Can you give an example of how gamification can help engage members? How well does it apply to associations?
Gamification gets a bad rap. The fact is, we are all gamers and we are surrounded by gaming systems in our daily lives, we just don't call them games. For example, the educational system has rules, tasks, boss fights (exams), rewards (diplomas), teammates (classmates). Gaming systems are so embedded that we don't even see them for what they are.
So, yes. Gamification can definitely work in the association setting. We do it now, but again - we don't call it gamification. For example, if you see your members fighting over badge ribbons at your conference that is how we "level up" from "new member" to "board member." (Willis Turner, CAE and I wrote a book on this available on Amazon.com - "42 Rules for Engaging Members Through Gamification - Unlock the Secrets of Motivation, Community and Fun")
One of my favorite examples of gamification is gamifying your strategic plan. For each key result area (membership, government affairs, etc.) you set up three levels of tasks - Bronze Level - the bare minimum of objectives to accomplish to have a successful year, Silver Level - meeting all of the objectives in Bronze and then some and Gold Level - what stretch goals that your board could achieve if they had a fantastically successful year. Then you assign points to each level and maybe some rewards along the way. It's a way to make board service a little more interesting and also provide the Board with feedback as to how they are doing on meeting their goals for the year. If you want a sample template - please shoot me an email at shelly@alcornassociates.com. For more information on gaming - please feel free to visit my gamification page on the Association Forecast for more resources.
So, yes. Gamification can definitely work in the association setting. We do it now, but again - we don't call it gamification. For example, if you see your members fighting over badge ribbons at your conference that is how we "level up" from "new member" to "board member." (Willis Turner, CAE and I wrote a book on this available on Amazon.com - "42 Rules for Engaging Members Through Gamification - Unlock the Secrets of Motivation, Community and Fun")
One of my favorite examples of gamification is gamifying your strategic plan. For each key result area (membership, government affairs, etc.) you set up three levels of tasks - Bronze Level - the bare minimum of objectives to accomplish to have a successful year, Silver Level - meeting all of the objectives in Bronze and then some and Gold Level - what stretch goals that your board could achieve if they had a fantastically successful year. Then you assign points to each level and maybe some rewards along the way. It's a way to make board service a little more interesting and also provide the Board with feedback as to how they are doing on meeting their goals for the year. If you want a sample template - please shoot me an email at shelly@alcornassociates.com. For more information on gaming - please feel free to visit my gamification page on the Association Forecast for more resources.