As guests filed into the pavilion, staffers handed each a SmartStick, a radio frequency identification-based piece of technology coded to one of four different languages. Those RFID elements, staffers explained, would later be used to activate exhibits and, correspondingly, explanatory text in the language selected. What's more, the SmartSticks effectively transformed what might have been a passive trek past interactive stations into a competitive, gamified experience whereby attendees amassed SmartPoints by accruing knowledge on Germany's Green energy production.

Armed with their SmartSticks, visitors followed color-coded lines to stations with displays on solar, wind, water, biomass, and geothermal energy sources. Placing a SmartStick in a designated slot triggered each activity and indicated how many points participants earned for engaging with that particular station.

One activity featured a teeter-totter whose usual long, narrow board was replaced by a transparent tube filled with water. As guests rocked up and down, the water's motion powered an embedded turbine, producing enough energy to light a band of LEDs.

The culmination of the attendee journey was the "Energy Show," which took place in a 12-sided, mirrored enclosure with a large circular table in the center. Visitors collectively placed their SmartSticks into slots on the table, causing their SmartPoints total to appear and subsequently initiating a remarkable laser show. With imagery reminiscent of bursting fireworks and swirling galaxies, the denouement conveyed the message that of all the many forms of energy, perhaps the most vital is the human kind.