What are event badges and why do you need them?
Event badges come in all shapes and sizes, from Flush Cut Qlams to laminated badges and Lanyards that hang around your neck, to Holographic Passes, Satin Stickie Passes and more. In this day and age, there’s nothing more important than the security of your event and being able to easily identify attendees from non-attendees, staff from guests, and speakers from the crowd. With the right credentials for the event, you should be able to effortlessly manage and maintain the safety and flow of everything going on.
As a great networking tool, credentials offer attendees an easy icebreaker to start a conversation, making it comfortable to create connections between guests as well as vendors and attendees alike. We’ve found that simple add-ons, like QR codes, RFID tags, and photographs make the hurdle of engagement between businesses, sponsors, and guests far easier to overcome.
By quickly and seamlessly gathering data about what booths you’ve visited, who you’ve spoken to and more, gone are the days of pads with scribbled notes, endless business cards, and lost connections.
Today, credentials are a non-negotiable at events, hotels, and businesses. The real question is whether or not you need them, but what type best suits your needs.
When deciding what type of credential you need, you should start with what kind of information is important for your staff to know, other guests know, and what your attendees need to know. From there, you can add other factors like aesthetics, wearability, etc. In fact, depending on your event, your credentialing solution may be as simple as a badge with your attendees name and job title or as in-depth as you’d like.
How do you know what badge is right for your event?
With so many types of badges available and the possibilities of customization nearly endless, it can be hard to know what’s best for you, your needs and what your guests are looking for. Without a doubt, the most important thing an event badge does is to offer security for your event, making sure that who is allowed to be there is there and whoever isn’t isn’t.
If you’re organizing an event and you want it to run smoothly, it’s crucial you have credentials. Why? Because it helps your staff quickly identify who is allowed where, who can do what, and who needs to move along. When paired with RFID technology, our badges and passes become the safest and most secure option for your event. With ticketless entry, cashless purchases, and variable data tracking, we can customize to just about any need.
When deciding what type of event badge to get, we like to first start with security: How important is it that our badges can’t be transferred? How long do they have to last? Do they need to be fully branded? Is style as important as content? More often than not, one of these factors will help you find your starting point when it comes to selecting your badge.
How to get your badge?
As an attendee at an event, one of the first things you’ll do — if you haven’t had your credentials mailed to you beforehand — is find the registration desk to check-in and gather your event badge. When it comes to the operations behind a large-scale event, the coordination that goes into organizing, printing, and preparing badges for attendees is staggering. Setting up tables, dividing credentials alphabetically, hoping nothing is misspelled, and the list goes on.
On-Site Printing
The perfect solution for making in the moment adjustments to a badge (like a misspelled name or wrong position). By printing on-site, you don’t have to worry about attendees self-dividing by name or group, instead all attendees can easily visit any registration or check-in desk to get their credentials printed right then and there. Not only does this prevent wasted materials from absent guests, but it makes unused badges a thing of the past.
Print Beforehand
For a lot of events or experiences (like hotels). it’s not crucial your guests’s credential is individualized with their name or photo. If this is the case, it’s best to order your credentials beforehand so you can fully customize the materials, finishes, shape, lanyard choice, and more. Not only does this save time at the event because you aren’t customizing each badge for each attendee, but it gives your staff the opportunity to quickly identify who is allowed where by their credential alone.
How To Customize Your Event Badge
There are so many moving parts that come together to make an event happen and every part has a person with a different job. From the front-facing side of things to the back of house, you need to make it easy, quick, and seamless for security to identify who gets to go where and who should be doing what.
That’s why we offer completely customizable credentials, from shape and size to material and accessories. We know the more unique your badges, the more of a keepsake they are and the harder they are to replicate. From custom shapes to holographic stocks, we’re confident we’ve got the solution for you. If not, we’ll make it.
Usually, people think of event badges and passes as only laminates and lanyards, but the reality is there is a lot more credentialing that needs to happen at your event, no matter the size. From small gatherings to school sporting events, business, conventions, hotels, and especially huge festivals, we have parking passes, backstage passes, stickies, luggage tags, and so much more.
Artwork
One of the easiest, most striking, memorable and highly-brandable ways to make your credential yours. We always recommend adding at least your logo to a badge because it’s an opportunity to create another point of connection with your attendee and the event.
When considering the art you may include, don’t feel limited! Depending on the type of material you’re printing onto, we can do anything from photo-realistic backgrounds to graphic heavy designs with full-bleed right to the edges.
Colors
You can easily create different levels of access just through the color of your badges, lanyards, and more. Something to consider is how many colors you want to print as that can quickly take you into different pricing tiers.
