So, the world is becoming overwhelmed by the new Pokémon Go game. I downloaded it to see what the big deal is, and also to see if there was anything that inspired me in its design. After a couple days of casual playing, I definitely see the attraction of the game, and it indeed has inspired some thoughts on how we could possibly use elements of this app in a work-related app, particularly in my field. I’ll definitely be getting together with some of my coworkers to brainstorm on how we could use some of the concepts in this game to make our event experience better for our members.
Ultimately what excites me about Pokémon Go, in a professional context, is that it’s a walking game with real-world interaction. Conferences are also walking activities — you go around and check out exhibits and sessions and stuff, normally gravitating to points of interest to you. We’re always looking for ways to enhance the attendee experience, and it seems to me that taking advantage of the fact that you have some preferences recorded for your attendees and your exhibitors can mean that you can also figure out how to cross the two and influence some outcomes based on an attendee’s proximity to something they care about.
There’s a social aspect to the game, which is an obvious parallel to a conference. Plenty of ways that this could work. But the location-based part and just-in-time notifications can make for some interesting interactions, if we can figure out what the “limiting box” for this set of possible interactions would look like.
The game also has some RPG aspects, which is an interesting concept to apply to a conference. Let’s say you define a “value” to certain activities, like attending a platform session, or visiting an exhibitor, or exchanging contact info with an exhibitor or presenter. Before or during the conference, attendees can determine the list of activities that are most important to them (or choose one that maybe a committee member or some expert put together?) and then at the end have a quantitative measure of how much they accomplished out of what they intended to accomplish at the conference. And maybe have a leaderboard among their friends? All kinds of possibilities here.
Jeez. I really need to put a meeting together with some people to discuss this. More later.