Smart event design helps attendees balance time spent listening to general session speakers with opportunities to actively apply messaging to their own challenges. The best breakouts boost learning and reenergize the event.
When organizations need people to change their approach to a business challenge, a hands-on event experience helps. Immersive, gamified and simulation-based breakouts accelerate understanding and knowledge retention. They offer training at scale and speed. All while creating opportunities for team collaboration.
Implementing next-generation immersive gamification transforms breakout sessions into memorable moments that leave a lasting impression. It activates the "working memory" elements of brain science. An impactful gamified breakout goes beyond traditional quizzes and “icebreaker”-style name tag swaps. Instead, mixed-media game-based tasks elevate the corporate learning experience. Escape rooms, augmented reality (AR) and mobile apps tap into motivators like competition and achievement.
Related: How a playful approach to immersive training helped a major airline embed customer service skills within its front-line workforce.
Pressing play on gamified event design
Game play simplifies complex problems and stimulates learning. It captures our attention. We all know people who start each day with Wordle and can’t sleep until they solve Connections or do their Duolingo lesson. Games tickle our brains. In corporate settings, gamification can improve business performance and boost employee engagement.
Dry, in-depth information causes attendees to disengage. Gamification detangles complex messages. To achieve this during an event breakout session, you need customized game components that can:
- Rapidly train your people, giving them new skills, knowledge and behaviors to model
- Simplify processes that will improve customer experience
- Captivate and inspire people with your company story, signaling a new mission or direction
5 ways gamification enhances corporate events
Customized, gamified breakouts offer “can’t miss” experiences with numerous benefits.
1. Gamification brings corporate stories to life
When gamified event breakouts weave company narratives into the experience, new ideas are digestible, engaging and inspiring. Great games have a compelling storyline running through them. (The Legend of Zelda, anyone?) When game play rewards knowledge retention at each stage, it connects people more deeply to the story.
2. Gamification refreshes team dynamics
Gathering groups around tabletop-based escape rooms and life-sized board games builds community and connection as everyone works to achieve something together. (Some organizations even include “playing” as a team among their values!) Games fuel our human instincts to socialize and collaborate. Games can break down traditional hierarchies, so more people feel comfortable sharing ideas, providing feedback, engaging in healthy competition and celebrating achievements.
3. Gamification provides real-time audience insights
Incorporating technology like AR, mobile apps or web-based platforms to gamify learning at an event adds to the immersive attendee experience. It also integrates with in-event tools to gauge participant reactions and feedback, and track progress. All valuable information for measuring engagement.
4. Gamification is stimulating, motivating and fun
Standard corporate learning and development can turn boring after endless presentation slides. We learn better when we’re enjoying ourselves. According to a study cited in HRWorld, “company gamification training elements have been shown to raise employee engagement by 60% and productivity by up to 50%.”
5. Gamification fosters a growth mindset
Encouraging participants to practice and apply an idea in a playful environment derisks failure. It promotes a growth mindset, a type of intelligence that can be enhanced through strategy and persistence. By offering controls and encouraging reflection on progress, games build confidence.
Related: The workforce is more multigenerational than ever. Learn how to design incentive travel experiences that appeal across age demographics.
Breakout sessions inspire breakthroughs
During any new client or program discovery meeting, we partner with leaders to uncover core challenges. Those insights guide event strategy and activity design. Gamified breakouts are great for advancing a variety of business goals.
- Introducing a new company strategy
- Embedding change
- Implementing processes
We worked with a biotechnology company to introduce a hackathon-style session at their annual summit. Hackathons bring teams together for a scalable ideation workshop. A structured, facilitated process helps participants hack away at old beliefs and ways of working to design and implement innovative solutions. This event inspired immediate changes that benefited participants and supported the company’s goals.
Learn how this gamified breakout quickly turned ideas into action.