Setting Up Gamification & Prizes for Virtual Events

Gamification is a fantastic way to engage, promote, and analyze your event in several ways. Especially for virtual events, where every little way to encourage more engagement and attention is critical. PheedLoop's gamification module is hybrid and live event ready as well, as you can use several engagement point triggers in the event app (relevant only if you have purchased the event app) and physically at the venue. 

The great thing is, the gamification systems like all of PheedLoop's other systems are synchronized between live and virtual event experiences. Gamification can help you:

• Encourage your attendees to do the things you want them to do (e.g. participate in sessions, visit booths, engage on social media, etc.)
• Promote your sponsors and draw more traffic their way by creating sponsored prizes and giving them their own spot codes
• Gain additional engagement data and analytics by strategically incorporating gamification codes throughout key aspects of your event

How Does Gamification Work?

For virtual events, at the crux of the gamification system is the ability for you to create custom spot codes worth a certain number of points, and include prizes in which attendees can exchange points they earn for. The codes are often placed in locations such as exhibit booths, within (or after) session streams, in announcements or push notifications, outside PheedLoop on social media, and all kinds of other creative locations event planners come up with.

Attendees find these codes, enter them into the gamification module in the virtual event system, collect points, and choose from a collection of prizes. Prizes are optional but highly recommended as they help close the loop for attendees and give them something to strive for, and a great opportunity for you to promote sponsors as well.

If you do have prizes available, once they claim a prize, fulfilling it will be up to you. You will be able to track all points earned and export reports (valuable data for you to track engagement), and also track who won prizes. Common prizes include things like gift cards, event or sponsor swag, travel vouchers, etc. Where you incorporate spot codes and what prizes you select are entirely up to you, let your imagination run wild!

1. Configuring Virtual Event Gamification

1 (A). Turn on the gamification feature

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Experiences > Virtual > Settings
2. Toggle on the Enable Gamification Section checkbox
3. Select Save Changes

Note - It's important that you've actually added the event gamification module to your event as it is a paid upgrade, so in case you do not see the gamification module in your virtual event portal after activating it, visit the billing section of your PheedLoop account to ensure gamification has been added to your event.

1 (B). Create Gamification Spot Codes to Hide Within Your Virtual Event

It's up to you to create gamification codes in the platform which you can then hide inside of your virtual event. Attendees can then find these codes and redeem these codes for amazing points!

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Codes
2. Above the codes table, select Create
3. Under Title, fill out the name of the code
4. Under Points, fill out the number of points the code will be worth
5. Under Text Code, fill out the text an attendee would enter to earn the points for this gamification code
   1. Typically this is capitalized with no spaces, it is a short representation related to what the spot code is connected to.
6. Under Sponsor, select the sponsor to associate a code with a sponsor
7. Select Save Changes

Quick Tip - Some quick areas to hide codes include: 

• Hiding in descriptions for sessions and exhibitors. 
• Hiding in your slide deck 

Bulk Uploading Gamification Codes

Multiple codes can be imported into the Event Dashboard so that Event Administrators do not need to create each code manually.

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Codes
2. Above the Codes table, select the upload button
3. Select Download Template

The Gamification Code template will now be downloaded onto your device.

1. Open the Gamification Code template file
2. Fill out the information outlined in the Headings in the Gamification Code Upload Template step below
3. Save the document as a CSV file
4. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Codes
5. Above the Codes table, select the upload button
6. Select the Drag and drop some files here, or click to select files button to upload your template
7. Select Submit

Headings in the Gamification Code Upload Template

The Gamification Code template has multiple columns to fill out. Below we will define each column and their purpose.

1 (C). Configure automatic gamification points

You are now able to automatically award points to your attendees for completing specific actions in the app and virtual portal, including posting in the event feed, voting in polls, asking questions, scanning other attendees, participating in exhibitor lead retrieval, downloading slides, submitting feedback, and more! For each activity, you also have the ability to set limits so that attendees can keep collecting points for completing a specific activity until they reach that limit. 

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Settings
2. Under each gamification points section, fill out the number of points awarded when an attendee completes that task
   1. Find out about all the points sections below.
3. Under each gamification limit section, fill out the maximum number of times an attendee can complete a task to obtain points
4. Select Save Changes

Types of Automatic Gamification Points

Points can be awarded when an attendee performs a certain action in the Virtual portal. These actions can be limited to a certain number of times from the Event Dashboard. For example, if you have 10 points awarded for posting in event feed with a limit of 2 this means you can get 20 points maximum.

