Let’s talk about name badge design.
You look around the room. There’s that guy you had a blast singing karaoke with last year. Uh oh, he’s coming over—what’s his name? Squint at his badge, can’t read it, oops he saw me look, embarrassing.
Sometimes it’s the little details that are important.
Attendees spend large sums of money getting to an event that trumpets, overtly or covertly, the networking opportunities. And then, someone decides to save a buck on the name badges by using “the small ones”, or has them printed using 12-point type.
Not smart.
And yet, Google “name badge design” and you’ll get about 1,810,000 hits, of which two are about design (see my resource list below) and 1,809,998 are selling name badge products.
So I thought it might be interesting to share my current name badge design criteria. Your preferences may vary. But, whatever they are, think about your name badge design; don’t treat it as an afterthought!
What kind of badge?
Please don’t use those “Hello my name is” sticker badges unless your event is informal and lasts a few hours or less. For any other occasion, sticker badges say “tacky, unprofessional.” They will disappear for good when the sweater is put on or removed, and they can’t and won’t be transferred to new garments on the following day.
Just about every other kind of badge can look professional, whether they’re humble common laser or inkjet printed cards in plastic pouches, laminated badges, or fancy badges with magnetic stripes or RFID.
Size
This depends on how much information you’re putting on the badge, but I judge 3½” x 2¼” horizontal badges to be too small, while 4″ x 3″ horizontal badges are acceptable, and 4″ x 6″ vertical badges are my current favorite. The bigger the badge the bigger the type can be, and I think that’s a good thing. And bigger badges are less liable to flip around as attendees move about. The only downside of big badges is—they cost a bit more. I think they’re worth it.
What goes on the badge?
Here’s what I like to see on a badge.
Name: First name with a line to itself. Put the last name on the next line.
Affiliation: The company or organization you represent.
Twitter ID: This is becoming increasingly popular. Knowing someone’s Twitter ID allows attendees to find out a lot about them, and encourages interaction and connections via social media during and after the event.
Event identification: Holograms if you need them for security purposes, or a logo or event name if there are other events in the space or you feel you need to shout out to non-attendees why all these people are here.
Badge wearer’s role at the event: Organizer, volunteer, first-time attendee, returning attendee, speaker, panelist, and session facilitator: so many possible event roles. Have a way to indicate them on the name badge.
Schedule on the back: One reason to have a big badge. This isn’t usually practical for a 3+ day event, but if you’ve got the room it’s an extremely useful tool for attendees.
No organization title. Trade show staff won’t like this, but I’m on the side of the attendee here. Yes, I still haven’t forgotten being ignored by trade show staff in favor of the guys with the C-Suite titles on their badges. I’m in favor of event environments that don’t provide this kind of potentially prejudicial information upfront.
Layout and design
I’m not a graphic designer, but people who are (see resources) say that using a sans serif font in a point size large enough so that you can read someone’s name at least ten feet away (try it before you print them all) is the way to go. Sounds good to me. Make the first name the largest, the last name a bit smaller.
Remember, with any badges it’s important to preview them before they’re printed to make sure that long names aren’t truncated. If the badge is small, don’t reduce the font size for everyone to fit a few long names; instead, print those badges separately using an appropriately smaller font.
Make the affiliation and Twitter ID look a little different from the name (different color or different font) and about the same font size as the last name.
Event identification should be as small as possible consonant with the reason(s) you’re adding it to the badge.
The wearer’s event role can be indicated in a number of ways. For example, there are colored ribbons you attach to the bottom of the badge, or you can print the role in a smaller type, usually at the bottom of the badge. One issue is that a small number of people may have more than one role, and it’s good to show this on the badge. But this means you need enough space reserved for the maximum number of simultaneous roles a person may have.
I like to use color to code roles. If your badges are monochrome, one low-budget way to indicate roles is to use colored dots hand-affixed to badges—a little amateurish, but it works well.
If you’re printing a schedule on the back, use a readable font and make it as large as you can without omitting any schedule details.
