Create a Prediction Challenge to Engage Your Teams

More than just a game, a workplace prediction challenge is a real strategic tool to boost your employees' engagement. By leveraging the energy of major sporting events, you create a friendly internal competition and moments of camaraderie that strengthen company culture and facilitate communication.

The Prediction Challenge, an Often Underestimated Motivational Lever

Forget about scores and rankings for a moment. A well-crafted prediction challenge is primarily a powerful catalyst for cohesion. It provides a simple and universal excuse for colleagues from different departments, who may never talk to each other, to engage in conversation.

It is a direct response to the major challenges faced by many organizations: retention, workplace well-being, combating isolation related to remote work... These initiatives recreate social bonds and a sense of belonging. It’s simply a playful way to break the routine and reinvigorate teams.

Breaking Down Silos and Strengthening Culture

The main advantage of a prediction challenge is its ability to break down barriers between departments. Whether in accounting, marketing, or the development team, everyone finds themselves on equal footing, united by a common and fun goal.

The impact on company culture is palpable. By encouraging healthy competition, you infuse positive values:

• Team Spirit: Colleagues encourage each other, gently tease one another, and share their predictions.
• Camaraderie: The game becomes an informal topic of discussion at the coffee machine or on internal messaging.
• Recognition: Highlighting the winners, even for a simple game, values the participants and creates strong moments.

A Measurable Impact on Engagement

Far from being a gimmick, this practice has become a real trend. To give you an idea, during EURO 2020, no less than 180 French companies launched prediction platforms to engage their teams. This dynamic clearly shows that major sporting events are now seen as recognized vectors of internal cohesion. You can also explore the impact of these platforms to strengthen engagement.

Organizing a prediction challenge is not just about entertainment. It’s an investment in your human capital by creating positive collective memories that last long after the competition ends.

Many companies have noticed this: after launching a successful challenge, participation rates in other internal events increase. When employees share a positive experience, they are naturally more inclined to get involved afterward. It’s also a great boost for your employer brand, projecting the image of a dynamic company where it’s good to work. You concretely show that you care about creating a stimulating and pleasant work environment.

Clear and Fair Rules, the Foundation of Any Good Challenge

For a prediction challenge to truly come to life, it must be based on solid and transparent foundations. Before even thinking about the design of posters or the launch email, the very first brick to lay is a simple set of rules that everyone can understand at a glance. This ensures healthy competition, avoids frustrations, and ensures that the experience remains enjoyable from start to finish.

Imagine the opposite: vague rules or a points system worthy of a puzzle can quickly turn a friendly game into a bureaucratic nightmare. The goal is to make participation intuitive, even for those who are not experts in the sport in question. Your best allies? Clarity and simplicity.

This infographic perfectly summarizes the three pillars on which a well-crafted challenge rests.

You can clearly see how the game acts on multiple levels: it boosts individual engagement, strengthens teams, and enriches company culture.

Defining the Points System

The heart of the reactor is, of course, the points allocation system. It will guide players' strategies and add flavor to the competition. There are many approaches, from the most straightforward to the more subtle.

A good points system should reward both knowledge and a bit of luck, so that everyone has a chance to shine. Here are the most common types of predictions you might integrate:

• The Correct Winner: This is the basis. Award points for guessing the right team (or a draw). Simple, effective, and everyone can play.
• The Exact Score: The Holy Grail of the predictor! It should yield a lot of points to reward a perfect prediction.
• The Correct Goal Difference: A nice alternative that rewards those who sensed the right goal margin, even without the exact score.
• The Correct Number of Goals: Another option is to give points for guessing the number of goals by one of the two teams.

A friendly tip for a first challenge: don’t complicate things. A system based solely on the “correct winner” and the “exact score” is often more than enough to create a great dynamic without losing novices along the way.

The trick is to find the right balance. If the exact score awards too many points compared to the correct winner, you risk seeing wild predictions everywhere, just to try for the jackpot. A good balance is truly the key to success.

Examples of Points Systems for Your Challenge

The choice of points for each type of prediction should be well thought out. A clever scale keeps the suspense until the end. To help you visualize, here are two possible approaches, from the simplest to the most strategic.