1 (D). Add gamification prizes

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Prizes
2. Above the prizes table, select Create
3. Under Name, fill out the name of your prize
   1. Under Description, fill out a description of the prize, this is an optional field.
4. Toggle on the Redeemable checkbox
5. Under Points, fill out the amount of points which the prize will be valued at
6. Under Quantity Available, fill out the total inventory count you have available for this product
7. Under Purchase Limit, fill out the maximum number of instances of this product which can be purchased at once by an individual/organization
8. Under Thumbnail (150 x 150 px) and Promo Image (200 x 450 px), upload images that will reflect the prize
9. Select Save Changes

Quick Tip - to view who has claimed your prizes, from the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Prizes. Select the prize you would like to view purchases for and in the prize editor form, navigate to Purchasers.

2. Test Gamification

Open up your virtual event portal, and click on the Gamification option from the sidebar. Enter your code, click on Claim Points, and watch your points soar! In the same gamification popup, select the All Prizes tab, and try claiming a prize.

2 (A). Entering a Code

1. From the Virtual Event Portal, navigate to Gamification
2. Fill out the gamification code in the Enter Code field
3. Select Claim Points

2 (B). Claiming a Prize

1. From the Virtual Event Portal, navigate to Gamification
2. Select All Prizes
   1. Select Leaders to view the points leaderboard.
   2. Select Teams to view the points leaderboard for grouped teams.
   3. Select My Prizes to view your prizes which you have already claimed.
   4. Select Instructions to view the instructions for earning points and claiming prizes.
   5. Select My Activity to view your actions which you have been obtaining points for.
3. Navigate to the prize you want to claim
   1. Or select Show Available Prizes Only.
4. Select Claim Prize for _____ (the amount you made the prize worth)

3. Add/Remove Gamification Points Manually

If you would like to ever manually add or remove gamification points to an attendee, you are now able to do this! 

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Attendees > Attendees
2. Select an attendee you would like to add/remove gamification points for
3. Above the attendee list, select Actions > Add/Remove Points
4. Under Points, fill out a number which will add points
   1. To remove points, add a negative value.
5. Select Save Changes

4. Downloading a Gamification Report

To export any data from any gamification code, you have the option to do so in a gamification related custom report with the fields you choose to export.

4 (A). Creating a Gamification Report

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Data & Reports > Custom Reports
2. Above the custom reports table, select Create
3. Under Report Type, select Gamification Points
4. Under Name, fill out a name for the report
5. Under Fields, select Spot Code, Spot Name, Spot Points, Attendee - Full Name, Attendee - Name, and other attendee related information
6. Under Gamification Code, select a gamification code you would like to extract information from
7. Select Save Changes

Quick Tip - You can also download the attendee profile data report type and select Gamification Points under Fields to see the point allocation for all attendees.

4 (B). Downloading a Custom Report

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Data & Reports > Custom Reports
2. Select a custom report you would like to download from the list
3. Above the custom report table, select Actions > Generate Report
4. Select Download Previous Report
   1. Depending on the size of the report you may need to refresh your browser for this button to appear beside the custom report in the list.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I download the QR Codes in bulk? 

You can download the QR codes in bulk by using an external service called QR Explore. 

1. From the Event Dashboard, navigate to Advanced > Gamification > Codes
2. Above the codes table, select the cloud with the downward arrow icon
3. Copy all the entries under the “code” column into https://qrexplore.com/generate
4. Generate your QR codes

How can I disable prize redemptions?

Prizes will no longer be redeemable once the End Date has been reached. To disable Prize Redemptions, set the End Date of the prize to a date and time in the past. The prize will automatically be irredeemable in the Virtual Portal.

Can attendees enter the same code twice?

No, codes can only be entered once per attendee per event. Once entered, the attendee cannot remove the code either.

How are prizes claimed if attendees are tied in point count?

If you have a limit on the number of prizes, then it's simply on a first come first serve basis.

How should code text be formatted?

It's important for codes to be simple so that attendees make fewer mistakes and get frustrated, which is somewhat challenging to avoid for large events. To minimize confusion, we suggest using capitalized letters, no spaces, or special characters (numbers are fine). E.g. "EXHIBITOR23", "SESSIONCODE", "WINBIG", etc.