Method of attachment
Here is my list of attachment methods, in order of least to most preferred.
- Sticky badge. No! Enough said.
- Pin. Can be appropriate for formal events, but pin badges are a drag to attach and remove and they invariably don’t look level.
- Clip. Great if you have something to clip them to, but not everyone will: e.g. they don’t work very well on pocket-less tees.
- Lanyard. Yes, they look dorky, but they are easy to put on and remove. Lanyard clips that have some width seem to solve the flip-around problem.
- Magnet. [Update, October 6: Please see Traci’s comment for a warning about using magnetic badges. Having read this, I’m not going to advocate for magnet attachment unless I hear of a safe way to shield the field]. Magnet clips are a bit more expensive than the previous methods, but they work on any clothing and make it easy to position the badge right where you want it. Some people bring their own magnet badge to events and replace whatever they’re given. There are some enterprising businesses that make magnet badge jewelry (see resources).
One or two-sided?
If you don’t print an agenda on the back of your badge, consider duplicating the front there. Then it won’t matter which side shows.
Recyclable
There are badges these days that are promoted as recyclable; the plastic pouches are biodegradable. Frankly, I prefer to collect the pouches at the end of the event and reuse them at future events. A few quick announcements at the conclusion of the event will, in my experience, retrieve 80-90% of the badges used.
Resources
A great article by Mike Davidson on Building a Better Conference Badge.
A short but sweet post by Matt Cutts on the Ideal Conference Badge (lots of good comments).
Jason Santa Maria’s thoughts on badge design.
Two places you can buy magnetic badge holder jewelry are Lisa Bess and Amy T on Etsy.
Conclusion
I am not a name badge guru, just someone who needs event name badges and has opinions. As usual, I hope to learn more about what I don’t know from you, my dear readers. What have I missed? Do you agree with my preferences? Finally, what can you add to improve our collective knowledge of this simple but important part of every conference?
Image attribution for SXSW photo.
You’re going to spend us out of house and home at EventCamp East Coast with these big badges! Just kidding…I, as someone who can never remember names, love badges. I think people should wear them all the time.
At the SISO conference this year we had something I’ve never seen before. I bio-badge. They were made by a company, Kleertech (www.kleertech.com). Apparently you just plant your badge when you are finished with it and it turns into flowers. They also make biodegradable badge holders and lanyards as well. According to their website “We’re not just ‘Made-in-the-USA’, we’re also protecting the environment with our new and innovative BIO-D® badges, lanyards, and clips. What’s so unique about this product line is that every item is either compostable or anaerobically biodegradable – an ideal solution for tradeshows and events wanting to go green.”
I am not affiliated with them in any way…I just thought they were really cool…we should call them about EventCamp don’t you think?
Sorry Adrian…I completely forgot to argue the magnetic badges. Please do not use these…I ruined a two week old Blackberry by throwing a magnetic badge in my purse and it landed next to the BB…result…screen completely burned out…not covered by the insurance. I’ve heard others complaining about it messing with magnetic strips on credit cards.
Thanks for the timely warning, Traci, about a magnetic badge peril I was unaware of. Here’s a quote from the website of Magnaworks Technology, a manufacturer of magnetic badges:
Apparently you can buy magnetically shielded badge holders but I haven’t been able to find anything out about how safe they are. I will amend the post to warn of these dangers.
Oh well, guess it’s back to the lanyards.
I still wonder whether reusing non-biodegradable badges for multiple events (something I routinely do) is better ecologically than manufacturing biodegradable badges for each event. Corn Plastic to the Rescue from smithsonian.com implies that recycling plastic badges may a better approach, but it’s a complicated subject.
Anybody know if Kleertech is still in business? We Googled ’em, tried the site and all but it is just scrammble. :-/
Looks like a temporary glitch, Carina,; see the results from http://www.google.com/search?q=kleertech. Their Facebook page is active: http://www.facebook.com/KLEERTECH
Good afternoon, Adrian!
