The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) has released two new industry reports designed to help exhibitors use gamification successfully as well as help show organizers understand show floor attendee engagement tactics.

Released on Oct. 19, the new Industry Insight Series Report, “How Exhibitors Can Use Games and Contests to Drive Greater Trade Show Success,” is intended to be a straightforward, “how-to” guide on using games and contests to drive exhibitor success.

“There has been a lot of buzz about gamification in the business world over the past several years and the trade show world is no exception,” explained Samuel J. Smith, managing director of Interactive Meeting Technology, who authored the report.

He continued, “Exhibitors want to know how to use the power of games to get more booth traffic and greater engagement with attendees. The opportunity is real. Games and contests are great tools for exhibitors to drive booth traffic, capture leads and educate visitors about their products and services.”

According to Smith, the goal of the study is not to give trade show exhibitors a doctoral thesis on gamification but to quickly explain how games can pull people into their booths and provide them with best practices for getting more leads and engagement with games.

“CEIR’s recent research on attendee engagement has uncovered that games that educate attendees about an exhibitor’s products enjoy high attendee use, though this research also finds that too few exhibitors are using this highly effective attendee engagement tactic,” said Cathy Breden, CEIR CEO.

She added, “We thank Sam for sharing his expertise to help exhibitors understand how to do this well.”

The 10-page report covers the following key areas:

• What components are included in a game

• Why games motivate trade show attendees to play them

• Games that work best in a booth

• How to tailor the game experience for exhibitor success

• Advice specific to digital games

• Two case studies on games used and exhibitor outcomes

Download How Exhibitors Can Use Games and Contests to Drive Greater Trade Show Success HERE.

Last month, CEIR released its seventh report in an eight-report series focused on attendee floor engagement: Exhibition Floor Learning Activities Outside Exhibit Booths.

CEIR’s previous study, the Attendee Retention Insight Study, revealed that a driver of repeat attendance, especially for smaller exhibitions, is the chance for learning engagement opportunities on an exhibition floor.

Thus, Part Seven examines the range of learning opportunities exhibition organizers are making available on the trade show floor beyond exhibit booths, assesses the extent that exhibitors sponsor or participate in these activities, and evaluates the level of attendee use for each.

“Offering attendees learning opportunities on a show floor is a powerful way to enrich the attendee experience – it offers additional ways to help them achieve their learning objectives,” Breden said.

She added, “This is a win-win for attendees that participate and for exhibitors that sponsor these activities.”

Many B2B exhibitions offer conference programs that take place in meeting rooms away from the expo, but this study reveals that 85 percent of show organizers are also providing learning opportunities on the show floor and that interactive formats are more likely to enjoy the highest level of attendee use.

The 14-page report inventories the availability and performance of 11 learning activities organizers can make available on an exhibition floor in common areas, identifies which activities are most popular, which enjoy the highest rate of exhibitor sponsorships and most importantly, which are being taken advantage of the most by attendees – a signal of high engagement.

In addition to total results, the report identifies unique differences by exhibitor, by industry sector, the extent of exhibition activity and other key demographics. By exhibition organizer, differences are reported by an event’s size.

Commentary from exhibitors and organizers is also provided, illustrating how key trends are put into action.

The CIER 2017 Attendee Floor Engagement Study consists of the following reports:

• Part One: Exhibitor In-booth Tactics – People, Product, Education, Emotion and Other Tactics

• Part Two: Exhibitor In-booth Tactics – Use of Exhibition Organizer Digital Tactics and Other Services

• Part Three: Exhibitor In-booth Tactics – Methods Used to Evaluate Outcomes

• Part Four: Exhibitor In-booth Tactics – Looking to the Future – Areas to Improve and Interest in New Models

• Part Five: Exhibition Floor Networking Opportunities Outside Exhibit Booths

• Part Six: Exhibition Floor Product Engagement Activities Outside Exhibit Booths

• Part Seven: Exhibition Floor Learning Activities Outside Exhibit Booths

• Part Eight: Exhibition Organizers – Methods Used to Evaluate Outcome, Areas to Improve, Interest in New Models

To download Part Seven: Exhibition Floor Learning Activities Outside Exhibit Booths, go HERE.

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