Why you should switch to on-demand badge printing

To print, or not to print, that is the question:

Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of plugging in a couple of printers,
Or to take arms against a massive table full of badges which, though they may start out in alphabetical order, won’t stay that way for long.
And by opposing, not find anyone’s badge very quickly and come across as just slightly chaotic.

Ay, there’s the rub.

Two things:

1 A-level English Literature was not wasted on me.

2 It’s now easier and cheaper than ever before to print your attendee name badges individually on arrival – as opposed to printing hundreds of the things out in advance – and you should really consider it.

Here’s why.

Reason 1: It’s faster

Nobody comes to your event because they enjoy standing in line. Yet somehow 90% of your guests show up at precisely the same time to check in, right?

On-demand badging can really help reduce those lines and get guests through the door faster. Contrary to popular belief, once you have more than say, 100 attendees, it’s quicker to print an individual name badge on-demand than it is to locate a pre-printed badge on a table and hand it over.

Even inexpensive printers can output a badge in under 10 seconds. Better printers can do it in 3.

If your event platform gives you a state-of-the-art check-in app that works on any phone or tablet (like AttendZen’s) you can even have staff approach guests who are waiting in line, and simply input the first few letters of their name (or scan the QR on their confirmation email) and check them in there and then – remotely triggering their badge to print on the desk that second. It’s a great way to welcome people to your event and show them the love.

Reason 2: It’s less stressful

Printing hundreds of badges out the night before your event is a pain. Getting them all alphabetised and laid out in order is another pain.

And there are always last-minute changes and additions after you’ve done it.

If you’re using a badging supplier to print beautiful branded nametags, you’ll likely need to close registration a week in advance and send them the data.

This is all avoidable hassle.

When you use your registration platform to handle on-demand badging then there’s no problem accepting walk-ins and last-minute bookings. Customers can register online right up until minutes before the event starts. As soon as it does start, they can register on-site. No cumbersome transfer of data, no lists – just seamless service.

And assuming the platform has a sophisticated drag & drop badge builder (like AttendZen’s) you can create stunning branded badges in any custom format in minutes, so there’s no compromising on badge quality either.

Reason 3: It just looks more professional

First impressions count. When you adopt on-site badging there’s no more fumbling for the correct badge on a cramped table or sorting through alphabetical mix-ups.

Instead, your guests arrive to an efficient, modern, tech-savvy check-in process that feels personalised and secure. The impression they’ll form of your event and your company is that you’re smart, serious and you invest in the latest technology to give your guests and staff a great experience.

Ever been to an event with lovely professional name badges, but spotted some poor soul with a makeshift badge handwritten with a sharpie? Sad for them and not a good look for you. On-demand badge printing makes these embarrassments a thing of the past.

Reason 4: It reduces waste

There are always going to be no-shows. There are always going to be last-minute substitutions and there are always going to be people who made a typo when they entered their name, company, job title etc. All those unwanted badges end up in the trash.

On-demand printing means you only ever use the correct quantity of materials for the people who actually show up. Today’s attendees care about sustainability and they notice these things.

More importantly, on-demand badging typically means you need fewer staff members running check-in at your event. You can even have participants check themselves in with a few iPads in kiosk mode – freeing up your team to actually speak with guests, liaise with speakers and handle any last-minute problems. We’ve seen self-check-in kiosks combined with manned registration desks with live badge printing reduce staffing by up to 50%.

Reason 5: It doesn’t cost any more

Lots of event managers we talk to say they would love to have on-demand badging at their conference, but they assume it’s really expensive. And it certainly can be! I know clients who have paid $25,000+ to have on-site badging for 1,500 delegates. That’s nearly $17 a badge!

But, thankfully, gone are the days when you need to pay a separate supplier to drive / fly to your event with their kit and set all this up for you (including their travel, hotel costs and a bunch of margin on top).

AttendZen customers get unlimited access to our badge design and check-in tools which enable them to print any kind of badge (standard or custom) on-demand at no extra cost.

Our plug & play software does all the difficult stuff. All you need to do is connect a laptop and a printer or two. Excellent badge printers can be purchased for less than $800 (or simply rented for the day from a local supplier).

It really is that easy, it really is that cheap.

Wait just a minute though!

Before you call Avery and tell them it’s over, there are a few things to be aware of when you’re moving to on-demand badging.

Firstly, to capture the benefits you need to have badge printing as part of your registration and attendee management platform. Using a different supplier for badging means you’ll have to supply all your registration data to them in advance, you won’t have live updates to your registration system telling you who’s checked in and who hasn’t – and it’ll cost you big bucks!

So when you’re shopping for an event platform, make sure it has a great on-site badging solution baked in.

Secondly, make sure any system you’re considering is robustly engineered. Modern event platforms are cloud- based and rely on constant availability of their API servers. You need your badging to work perfectly even when there’s no internet connection at the venue.

AttendZen’s check-in app automatically brings in the most recent registration data before you start check-in, and locally stores any new registrations and changes before automatically syncing everything as soon as an internet connection is restored.

And any mobile device (iOS or Android) running our check-in app can execute the printing of a badge on-site, meaning you can realise self-check in with literally a couple of iPads. No need to pay thousands a day to rent proprietary kiosk hardware and software.

We always work closely with our customers to advise on and help them test their badging set-up in advance to make sure everything works as expected on the day.

Of course, if you’re running a tradeshow with 50,000 attendees, it still makes sense to outsource badging to a specialist supplier. But if you’re running a conference or business event with between 100–5,000 guests, you can now get beautiful badges printed on-demand with all the benefits and efficiencies – just by using the right platform.