Thanks for checking and sharing the results of your search with Carina.
We believe we were hacked – the laws of probability (’nuff said).
Our website is back up (http://www.kleertech.com) so I invite all to review and critique. Brutal Candor Required – I always take it constructively. To the question of reuse vs recycle vs discard, products were to be a ‘badge for all seasons’.
Facts: you can’t recycle (reprocess) clear holders into clear holders again. Clear material sent back for recycling, it’s converted into opaque material. Never trust suppliers saying clear holders are made from recycled materials. ONLY If either sides is a color, (we’ve blue on back of ‘hybrid’ holders), it’s possible to claim holder’s made from one sided recycled material. Our hybrid, one side is made from biodegradable clear, other is blue recycled (reprocessed) material.
Reuse if you can – our newest Bio-D holders will be built to encourage easy assembly / dis-assembly & tiny packaging footprint. Storage for next event is simplified.
And a challenge to all > determine what our latest raw materials are –
hint: the raw material is renewable and literally ‘single stream’ recyclable yet also compostable and biodegradable. I believe it’s the epitome of what we’ve been striving for as an industry.
Ask for samples, answer my quiz question correctly and I’ll supply all the holders for your event for nothing – For Real!
We’ve made the holders from PLA (corn) as well as the lanyards and we will again, if you put a gun to our heads. It’s not a material ready for prime time. It will when the feedstock is biomass not actual corn. We’re still years away.
Biodegradability is just a sensible way for a product to finally return to it’s original source (and maybe produce some renewable energy along the way). It just needs to look and act like the classic material while it’s still re-usable.
High-mileage holders should be retired when they’re not as aesthetically pleasing. That’s understandable. That’s a factor of re-packaging to an extent and we believe they should be CORRECTLY repackaged over and over again
Many thanks for allowing me into your lives with this post. We’re up and moving forward (into the fog) with the rest of you, constantly inventing new products from new raw materials with our eye towards always striving to be the best solution to pollution.
I’m not Catholic but I am terribly guilty-feeling when I see all the holders and stuff we make strewn about on the floor at the end of the day. Solace is achieved if I know they’re made from biodegradable materials.
Great tips, it may seem a little simple, but simplicity is nice and effective……
Just rediscovered this oldie but goodie 🙂 Quick note on the badges: at a conference with 1300 delegates, the organizers saved $975 by collecting and reusing badges.
Reduce first, reuse second, recycle last.
Best to purchase biodegradable badges (ie Kleertech) AND collect for reuse!
Good, green stuff!!
Midori
Midori, thanks for the info—a $1,000 saving is nothing to sneeze at! My only concern about reusing biodegradable badge holders is that I’ve heard they can turn cloudy and/or brittle over time. I’d welcome feedback on whether this is the case.
You’re referring to holders which have an aerobic pro-degradant (meaning the organisms which will eat the material breath oxygen unlike the ones that are six inches below ground level which do not need oxygen. I’ve made these before as well and again would only do so if you put a gun to my head. The main indictment is they’ll need a controlled environment to ensure adequate shelf-life. You always want anaerobically degradable material. It will not start to biodegrade until in a landfill environment.
@Scott, glad your site is back. Thanks for the additional information–from someone who knows this stuff!
If you want nice, classy, badge holders you can also check out qbsmagneticjewelry.com.
My pet peeve is people clipping badges on their belts or on lanyards hanging so low that while reading their badge you seem to be looking at things you’re not supposed to look at! Try to put them as close to the shoulder as possible. Who cares if it ruins your look? You’re here to network and learn, not…
I agree, Mary Pat. To me, a low hanging badge says I don’t care about you knowing who I am; how I look is more important. Not a great message to broadcast if you’ve taken the time and trouble to attend a face-to-face event…
Thanks for posting this! I love, and have used, the schedule on the back idea. As for the front, I prefer if a couple of the “details” – organization represented, role at conference, and the like – are omitted. That’s right – leave off important information!