Type of Prediction	Simple System (ideal for beginners)	Advanced System (for more strategy)
Correct Winner (or Draw)	5 points	10 points
Exact Score	15 points	25 points
Correct Goal Difference	Not used	5 bonus points
Correct Number of Goals (per team)	Not used	3 bonus points per team

This table illustrates how complexity can vary. The advanced system, with its little bonuses, will appeal to the more knowledgeable who enjoy refining their analysis. But honestly, for massive participation and maximum fun, the simple system is often the most effective.

Establishing a Clear Timeline

Once the rules are in place, you need to give a timeframe to your challenge. A precise calendar, communicated well in advance, gives a professional touch to the event and allows everyone to organize themselves.

Here are the key dates to plan:

1. Announcement and Opening of Registrations: Plan to launch communication at least two to three weeks before the start of the sporting event. This is perfect for building excitement.
2. Deadline for Participation: Set a clear deadline for signing up and making initial predictions. No latecomers!
3. Recurring Meetings: Schedule weekly emails or posts to share the rankings, highlight the best predictors, or remind about upcoming matches.
4. Closure and Announcement of Results: The big moment! Announce in advance the date when the champions will be revealed.
5. Award Ceremony: Whether in person over a drink or virtually, this ceremony is the highlight that beautifully concludes the challenge.

Having this planning from the start guarantees that you can manage the animation of your challenge smoothly and keep everyone engaged from day one to the last.

Choosing the Right Platform for a Successful Experience

Forget shared Excel files and endless email chains to manage your prediction challenge. For the experience to be truly smooth, engaging, and professional, choosing the right technological tool is essential. A good platform does much more than count points: it automates tedious tasks and transforms a simple animation into a real event.

This choice will determine a large part of the success of your operation. A slow, confusing interface, or one that doesn’t display well on mobile, can quickly turn a great idea into a source of frustration. The goal is to find a solution that works for you, not the other way around.

Essential Criteria for Choosing Wisely

The market is full of solutions, from custom development to off-the-shelf platforms. Let’s be clear: developing your own tool is often a long, costly project and a real headache to maintain. Specialized solutions are designed from the start to meet this specific need.

Here are the features to scrutinize closely before diving in:

• Graphic Customization: Your platform should reflect your company’s identity. Logo, colors, fonts... This detail is not just a detail. It reinforces the sense of belonging and shows that the initiative comes from you.
• Top Mobile Experience: A good portion of your colleagues will play from their smartphones, between meetings or while commuting. A responsive site or app is the bare minimum. Participation should be possible everywhere, all the time, without hassle.
• Engagement Functions: The tool should be more than just a simple input form. Look for the little things that create the atmosphere: real-time rankings (overall, by team, by subsidiary), badges to unlock, notifications to remind about upcoming matches…
• Ease of Administration: The back office is your control center. You should be able to manage participants, communicate with them, and track stats without spending hours. Automating point calculations and rankings will save you valuable time.

The best platform is one that your employees will want to open every day. It should be as simple and enjoyable to use as their personal apps.

To delve deeper into this crucial point, our detailed guide explains how to choose the right internal prediction platform and compares the different options available to you.

Security and GDPR Compliance Above All

This is a non-negotiable point. Organizing a challenge involves collecting personal data about your employees (name, email, department...). Your responsibility is to ensure that this information is secure.

Make sure the solution is fully GDPR compliant. What does that mean in practice?

• Data Hosting: Ideally, servers should be located in Europe. This is a guarantee of solid protection.
• Privacy Policy: The provider must be transparent about how data is collected, used, and stored.
• Access Security: The platform must offer serious guarantees against unauthorized access.

This criterion is the foundation of trust. A security breach or poor data management can seriously tarnish the reputation of your project, and even your company. Relying on a specialized partner who masters these issues gives you peace of mind.

Ultimately, the perfect tool is the balance between a fun and impeccable user experience on one side, and robust and secure technical management on the other. It’s this balance that will make your prediction challenge a true success.

Animating the Challenge for Maximum Engagement

Your prediction challenge is launched, the first registrations are coming in. Perfect. But the hardest part is yet to come. The real success of an internal competition is not the kickoff; it’s its ability to keep the flame alive until the end. Good animation is what transforms a simple game into a collective, lively, and truly memorable experience.

Without regular communication and some well-placed animations, even the best concept risks running out of steam. People forget to make their predictions, the ranking falls by the wayside, and the momentum of the first days is lost. The idea is to create a real internal soap opera where your employees are the heroes.

This image captures exactly that: animation is making the challenge visible and interactive daily, at the heart of the company.

