When Sport Tourism Canada decided to take their annual conference (Sport Events Congress) virtual in 2021, iSPARK™’s President & CEO, Krista Benoit, knew she would have to tap into her creativity to keep the association’s event sponsors onboard. Her unique Furbaby Contest that ended up being sponsored by Hilton turned out to be one of the most popular virtual activities at the event AND placed third in a contest run by Socio, a US-based event technology company that helps organizations of every size optimize their events and drive millions of interactions every day.

Event attendees at Sport Events Congress include municipalities, national and provincial sport organizations, educational institutions, and industry suppliers who attend Congress as a means to network, learn, and have fun as they focus on growing Canada’s sport tourism industry. Finding ways to add in the fun factor that Congress is known for was one of the major hurdles in producing the first-ever virtual edition of the event in April 2021.

Delivering on Event Experience

The iSPARK™ team is known for its event gamification tactics that stand out and create opportunities for sponsors to connect in meaningful ways and attendees to build long-term relationships. The live Furbaby segment co-hosted by Greg Amiel and his dog Roscoe, delivered on these objectives and more.

The Pre-Event Hype

The marketing team at iSPARK™ implemented a strategy designed to create pre-event awareness of the activity and build some hype. Eye-catching graphics, cheeky teasers on social media, and a LinkedIn pre-event poll warmed up the audience and created some anticipation. In fact, the poll results indicated that the Furbaby activity was the most highly anticipated session at Sport Events Congress, beating out all of the keynote speakers, educational sessions, and other B2B networking opportunities that were part of the 3-day program.

Roscoe’s quirky speaker bio was also a huge hit.

As a result of all of the advance promo, many of the event participants showed up prepared to compete by dressing up their pets in costumes or clothing to have a chance to win the 50,000 Hilton Honors points that were up for grabs.

Measuring the Success of the Activation

The success of the activation was measured by tracking the number of people who turned on their cameras live with their pets to participate and the number of other event attendees who engaged in the live chat. The post-event survey also indicated that this segment was one of the top-rated sessions with attendees ranking it 6th out of 59 total sessions.

Kudos for the Canine

The talk about the Furbaby Contest eventually died down post-event, however, Socio’s FUN EVENT CONTEST in July 2021 presented an opportunity to vet the Hilton Furbaby Contest against similar event activations staged by 350+ other event professionals from around the world. Socio asked for submissions of the most fun and engaging thing planners have ever offered at an event. iSPARK™’s Furbaby activation made the top ten and was featured during a live Socio webinar entitled 'The Fun Starts Here: How to amaze, delight, and engage your event attendees’. At the end of the presentation webinar attendees were asked to vote live to choose the grand prize winner. iSPARK™’s Furbaby activation, the only Canadian entry that made the top 10, placed third overall in the voting capturing just under 15% of the votes compared to a Lego wall activation for Austin, Texas based contractors & engineers that garnered 20% of the votes and a Harley Quinn themed room at ComicCon San Diego that received just under 26% of the votes.

iSPARK™’s President & CEO, Krista Benoit stated, “It’s not enough to have fun activities at an event; those activities need to meet attendees’ goals and deliver memorable event experience. We are always striving to ensure event attendees achieve their business goals, while at the same time facilitating real relationships through light-hearted and casual interactions with other participants.”

It’s clear from this success story that attendees are drawn to innovative activations that help break the ice and encourage those personal connections—building relationships that ultimately lead to deeper conversations and help close deals.