I find these bits of info can be rather lengthy, and they clutter one’s ability to actually see the first name (assuming that is the most important piece of all). But, also, I think the absence of information is a real conversation starter. I’d rather ask “what do you do?” than stare uncomfortably at someone’s chest to decipher it. It’s actually kind of a win-win!
Bill, thanks for your comments! I’m not too worried about extroverts (you perhaps?) who are comfortable starting conversations with people only knowing their first name, but I think many people find it useful to know an attendee’s affiliation as an aid to getting started with a conversation. And it’s usually useful to be able to quickly discover certain conference roles, e.g. staff.
But I agree that there’s no single optimum set of information that’s right for every event.
What a fabulous idea (printing the timeline/agenda on the back, specifically, but all of it is good!)
All small things, but they make a difference…
You’ve hit on just about every name badge pet peeve I have, and I’m happy to report that for my events the badges would pass your muster! Thanks for the great info.
Great info! Lanyards are awful–if there’s anything more awkward than bending over to read at belly-level, it’s having someone read at MY belly-level! Not the place I want folks’ eyes to be grazing…
Thanks for the feedback Vickie! The badges I use have adjustable length lanyards, which seem to solve the where-on-my-anatomy-is-my-badge problem. 🙂
I’m w/ Vickie on this .. I HATE even adjustable lanyards! It’s complicated to adjust and for women, they are either in the center of our boobs or some place that makes no sense for reading. I much prefer clip-ons for their ease of use. I love my http://lisabess.com/estore/ holder .. on which a clip works. I looked too at etsy.com and found more .. not as cool as LisaBess but better than what we have. I want GIANT type and I want something geographical. And I do NOT want those vertical ones, Adrian – too much .. doesn’t allow for fabulous hand-crafted jewelry wearing.
Joan, you are a woman who knows what she wants, and I respect that! I doubt that there is a badge design that will satisfy everyone, and I know that you bring your own badge to events, which is FINE with me. I like the jewelry-integrated badges too, but it’s probably not a realistic product for most conference organizers to supply for everyone.
At least we agree on the GIANT type :-)!
Lanyards are sexist. There’s no reason to use them, period.
A word about placement — the name badge needs to go on the right lapel. That way, when you greet someone and offer your right hand to shake, you can glance at the name badge without the ‘wandering eye’ giveaway. This applies to both men and women.
How do you like to attach your badges Laura? Some attendees don’t want to pin badges on their clothing.
If it’s not a magnet or clip: don’t wear it. To do otherwise sends a message to conference organizers that ruining my clothing and/or sexism is OK.
I took your advice! I now have a large, green name tag that you can see clearly, maybe even from across the room. People stop me to comment. I go to a lot of events weekly so I find its great to use this magnetic name tag on just about any article of clothing I had. I didn’t include my twitter but next time I might. Twitter is still finding its way here in Vermont.
Thanks for the insights and resource links. I was feeling challenged with the assignment of creating badges but you’ve inspired me with purpose.
Glad the post was helpful!
The EventCamp 2010 example badge holder and lanyard – where was this purchased?
I’m not sure if we did them or not. But what I see above, we’ve made routinely. You may have it in choice of materials (biodegradable, non-biodegradable, compostable and all are recyclable, re-usable regardless.
They were purchased from pc/nametag https://pcnametag.com/. Inserts: part NS2VHWB; badge holder/wlanyard: part CSPHP. As Scott says, I’m sure they are available from other manufacturers and suppliers.
All good points, Adrian! As a promotional products person, I am so looking for an alternative to lanyards. What I don’t like about them is that when you do squint to see someone’s name, you’re invariably looking at either a waistline or, ahem, chest. Awkward!
As for magnetics, yes, the issue Traci brings up is worth noting. As well, attendees with pacemakers can’t use them.
I’m just waiting until our smartphones can project a holographic image with our name. Problems solved!
Good point about lanyards, Heidi! The ones I’ve been using have a length adjustment clip which helps avoid these issues. If we’re going all future-tech, I’m for clothing made from programmable, luminescent materials that can display our name badge info anywhere we wish :-).
