A Zoom panel discussion “Gamification as an advertising and PR trend” took place on 14 May. The event was held as part of the International Scientific and Practical Conference of Researchers of Journalism, Advertising, and Public Relations “Issues of Mass Communication”. It was supported by Vladimir Potanin Foundation.
Over 60 researchers from different Russian towns and neighbouring countries were interested in the topic of the conference. The participants of the conference came from different regions: Voronezh, Tambov, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Taganrog, Riga, Vilnius, and Bishkek.
The discussion was held in three sessions: for teachers, students, and experts. First of all, it allowed to view gamification from different points of view and get a broad picture of the concept. Secondly, such an approach made it possible to extend the number of speakers and the audience. The key goal of the event was to evaluate the applicability of gamification in various areas: in teaching business processes, internal communication, promotion of goods and services, IT, and tourism.
It is worth mentioning that among the speakers of the discussion panel were lecturers from the Faculty of Journalism of VSU (Professor Alla Shesterina with the report “Gamification of audiovisual media as a factor of constructing media reality”, and Associate Professor Ekaterina Kurganova with the report “Gamification in an educational project: from the concept to the implication”), its graduates (Yevgenia Vasilieva “Skillotron as a gamified platform for universities and theme-based events” and Veronika Kosykh “Gamification in tourism”), and master’s degree students (Yulia Snimstcikova “Gamification in educational online projects” and Roman Molchanov “Introduction of gamification technologies in b2p-communication in Biruch-NT”. Among other speakers were colleagues from Tomsk Polytechnic University (Associate Professor Lilia Leonova “Play or/and study?”) and Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (Associate Professor Irina Kateneva “Gamification as a tool to attract attention of the target audience to social problems”). Experts with experience introducing gamification into business processes also were actively engaged in the discussion (Zhanna Korneva, head of the marketing creativity agency Mosaika “Gamification and promotion of goods and services” and Leila Ramazova, head of the marketing division in RELAX group of companies “Gamification is a dish best served cold”).
The panel discussion was designed to resemble a game. The participants were introduced to the gamified service Kakhut and the event was accompanied by music from well-known video games. The most active speakers and people from the audience received prizes.
