Randomly selected attendees get the VIP treatment in front-row recliners at the general sessions.

Read more about GameStop’s VIP seating.

Rather than hosting massive dinners in the convention center ballroom, GameStop gives each of the 4,500 store managers a gift card to cover dinners on three out of the four nights of the show.

Read why it works and how much money the company saves.

Millennials love their devices, so GameStop makes the most of them. Here’s one way: From time to time in GameStop general sessions, the emcee calls the cell phone of a random person in the audience.

Read what happens then.

GameStop raised about $60,000 for charity at the Expo by selling $5 raffle tickets, which gave attendees the chance to win 20 great prizes—all of which were paid for with credit card reward points.

Here’s how GameStop raffle works.

Anderson’s T-shirt design contests are part teambuilding activity and part fundraiser, and give the attendees a voice in the identity of the event.

Here’s how the T-shirt design contests works.

Store managers compete to show their homemade conference-theme videos shown at the Expo.

Read more about the video competition.

Here’s a quick and easy engagement idea that gets kudos out of proportion to the effort: Let your attendees choose a menu.

Here’s how GameStop does it.

New for 2015: GameStop is using the free polling feature on Facebook’s “closed group” communities to ask questions of the audience throughout the week.

Read more about it.

The community service event at the GameStop Expo isn’t open to everyone, but rather is a small group affair that is both volunteer opportunity and a special perk for 10 randomly selected volunteers.

Here’s how the community service program works.

By getting some attendees to pick the walk-in/walk-out music used in a general session, GameStop cuts down on complainers and ups the engagement factor.

Here’s how they do it.

The messages on the backs of GameStop’s event team T-shirts let attendees know that it’s ok to have some fun.

More about the T-shirts with attitude.

Wellness screenings have become a key part of the arrival day experience for Expo attendees, and it’s a classic win-win for everyone involved: Store managers get a $50 gift card for getting a checkup.

Here’s why 3,500 attendees had blood drawn at the 2014 conference.

If the game element of the conference app involves having the attendees take photos, use them!  

Here’s how GameStop makes the most of attendee photos.

The Expo’s 115-page, eight-inch-square conference guide is much more than a place to sell ads into. It may be old-school, but it’s a great way to communicate.

Here are two ways attendees engage with the show guide.

For a different take on conference engagement, four years ago GameStop decided to extend its trade show for an extra day and open it to the public.

Here’s how it works.

GameStop home office employees take time away from their normal jobs, including those in IT, finance, and inventory control, to support the Expo. It’s more expensive, but it works.

Here’s why GameStop brings the home team.