I disagree on not using sticky badges. We switched to them for a 1-day conference, and saved the cost and landfill waste of the lanyards. We use a label printer and print on a roll of white badge labels. You can easily place them where you want, and they don’t flip over backwards.
Hey George, thanks for your thoughts! I agree that for a short, informal conference, sticky badges can be the way to go—they’re certainly better than no badge at all. And if they’re printed beforehand rather than handed out blank for attendees to fill in, there’s no reason for them to look tacky. But if an attendee needs to cover up/uncover, perhaps because of a change of room temperature or venue, that badge is going to disappear :-).
I am planning a big size meeting for this summer and I was unsure if i should have name badges, but after reading this I went to https://web.archive.org/web/20230330235452/https://www.gorillaofficesupplies.com/Name-Badges-Systems.aspx?cid=619 and bought several boxes. I wasn’t sure if the attendee would be “annoyed’ to wear name badges, it sounds like people like to wear them so theyy can remember the other persons name.
You’re right Wendy; knowing who other people are when you meet them at a meeting is probably the most important function of a name badge.
Today’s Wall Street Journal sports a front page article of conference badges that quotes me. Here’s the link. Since it may disappear behind a paywall, I’ve included the article text below:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324082604578486990542650454.html
A version of this article appeared May 18, 2013, on page A1 in the U.S.
edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: What’s In a Name
Badge? Tag Snobs Glad You Asked.
By LESLIE KWOH
Few things irk Mike Davidson more than seeing a name badge printed in the typeface known as Times New Roman.
Mr. Davidson, 38 years old, is a professed badge snob. A designer by trade, he has attended dozens of corporate conferences over the years, wearing more Microsoft Word-produced name badges than he cares to remember.
“It looks cheap, for one,” says Mr. Davidson, who is currently vice president of design at Twitter. “You can tell: It’s all one color, the type is the same, and there’s just no
thought that goes into readability.”
Mr. Davidson isn’t alone in his obsession. In the booming world of corporate conferences, name badges are a topic of great fascination and passionate debate. Disagreements have raged online over the ideal type font, text size and spacing. Event organizers can spend a lot of time agonizing over templates and colors.
As they’ve evolved from “Hello, My Name Is” stickers, badges have also become a collector’s item for conference-goers—a “party favor,” as Mr. Davidson puts it—with some attendees keeping piles of the dangling accessories as souvenirs.
Not all attractive badges are functional. And not all functional badges are easy on the eye.
Many companies defeat the purpose of badges by getting too fancy—cluttering them with logos and advertising that make them hard to read, says Adrian Segar, founder of Conferences That Work, an event-consulting firm. Ideally, industry experts agree, badge lettering should be large enough to read from a distance of about 10 feet. Nobody wants to have to squint. It makes a bad first impression.
Another issue: Many badges are too low, too small, or both. Low-hanging badges can lead to awkward situations, because they tend to attract attention to body parts one probably ought not to be staring at.
“It’s a poorly designed badge if I have to do a TSA search to find your name,” says Scott McKain, a professional speaker and author.
Joan Eisenstodt, an event consultant in Washington, D.C., insists that such inadvertent ogling happens “all the time.”
Then, “there are men who clip them on their belt buckles—really?” she says, adding that she brings her own clip-on badge holder to events. It complements her outfits.
Such attention to detail can sound “anal retentive,” says Bill Host, a hospitality and tourism management professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago. But he believes a readable name badge can make all the difference in how well people interact.
Mr. Host says he devotes at least half a classroom session each semester to teaching students about the design of name badges. The former event planner draws from his collection of about 200 badges, dating back to at least 1977.
His exemplary badges are typically 3 inches high and 4 inches wide, and enclosed in a plastic sleeve that can double as a business-card or room-key holder. Badges, he says, should detail the attendee’s first name in at least 36-point type, which is a half-inch tall, followed below in 24-point type by full name, title, company, city and state.
