What gets middle-aged, tech-savvy guys energized, if not a new-fangled video game? That’s what Cisco Systems planners decided last fall, when the company broke tradition and launched a virtual sales meeting for its global sales team of 19,000, rather than holding a live annual meeting. Canceling the live event cut costs significantly, but planners were unsure if they could motivate attendees virtually.
Enter “The Threshold,” a custom-designed alternative reality game that required individuals and groups to work together to gather clues to solve a sci-fi-themed murder mystery. Clues were found in false Web sites, fictional LinkedIn profiles, conference presentations and other areas, and along the way participants collected points. And it worked—Cisco executives say the event was one of their best ever for engagement and education.
“The games were over the top cool and forced you to learn and collaborate in a fun and exciting way,” wrote Carlos Dominguez, Cisco’s senior vice president for U.S. sales, on his blog (http://ow.ly/Tab6). “We had more people participate than we expected…and many were smarter than the designers, finding clues much faster than we expected.”
Organizations such as Cisco are finding that gaming and virtual reality are some of the hottest new methods of engaging event attendees.
“The fundamental dynamic at work for the purpose of enhancing virtual experience marketing is creating a rewards-based brand experience through which an individual or group works toward a goal, during which the experience helps demonstrate the brand’s values, products or services,” said Angie Smith, manager of Cisco’s Global Sales Experience. “There is also an educational and networking component to many games.”
How can high-tech games enhance your virtual or live events? Here are four ways:
Drive attendance. “Gaming can be a really effective way to promote your event and drive engagement, because games can go viral very quickly, especially with the rise of the social Web,” said David Rich, senior vice president of program strategy/worldwide at George P. Johnson, which partnered with Cisco to design games for its Global Sales Experience. “Gaming can be a way to stimulate interest in an event long before it actually takes place.”
With Cisco, the early release of The Threshold several months before the event led to great buzz, leading executives worldwide to form teams and join the game to begin solving puzzles.
“Gaming in a sense reduced the amount of pressure on us to promote the event, as word of mouth paved the way,” Smith said.
Build effective teams. Organizations such as Cisco have found that custom-designed games can get far-flung attendees working together to meet a common goal.
“Finding and tapping into the right talent, sharing information, reaching out to others—these are intensely social activities that games help foster,” Rich said. “To play, you have to model the behavior, and that increases likelihood the behaviors will be incorporated into real life.”
Increase attendee engagement. When games are done right, they tap into the behaviors and needs of attendees and make a connection back to the rest of the event content, according to Smith.
“In the case of The Threshold, that was about understanding the competitive nature of the attendees and Cisco’s need to foster a sense of collaboration,” [Smith] said. “We saw huge surges in pre-event chatter as well as tremendous event participation and engagement that we map back to the use of games.”
Improve measurement. Games are a great way to gather insights into the minds of your audience and see what makes them tick, Rich says.
“Gaming can throw off a lot of data that can be consolidated into metrics and we’re seeing what people are doing and saying, which we combine with things like traditional session evaluations and interviews with key stakeholders,” he said. “By bringing together the traditional data collection activities with gaming, we’re equipped to create better ideas, align content more effectively and serve those customers more effectively.” One+
NANCY MANN JACKSON is Alabama-based freelance writer.
