Drawing a Crowd: Using Game Shows at a Trade Show

Game shows are ideal in training classrooms and large events. They increase content retention and enable our clients  to review, preview and present information in an incredibly engaging format.

However, game shows are also ideal on the floor of a trade show--promoting a new product, increasing interactivity, and ensuring that your booth isn't just a pass-by location.

Having used game shows at trade shows before (the screen cap in this post is from a custom game we designed for Mystic Tan), we can attest to the power of the medium. Game shows:

Attract a crowd: Whether a few people out of a crowd are playing along or everyone in your booth audience is playing along using keypads, game shows naturally attract an audience. Not only do people want to see whether others succeed or not, but they want to test their own knowledge (to see if they're "smarter than the player"--so to speak).

Engage people with your content: Game shows are a great way to uncover "ah-ha!" moments with your product or company by showcasing unique features/benefits in the form of a question. You can use specific content, (i.e. Which of the following is a new product feature, etc.) or general content to drive interest around a topic (i.e. As you see in the screen capture above--the question is tangentially related to tanning, but doesn't cover Mystic Tan's specific product line), or a mixture of both.

Can direct conversations: Game shows can direct meaningful trade show conversations in several ways:
  • Booth personnel can listen to a game show round and then follow up with more information while attendees' attention is piqued (i.e. Yes, the new product has this feature...and did you know it allows you to do x, y and z as well?).
  • Using audience response pads, you can measure what parts of the audience have knowledge gaps and incorporate survey questions to gauge the level of interest in particular topics or products.

Get people to spend more time at a booth: Game shows not only draw a crowd, but we've seen people who won't stop for a free tchotchke or engage with booth personnel spend large chunks of time at a booth when a game show is involved. And that's more opportunity to get qualified leads!
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Case Study: iPad Innovation at the Innovations Fair

Who: UnitedHealthcare Medicare & Retirement
What: Corporate Innovation Day; an internal showcase of innovation designed to foster continual improvement in the healthcare system
When: May 2012

Goals: To showcase the big innovative ideas from Medicare & Retirement, to put the spotlight on the innovators, to use the day as outreach to build the innovation community, and to highlight the flagship Member Journey Map (which demonstrated how innovations evolved from member needs and extensive research).

Summary: Our client wanted to be the star of the Innovations Showcase; noticed everywhere outside the exhibit hall and with an impactful booth inside the exhibit hall.

We created 12 Member Journey "walking billboards" for each area on the member journey map. At 12 different locations, people walked around with iPads around their neck, quickly demonstrating the innovations for their area of focus.

Everyone in the hall got a QR code badge. When the "walking billboards" interacted with someone, they scanned their badge and that person was automatically entered into a drawing. If the person then answered a bonus question about the innovation--they got another entry.

People also got additional entries for visiting the booth and playing a multi-player, interactive, hosted game show.

In the end, both the 12 Member Journey stations and the exhibit hall booth were wildly popular, communicated concise and memorable messaging, and made sure that UHG's M&R group were the most visible innovators around.

More Details:
 
12 Member Journey Stations:
Each station had three people--all wearing color-coded t-shirts. One person was the designated QR code badge hander-outer, one was the QR code scanner/checker and the third person was the iPad presenter.

Badges: Each badge had a QR code and coordinating numbers. One portion of the badge "ripped off" like a raffle ticket. This section contained a place where they could "register" their name and email to associate it with their QR code. None of this had to be done onsite--all the attendees had to do was fill in their name and turn it in (at any point--before or after scans).

QR codes: The QR codes were a way of tracking how many stations people had visited--rewarding those who visited more stations with more drawing entries for a prize. This inspired people to not only visit more stations, but to also answer bonus questions and be active participants with the information. One person at each station had a smart phone (usually their own phone) with a QR reader (downloaded and tested ahead of time). That person would scan a QR badge and then check the person in to that particular station. They would then have the option of giving the person an additional "check in" for answering a bonus question as they listened to the iPad presentations.

By QR code, people were tracked and we could tell exactly which stations they visited, which questions they answered and gauge their level of interest.

iPad presentations:  We designed clean, dynamic iPad presentations that were quick, clean, informative, highly graphic and fun. The iPad presenter had a lanyard configuration (using decorative plate holders) that allowed them to be hands-free with the iPad--only needing to touch to advance or to change the path of their presentation.

At the booth: 
Getting people to interact at the innovation showcase booth in the exhibit hall was key. We needed a strategy that would engage viewers, communicate the message, and get them to spend MORE time at the booth. We developed a splashy, sleek game show format called "Spot the Innovation" that people could play with and against their friends and colleagues. We had two hosts--one to control the game and be game show host, and the other to give supplemental information. Attendees could select a Member Journey Map "bubble"--any of them--and answer a multiple choice question about that bubble. If they got 2 out of 3 questions correct, their badge was scanned--giving them another entry into the drawing.

The booth was also the place that people had to fill out and turn-in their drawing entry slips.

The Feedback: Participants thought the format was both fun and unique. They enjoyed "racing around" the exhibit hall to visit as many Member Journey Stations as they could. We had a remarkable amount of participation (DOUBLE the anticipated number of badges were given out and the number of total scans were amazingly high. It was an overwhelming success!

The client said, "We had an AMAZING day and so much positive feedback about the game and the exciting innovations coming out of M&R. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!"

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Getting Tooned Up

Check out a bit of Live Spark work posted on the MouseKingdom Blog:

http://blog.mousekingdom.com/2008/11/15/tooning-up/

Reposted from the MouseKingdom Blog:

For those who have seen real-time animation at the popular Disney attractions—“Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor” and “Turtle Talk With Crush”—take note. Here’s a clip that shows how Disney utilized the same type of interactive technology almost ten years prior to featuring it in their attractions.

The following video is a sample of what Disney did at a tradeshow for cable television executives. Toon Disney was just launching its cable station and wanted to expose the tradeshow attendees to their channel. They offered a draw in the booth; where the attendees could become “Tooned Up” (turned into a cartoon character) and walk away with a tape of their experience.

In the Disney booth, there was an area where an attendee could sit down and look at an off-screen monitor. There, the attendees saw themselves AND a real-time computer animated character that was digitally inserted into the video. The attendee was also wearing a microphone headset that contained a sensor that transmitted the position of their head and relayed movements to a computer. Hidden from the attendees was an actor performing the character’s voice and movements (interacting with the attendee) and a technician who operated the computer controls to change the attendee’s “Tooned Up” appearance; gender, hair color, skin color, etc.

The end result was magic—but then again, what else would you expect from Disney?

The attendees received a copy of their interaction with the real-time character and of their own transformation from person to Toon to take home to their colleagues and families.

It goes to show you that Disney has been ahead of the curve– seeking out ways to interact with their audience for years in the virtually animated world.

Note: Video provided courtesy of Live Spark; the company responsible for the animation technology.

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