Mr. Host says he despises large badge holders with too many pockets, zippers and snaps, because “it’s like having a fanny pack around your neck.” He prefers serif fonts because they are easier to read from a distance. Serifs are the little lines trailing from the edges of letter and symbols. (Sans-serif type, on the other hand, doesn’t have them.) He likes ribbon cloth lanyards because, he says, they feel rich.
Badge-design options have increased in tandem with conferences themselves. After a sharp recession-related drop-off, the U.S. trade show and conference planning industry is projected to generate $13.5 billion in revenue this year, a 3% increase over the previous year, according to market researcher IBISWorld. The Convention Industry Council says that U.S. conferences, trade shows and similar gatherings currently attract more than 200 million attendees a year.
The boom has benefited Nick Topitzes, owner and CEO of PC/Nametag, Inc., which says it supplies badges for close to 100,000 events annually, including corporate conferences, beauty pageants and athletic events.
Since launching the company in 1985, Mr. Topitzes has watched badge styles become more up-to-date. Badges used to be pinned on an attendee’s shirt, he recalls, and industry experts debated endlessly about whether the badge should be attached on the right or the left, thus easily viewed when shaking someone’s hand.
The introduction of lanyards that circle the neck did away with the right-left controversy (and fabric-ruining pins), but the fussing did not stop there.
Organizers began debating the merits of ball-and-chain lanyards versus fabric ones. People who wore them complained that their badges would spin backward, prompting badge-makers to devise a way to attach lanyards to nametags at both ends instead of through the middle.
More recently, organizers have requested larger badges, in the style of “backstage passes,” allowing them to print sponsored logos and ads on the front and an entire agenda on the back. “People like that feeling of a big badge,” says Mr. Topitzes. “They feel like a rock star.”
But the wealth of choices can lead to “indecisive” customers who struggle over every detail. In its 107-page catalog, PC/Nametag currently offers more than 100 different types of badge holders. “The combinations are endless,” Mr. Topitzes says. A set can range from 50 cents to $3 or more.
Some say that the quality of a badge often predicts, with incredible precision, the quality of an event. “If I pick up a badge and it’s just a cheap, flimsy thing, I just know the sound system and meals aren’t going to be as good,” says Mr. McKain.
He recently attended a BMW event in Helsinki which boasted elegant badges resembling a “large credit card,” complete with a scannable bar code that contained his schedule. The meal served—filet mignon—was equally impressive, he says.
Meanwhile, badges are becoming ever more baroque. Take the recent trend for “ribbon” attachments, which are used to identify attendees who are VIPs, speakers, exhibitors, presidents, and so on. Lately, some attendees have begun tacking on more tongue-in-cheek titles like “diva,” as bragging rights.
“It kind of becomes a contest,” Mr. McKain says, adding that it is not unusual to see attendees with eight or 10 ribbons attached to their badges. Those who have none might feel “desperate and dateless,” he says.
He confesses to stacking as many ribbons as possible. “I’m usually leaning towards one side as I’m walking down the hallway,” he says.
I have an idea for a name badge that would be a very helpful and social stimulator for any event. Something i have never seen before. Who do I need to speak with?
So Doug, where do you live? If you’re in the U.S.—well, this is the land of the entrepreneur, where you’re encouraged to take good ideas and develop them yourself. If you don’t want to do that, I suggest you contact a name badge manufacturer and see whether they’re interested…
We would be interested in hearing your idea. contact: [email protected]
Good points. Your name badge’s suggestions are sensible. I should try making an attractive design for an upcoming event too. Too excited!
Hi Adrian really interesting post i am the MD of http://www.namebadgecompany.co.uk you are right, people should be very careful with magnetic badges if using a pacemaker it can mess things up.
We are already following some of the suggestions in this article but there are many others that we will implement in the future. Thank you.
I’m glad the article was helpful to you!
All great advice, other than the name, putting the surname on a different level looks messy and unprofessional. I wouldn’t wear a name badge with my surname on a different level.
