Knowledge quizzes in trade show exhibits are a great way to make product and brand education fun. Plus, they leverage people's naturally competitive natures to entice them to perform well. The result is trade show attendees who leave your exhibit knowing more about your company than before they visited.
7 best practices for incorporating a knowledge quiz into your trade show exhibit:
1. Build your activity around attendee preferences. Pick the type of quiz that will fit your target audience profile best. Extroverts prefer live game show-type quizzes where they can participate head to head. Introverts prefer knowledge quizzes they can take quietly and independently. Both groups are fine with leaderboards that show off their successes.
Matching game by Merck Animal Health at VMX. Exhibit design and fabrication by 3D Exhibits.
2. Go for high visibility. In order to maximize participation, make sure attendees are aware of your activity. Accomplish this by positioning your knowledge quiz along a busy aisle—or even better, at the most highly trafficked corner of your booth. If it is large enough, other attendees will see what's going on and stop to watch—or join in. When you do this right, you'll attract plenty of participants, as well as a good number of additional observers.
Quiz bowl by Hill's Pet Nutrition at VMX. Exhibit design and fabrication by 3D Exhibits.
3. Plan for throughput. As you plan your quiz activity, take into account the number of participants you are likely to have. Divide this by the number of show hours to calculate how many participants per hour you'll need to accommodate. Then make sure the length of the activity and the number of participation stations is adequate to handle your anticipated volume of people. When lines are too long or people are unable to get a turn, you can inadvertently create a bad brand experience—as opposed to the positive one you're working toward.
Quiz bowl by Hill's Pet Nutrition at VMX. Exhibit design and fabrication by 3D Exhibits.
4. Structure for learning. Think through what you're asking people to do and make sure it supports your goals. We recently saw a knowledge quiz where attendees matched product names with logos. The marketer would have gotten a far bigger bang for their buck if they'd had the attendees match the product name and logo with a key fact about the product.
5. Amplify the volume to increase your reach. Adding a microphoned host adds excitement and draws more attendees from the aisles.
Cash Cab activity by Boehringer Ingelheim at VMX.
6. Consider collaboration. The benefit of grouping attendees into small groups that participate in your game as a team is that you drive discussion—which in turn increases memorability. Boehringer Ingelheim applied this approach to its knowledge quiz at VMX. Based on the TV show Cash Cab, the activity called on groups of six attendees to collaborate on a single response to each question.
Cash Cab activity by Boehringer Ingelheim at VMX.
7. Don't rely on the activity to do all of the heavy lifting. Quiz participation is not a substitute for engaging attendees. Be sure to talk with them as they wait in line—and draw them into the booth for deeper conversations after they play the game. Your activity may educate them, but it's personal face-to-face interaction that will inspire brand loyalty.
How do you implement knowledge quizzes in your trade show exhibit?
