What Are the Uses of QR Codes for Immersive Experiences?

Create a self-guided museum or zoo tour with QR Codes.

If you’re a museum or zoo educator, you’re likely familiar with self-guided tours, in which visitors wear headphones that provide them with information about an exhibit. Some of your visitors, however, prefer a more interactive approach. What if you could give them a way to choose which parts of an exhibit they would like to learn more about, or even provide a means of digitally interacting with the content?

QR codes can help you create an engaging, immersive self-guided tour. Visitors can control how and when they interact with displays, or even ask questions or provide feedback in a digital portal.

Here’s how you might design this:

1. Set up a supplemental webpage for each part of the exhibit. You could create an online quiz, an explanatory video, or a page with digitized historical documents.
2. Configure a QR code for each piece of supplemental content. 
3. Place the code in a prominent location at the corresponding part of the exhibit. Don’t simply post it with no explanation: Incorporate it into your existing signage so that visitors will be encouraged to scan it.

Visitors will appreciate being able to customize their  experience, especially since many of them are already looking up supplemental information on their phones. You can guide their process of discovery by providing immersive content, linked via QR codes.

Collect and display visitors’ input in real-time wth QR codes.

QR codes can work with other technologies to create a user-generated livestream. For conferences, workshops, awareness events, and other events where visitors are encouraged to talk and share, this can be a great way to boost engagement.

Ever heard of a Tweet wall? Tweets about or from an event are displayed on a large screen. You can achieve something like that with QR codes. This approach works better for events at which visitors might not have Twitter accounts or in situations where you’d like to better curate the content that appears on the stream.

Here’s how it might work: 

1. Set up an online form in which visitors can submit thoughts about the event, personal stories, or photos.
2. Configure a QR code that leads to the form.
3. Choose one or more curators (or use an automation tool such as Zapier or IFTTT) to process form submissions during the event and create posts on a landing page that automatically updates.
4. Use a mirrored screen or projector to show the page on a large screen.
5. Post the QR code next to it, so that visitors can scan the code to make their contribution, and see their content appear on the screen.

You can configure whatever setup works for you. Think outside the box to design an experience that actively seeks information from your visitors. The key is to use the QR code to provide a convenient way for them to provide input. Whether that leads to your Twitter page, an online form, or a phone number to call is up to you. By contributing to the exhibit or conference in some way, attendees will feel more connected to the event. This technique also works well for conference speakers: If you include the QR code in your PowerPoint presentation, just be sure to make it large enough to scan from a distance!

Create an art show like no other with QR codes.

In our modern age, art shows are evolving into more interactive, immersive experiences than the typical gallery opening at which patrons passively look at art. If you’re interested in taking your art event to the next level, consider rolling digital experiences into the mix. As with the self-guided tour, you can achieve this with QR codes.

Rather than simply providing supplemental content, show producers interested in a QR-augmented show should include artistic works that only exist in a digital form, or make the act of scanning the QR code part of the experience. The livestream described in the previous section could be used as part of an interactive art piece.

Some other ideas include QR codes that lead to:

• A companion video to an artwork
• A simple question that visitors have to answer correctly to see the rest of the artwork
• A clue in an artistic scavenger hunt
• A link to a social media app to encourage patrons to take a selfie with the art 

By using QR codes, you can digitally expand your exhibit even with limited equipment and resources. You can offer visitors an intriguing way to interact with the show, which helps boost patrons’ engagement and potentially their donations Plus, many artists will love the option to make their art more performative and may already be using QR codes in their work.

QR codes’ power lies in their simplicity. Don’t send people to a destination where they have to take a bunch more steps to achieve something, or to a destination they can easily find on their own. Configure the codes to go to exclusive videos, hidden landing pages, and secret portals, but make that content easy to access once the users arrive.

It’s both easy and important to make QR codes a seamless part of the exhibit. Post them prominently and with proper labeling, but not in a way where they seem forced or redundant. Think of ways they can add intrigue or boost interaction, rather than remaining as passive links to your website or social media.

By using QR codes to build or enhance an immersive experience for your attendees, visitors, patrons, and guests, you can encourage them to engage with your content. Research has shown that higher engagement leads to greater retention and a more positive impression of the organization or speaker.