaps the most common tech used in trade show booths are iPads and other tablet computers. Those touch screens allow visitors and booth staffers to navigate websites without a mouse or keyboard.
Exhibitors also design trade show interactives that leverage the touch screen in every visitor’s pockets: their smart phones. This can include creating interactives that encourage or require smart phone use, such as sharing photos with show-specific hashtags in order to win a prize.
To stand out even more, exhibitors go beyond iPads and smart phones in two meaningful ways: First, they use larger touchscreens, and second, they use more sophisticated media than websites.
While an iPad allows for a personalized, one-on-one experience, a larger touchscreen monitor lets groups of attendees engage with a presentation or an app. Exhibitors can build their trade show activity within a custom app that allows for bigger impact, still using the navigational superiority that a touch screen provides.
Custom apps deployed on large touch screens powerfully digitally portray and explain physical products. Prospects can interact with product specs, videos, literature, 3-D product models, capabilities, uses, and more.
While most custom apps let attendees navigate information brought together especially for the trade show experience, other custom apps can take visitors on a digital journey. This may be a game, a self-driven presentation, or more.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are two of the more popular of the higher tier of technologies for trade show interactives.
Virtual Reality allows exhibitors to create trade show interactives that give attendees an even more personalized and sensory experience. Virtual Reality surrounds and submerges attendees within a digital world that portrays your products, locations, games, and customer experiences.
Augmented Reality overlays computer-generated images, animations and objects over real objects seen through the view of a smart phone or iPad. trade show interactives. Attendees enjoy the interactive aspect of Augmented Reality as they digital elements appear and move, prompted by where the attendee aims the iPad.
Exhibitors searching for trade show interactive kiosks and displays can widely range in size and substance:
The first two choices are more common and manageable for exhibitors. Plug-and-play trade show interactives give exhibitors the freedom to experiment with various promotional campaigns as they move through their trade show schedule. Trade show interactive kiosks and smaller displays also let exhibitors integrate the same promotional idea in a wider variety of booth sizes.
When ambitious exhibitors decide to host an experiential marketing campaign, they desire trade show interactive displays in the largest sense of the concept. These exhibitors want their display to act as a stage to host the activity. So rather than design their booth around the usual company features, benefits, and product images, their display instead is designed to facilitate the interactive experience itself. At this point, the exhibit and the experience are combined.
Are You Ready For A Trade Show Interactive?
Trade shows continue to thrive as a marketing medium, because they get thousands of potential buyers in the same big room as sellers. But, to get those attendees into your booth and then have a meaningful, memorable experience, more and more exhibitors are relying upon trade show interactives.
If you’d like to see more about how you can drive more booth traffic, keep attendees engaged longer, and capture leads with our fun interactive trade show games, feel free to contact us with questions or to discuss your event with one of SocialPoint’s Digital Strategists. We’ll help you generate a serious increase in excitement, crowds, and leads.