Create a Communication Plan That Excites

Your communication should be the thread that ties the event together. It sets the rhythm, reminds of deadlines, and celebrates small victories. Think of it as a series of appointments that participants look forward to.

To do this, you need to vary the pleasures. An email is perfect for a detailed weekly summary, while a quick message on Teams or Slack will be ideal for a fun reminder before a match. The secret is to be present without ever being intrusive.

Here’s a typical communication plan, to be adapted according to your company culture:

• 7 Days Before: The Teaser Email. A short, somewhat mysterious message to pique curiosity. Announce that a big event is coming, without revealing everything. A strong visual, a catchy phrase like: "The office will vibrate to the rhythm of sports. Will you be our oracle?"
• Launch Day: The Official Launch. The complete email that lays the groundwork: the rules, the points system, and of course, the link to register and start playing. It’s the whistle blow!
• Every Week: The Recap. This is the unmissable appointment. Share the Top 10 of the ranking, highlight the "predictor of the week" (the one who made the biggest comeback), and announce the key upcoming matches.
• Every Match Day: The Quick Reminder. A simple message on your instant messaging: "Don’t forget your predictions for tonight’s match! Deadline at 8 PM."

The tone is key. Be friendly, light, and encouraging. Use (a little) GIFs, emojis, and humor to make your messages lively. The goal is to create a bond.

Spice Up the Competition with Creative Animations

Beyond emails and reminders, some well-placed animations can reignite the engine and involve even those who are not sports experts. These little "games within the game" allow everyone to shine at some point.

This is particularly effective halfway through, when participation sometimes feels a little sluggish. It’s the perfect time to surprise everyone!

Some Animation Ideas to Wake Up the Troops

• Unlockable Badges: Gamification always works. Create virtual badges to reward specific achievements. For example:
  • "The King of Exact Score" for the first to find a perfect score.
  • "The Oracle" for someone who strings together 5 correct predictions in a row.
  • "The Wild Card" for daring to bet on the underdog that no one saw winning.
• Surprise Quizzes: Launch quick quizzes about the history of the competition, anecdotes about your company, or completely offbeat questions. Each correct answer can earn bonus points in the ranking. It’s the best way to include non-specialists.
• Team Challenges: Create a parallel ranking by department or business unit. This stimulates teamwork and creates healthy collective emulation. You can even organize "photo challenges" where each team must take a picture with the colors of their favorite team.

These animations reinforce the "community" aspect of the challenge. As for rewards, there’s no need to break the bank. Symbolic prizes often have a huge impact. If you’re short on inspiration, we have an article full of ideas for finding affordable prizes to engage your teams. The important thing is to value participation and celebrate the winners. That’s how you turn a simple prediction challenge into a true human success.

Analyze the Outcomes and Prepare for the Next Edition

The podium is celebrated, the grand winner has received their trophy… but for you, the organizer, the work is not quite finished. The true success of a prediction challenge is also measured once the spotlight is off. This is the crucial moment to step back, analyze what worked (and what didn’t), quantify the real impact, and turn this initiative into an annual event eagerly awaited by everyone.

A well-conducted post-event analysis is your best card to play to justify the investment in time and resources to your management. It will give you solid arguments to sustain the project and improve it year after year. This is what distinguishes a simple friendly animation from a true strategic engagement tool.

Measuring the Real Impact of Your Challenge

To go beyond the simple final ranking, you need to rely on performance indicators (KPIs) that tell a story. These data, both quantitative and qualitative, will allow you to draw a complete and honest assessment of the operation.

There’s no need to drown in numbers. Focus on a few key metrics that speak for themselves:

• The Overall Participation Rate: This is the basic figure. How many employees registered compared to the total workforce? A rate exceeding 50% is already an excellent result, well done!
• Participation by Department/Team: This data is a little gem. It reveals where the animation took off best and helps identify managers who really played the game by motivating their teams.
• Activity on the Platform: Track the number of validated predictions, messages exchanged in the chat, or comments posted. Strong interaction is a sign of a lively challenge that has captured attention.
• Qualitative Feedback: Nothing beats the opinions of the main stakeholders. Launch a short satisfaction survey to gather immediate impressions. Ask what participants liked most and what they would like to see improved for next time.

The goal is not to compile numbers to look good in a report. It’s about telling a story: show how the challenge created connections, stimulated exchanges, and brought a breath of fresh air to daily life.