Barcodes, QR codes, RFID
Add security, traceability and ease for yourself and your guests.
Shapes
Creating custom shapes not only adds a level of security but a level of memorability to your event. Of course, the more custom you go, the more there is to consider when it comes to design, finishes, material, lead time, and single or double-sided printing.
All that to say, having a credential that isn’t the traditional rectangle stands out and can be a great artistic expression.
Finishes
Add a little flare and extra security with holographic foils.
Material
From biodegradable bamboo to tyvek paper, metal, or laminates, you have options that not only reflect your style and brand, but your ethics, too.
Types Of Badges
We’re just talking about wearable badges here, but you might want to look into custom wristbands, ID cards, or even Parking Passes, depending on your needs.
Custom Laminated Event Badges
When durability is just as important as looks, our custom all access laminated event credentials are ideal for staff, VIPS, artists, and anyone else you need to stand out in a crowd. Depending on your event and needs, you might want to create your own badge shape, let it stand out with holographic foils, or have your event art printed right to the very edge. Whether it’s a convention, festival, workplace, or one-off event, credentials are key and laminated passes will get the job done.
Holographic Ice Laminated Passes
These fully customizable, highly secure, and very stylish passes stand out with holographic foils that are nearly impossible to counterfeit. Allowing you to take your design and make it shine.
Our holographic ice laminates are impossible to duplicate, making your passes incredibly secure and easy to spot from far away. Available as single or double-sided holographic prints, standard or qlam laminates, these credentials are some of our favorites for a reason.
Flush Cut Qlam
Laminated and then cut into any shape you want, these are the most customizable when it comes to out of the box and completely unique shapes, while still maximizing real estate by printing right to the very edge. Add custom holographic foil, single or double-sided printing; these passes are extremely durable and long-lasting.
Standard Laminates
A durable standard, these laminates are familiar and customizable with art. When you think of tour laminates and credentials, you should be thinking about these unique, high-quality holographic badges. Our custom pouch laminates are the industry standard for event passes, seen all over tours, concerts, conventions, and more.
These durable passes are perfect for multi-day events, VIPs and crew. Made with clear, laminated edges that surround your art, there’s a slit for your lanyard and laminate passes to attach, and they can be printed as single or double-sided badges in full color. We also offer custom holographic foiling if you want to get a little extra.
Tear-Off Stub Laminates
Think of this like a standard laminate but with tear-off stubs at the bottom so you have a set number of tabs you can redeem for drinks, food, or merchandise at your event.
Crystal Clear Laminates
The only choice when you want something no one else has. These badges are crystal clear and completely customizable with shapes, art, and design. Uncommon in a good way, our crystal clear laminates are a creative way to add a little extra security to your event.
These see-through passes are available with RFID, variable data, sequential numbering, QR codes, and more. These passes are not only impressive when it comes to their tech, but incredibly hard to replicate. Print single or double sided art and get as custom as your creativity allows.
Metal Badges
Made to last, you can choose from a badge, business card, award medal, or lapel pin. These badges are great for VIPs or for events where a truly durable, lasting badge is crucial. Easily our most impressive credential, metal passes can’t help but make your event (and the wearer) feel special.
Extremely durable and customizable in shape and design, metal badges are the go to choice for VIPs and making sure you’ve got a highly desirable keepsake for your attendees.
Satin Stickie Passes
An affordable option when preventing credential transfers isn’t crucial, satin stickies are a great choice that’s still customizable. Made from malleable woven satin stickies adhere to clothes, fabrics, flight cases, and more. Designed to not peel when wet, they are ideal for day-of backstage access, festivals and the like.
Hard Cards
Similar to a credit card or a standard hotel key card, these tough and durable PVC plastic cards are great for staff and guests alike when it comes to conventions, arenas, hotels, and venues. Print directly on for fully customizable variations.
Our PVC cards and name badges come with a variety of different options to help secure and successfully manage your conference, expo or place of work. Hard cards work great as ID badges to help staff and guests to easily identify each other, ensuring a safe and secure environment for any cooperation. They are also great for hotels with keyless entry, touchless payments and more.
Find the Right Event Badges for Your Next Event
When it comes to event badges, the options are nearly endless and the add-ons are, too. We’ve found the best starting point for what type of badge to get really is security. The more secure your event needs to be, the more likely you are to want an RFID enhanced solution. However, that’s not always the case! We’ve innovated a lot of ways to create extremely high-levels of security without RFID technology and are always more than happy to help you find the best badge for you.
To learn more about the types of badges you can order for your event, explore our website or contact a sales representative at [email protected].
