5 Ways Self-Service Check-In Can Improve Your Events

As an event planner, you’ll know what a logistical nightmare printing and scanning delegate badges can be. And yet getting it right is so important as it can have a huge impact on first impressions when people arrive to your event.  Attendees don’t want to start their journey feeling frustrated, standing around in long registration queues or waiting for someone to help them out. They want to show up, get their badges and start their day as quickly as possible.

Read: How to Avoid Long Queues at Your Events

So what are the most common issues organisers face when managing attendance recording on the day?  And how can a self-service check-in solution help?

What is Self-Service Event Check-In?

A self-service check-in solution replaces the traditional method of checking through registration lists and having pre-printed badges and allows for a more efficient way for attendees to scan and print their badges on-site. Much like the self-service check-in kiosks you see at airports and doctors’ clinics, the system allows people to use simple touchscreen technology to check-in quickly to events through a simple name search or QR code scan.

Self-service check-in systems are good for organisers too.  By printing badges on-site, they can eliminate many of the problems associated with pre-printing delegate badges, such as spelling mistakes or dealing with last-minute registrations.  Full integration with the event’s registration solution can also help them get a real-time overview on all their attendance data.

Why Use Automated Event Check-in?

Self-service check-in kiosks can simplify the whole process of printing delegate badges, recording attendance and managing important data around events.   Let’s take a look at the top benefits:

1. Improve Your Attendee Experience

A self-service system can cut the whole process of check-in and badge printing to seconds. Your attendees can check-in to an event through a simple name search or QR code scan and print their badges on the spot. Full integration with your registration solution ensures that the kiosks always display the most accurate and up-to-date registration information.  This means that even your walk-ins won’t face any issues in finding their details on the system and checking-in. Having this peace of mind will mean more time and resources can be spent on other aspects of the event.

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2. Save Valuable Time

An on-site check-in solution can cut down a lot of the time you spend around creating and printing your delegate badges.  Badges can be designed quickly using your organisation’s own branding guidelines – any changes to how badges appear can be done remotely from the back-end (even minutes before your event starts).  All your badge printing can be done on-site, which means less time is spent printing and stuffing lanyards the night before your event. The use of self-service kiosks also reduces your need for on-site staff, cuts down waste and limits your printing costs to those attendees that show up on the day.

Read: 8 Time-Wasting Habits Event Planners Should Quit

3. Better Data Accuracy

Having a self-service check-in system that is integrated with your event’s registration solution ensures any changes to registration or attendance data is automatically updated in both systems.  Not only does this bring your attendees a more seamless check-in experience, but it also eliminates some of the challenges that come about when using different systems for registrations and check-in. Data transfers between the systems may not work properly or you may need to manually collate data from other attendance recording tools (ex. barcode scanners). This can take time and things can go wrong along the way – scanners get lost or data isn’t uploaded properly.   Having one integrated solution can solve a lot of these issues and give organisers the accurate insight they need on all their registration and attendance data.

Accurate attendance recording also means that organisations like associations can do a better job of tracking the sessions and events their members are actually attending.  This helps them issue attendance certificates and manage CPD (Continual Professional Development) accreditation a lot more effectively.

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4. Make Better Decisions

An automated event check-in solution can also help you get more from your event data.  Most event organisers would like to understand when people are showing up to their event, how many turn up, who they are, what sessions they’re attending and how attendance figures compare to registrations. A lot of check-in solutions provide this kind of live data which not only helps with reporting but can be instrumental in making important decisions on the day.  Should you delay serving breakfast as people are checking-in later than you thought?  Have all your VIP guests arrived?  Even after the event, these are important metrics in measuring event success.

5. GDPR Compliance

The ability to print badges on-demand and use self-service check-in kiosks also helps with GDPR compliance.  The new EU data protection regulation which came into effect in May 2018 has radically changed the way events collect, process and look after the personal information of their attendees.  Having a self-service check-in system eliminates the need for having printed delegate badges on registration desks, which is considered a security risk under GDPR. Access to the data on the kiosk systems can also be remotely managed. For example, if an iPad is lost or misplaced, organisers can immediately block access to minimise the risk of breach.

Download eBook: 8 Bad Data Security Habits Event Planners Should Quit

Eventsforce Kiosk is a fully integrated system that brings attendees a seamless check-in experience, while helping organisers make the most of their attendance data.  Contact us at info@eventsforce.com for more information or visit www.eventsforce.com/services/eventsforce-kiosk/