Lanyards are my favourite, I hate badges, they always end up ruining my clothing, and you’re correct stickers seem to make the event seem too informal and cheap!
Thanks for the feedback Megan. The problem with having both first and last name on one line on the badge is that, unless the badge is very large, the type size will need to be quite small to fit in the John Carrington-Smythes of this world.
But I understand that in some circumstances (especially in Europe, perhaps) the informality of a larger first name on a line by itself may seem inappropriate. (P.S. I was born in the UK and lived there until I was 25.)
The point of a name tag is to display one’s name to start a communication or to remind someone of someone else’s name. If the name is unreadable from a distance then the purpose of the name tag is lost. (“No, ma’am, I am not staring at your breast, I am trying to read your name tag…” is what often goes through my head). And some people do have long names. “Elizabeth Wallen-VanDerHooven” isn’t going to fit on one line unless the font size is very small.
And let’s not gloss over those clip-on badges with razor sharp teeth that love to eat Italian suits.
I designed this badge (A5 size) inspired by your post for my next conference. The surname is 75 points, and the first name is enlarged to fit the width. Thank you! And to hang it, I’m using a double hole punch and parachute cord so it’s adjustable and can’t flip. The schedule will be on the back. http://paulklipp.com/images/badge.png
Nice!
Here’s another way to code a name badge for networking, illustrated by John Lesko in his blog post “Anatomy of a Successful Workshop” (how’s that for synchronicity?) https://johnleskodotbiz.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/anatomy-of-a-successful-workshop/
Hi Adrian, hope you’re well! I have been reading all the comments on this post, really interesting and I am keen to hear more of your thoughts. I am an event manager in London, and one of the things I really struggle with conference passes is flexibility. We always have last minute name changes, unexpected delegates etc – how do I find an innovative and creative badge design that allows me to be flexible and update the delegate name at the registration desk? I am not a fan of stickers, and I know the plastic wallet and sticker machines do work, but I’m wondering if you have any more creative ideas? Thanks so much!
Hi Charlotte, thanks for your question! Unfortunately, I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking. Are you looking for a solution that replaces, say, a mis-spelled name on a preprinted badge, so you don’t need to create a whole new badge? Or are you looking for an easy onsite method to create from scratch a new or corrected badge?
An onsite badge creation system is what I always want, as it will handle any needed changes. If you preprint every badge, such a system only has to handle last minute edits or additions. I’ve also seen onsite registration systems that present what’s about to be printed on the badge to the attendee, who is then asked to check and verify that everything’s correct before the badge is printed.
One alternative, feasible for funky-style events, is to supply each attendee with a preprinted badge that has space for name & affiliation, etc., provide a table of pens, glitter, stickers, etc., and have them add their own badge information. Not practical/appropriate for many events, but it’s an approach to keep in mind.
I don’t know if this fully answered your question, so feel free to clarify what you had in mind.
Thanks so much for replying! I am looking for an on-site badge creation system that will handle last minute changes. Where can I get hold of one these systems which presents the info to the delegates, do you know?
This is an event for senior/VIP delegates, I would love to suggest glitter and stickers however not sure how well that would go down 🙂 it’s a lovely idea though. So I am seeking a simple, professional and easy delegate badge creation system, that doesn’t involve stickers. Any ideas? Thank you!
Charlotte, there are many vendors of onsite badge creation systems and I don’t have a personal recommendation to make, especially for who would be a good choice in the UK.
In the US, pcnametag is a common provider (and I think they sell abroad too), and a quick Google search in the UK brings up http://www.conferencebadges.co.uk and identilam.co.uk; I’m sure there are others. Perhaps my readers have other suggestions? Good luck!
Thanks Adrian! I know the sort of thing you mean, I am trying to source something really creative but maybe it’s just not possible! There are lots of cool badge designs and materials that can be used, but when it comes to creating the badge there and then it’s difficult. Really appreciate your help, I have added you on LinkedIn too!