This data is valuable. If you want to delve deeper into the subject, our article on different ways to measure employee engagement will give you more insights to link the results of your challenge to broader HR objectives.

Transforming the Trial into Preparing for the Future

The lessons you draw from each edition are the fuel for the next. Your analysis should conclude with a simple and clear action plan to make the next challenge even more memorable.

If you want to go further, data analysis can become a game in itself. For example, detailed analysis of predictions in the French Ligue 1 shows the complexity of predictive methodologies. Specialized platforms calculate fine probabilities for each match by crossing a multitude of indicators. It’s a great example of how data analysis can become an exciting topic, even within a corporate game. For the most curious, the detailed analyses on Pronosoft.com are a goldmine.

Finally, don’t forget to conclude the event beautifully. An award ceremony, even if virtual, is a key moment. It’s an opportunity to warmly thank everyone for their participation, not just the top three in the ranking. Think about highlighting the winners of side challenges, the "best predictor by team," or the most active participant. Every little gesture of recognition counts and encourages everyone to do it again next year.

Questions You May Have About the Prediction Challenge

Launching an internal prediction challenge is a great idea. But we know from experience that it raises quite a few practical questions. This is completely normal. To help you clarify things, we’ve gathered the most common questions from organizers.

The idea is to give you all the cards in hand to launch with confidence, having anticipated the little details that really make a difference.

How long does it take to prepare a prediction challenge?

The answer will depend 100% on the tool you choose. If you go for an off-the-shelf platform, it’s incredibly quick. The initial setup, with customization to your company’s colors and preparation of the communication plan, can be completed in a few days, two weeks at most.

On the other hand, if you embark on internal development, it’s a different story. You should rather count several months of work for your technical teams, without the guarantee of a smooth user experience.

A friendly tip: whatever the tool, start communicating internally 3 to 4 weeks before the start of the sporting event. This is the perfect timing to build excitement, answer initial questions, and ensure maximum registrations before kickoff.

How to engage employees who are not interested in sports?

Excellent question. The goal is not to create a club of experts, but to unite everyone. The key is to shift the focus from pure performance to friendliness and fun.

You need to rely on mechanics that give everyone a chance:

• The Game Before the Stakes: Integrate bonus points for surprise scores or slightly crazy predictions that turn out to be profitable. Leave room for luck.
• Team Rankings: This is the unbeatable trick. By creating rankings by department or service, every contribution, even modest, helps their team climb. The collective spirit quickly takes over individual performance.
• Quirky Animations: Think about adding quizzes about company culture, creative photo challenges, or fun anecdotes about the event. These "games within the game" allow anyone to score points, whether they are sports fans or not.

The message to convey is simple: the important thing is not to be an expert, but to participate and have fun together.

Is it legal to offer prizes in an internal contest?

Yes, absolutely. It is entirely legal and well-regulated. An internal prediction challenge organized within the company is considered a free contest, not a game of chance or a money bet. It is simply an internal animation.

The rewards you offer (gift vouchers, goodies, extra days off...) are seen as a reward for participation. There is no notion of financial stake from employees.

To be perfectly safe, just clarify a few points in your rules:

• Participation is completely free.
• The game is exclusively reserved for employees of the company.
• No financial stake is required to participate or win.

With these simple mentions, your initiative is perfectly framed and you are protected from any legal ambiguity.

How to manage a challenge in an international company?

Organizing a challenge on a global scale is a golden opportunity to tighten bonds between teams scattered across the globe. For it to work, you need to rely on three pillars.

First, technology must keep up. Be sure to choose a multilingual platform that can automatically adapt to the language of each user’s browser. This is the foundation for a smooth experience for everyone.

Next, communication must be thought of as "global." Be sure to have all your messages (emails, posters, intranet posts) translated into the main languages of your subsidiaries. This is a strong sign that every culture is taken into account.

Finally, to boost local engagement, use the platform’s features to create rankings by country or subsidiary. This little friendly competition between offices is an incredible driver. Also, think about adapting your animations to different time zones to ensure that no one is left out, whether for a live quiz or for the deadline of a prediction.

---

Ready to transform the energy of major sporting events into a powerful engagement lever for your teams? With ccup.io, launch your personalized prediction challenge in just a few clicks and offer an unforgettable experience to your employees. Request your demo today at https://ccup.io.