RFID Ticket Benefits: Event Technology You Need
Event organizers, planners, and promoters have their hands full throughout the entire process of event planning. Whether that’s setting up new events, dealing with clients, or trying to find that picture-perfect venue, it can be easy to miss out on some of the latest tech goodies. Over the past few years, tickets (like most tech) have gotten smarter. With print-at-home tickets, security features, and robust ticket management systems, the world of tickets is bright.
But what about smart tickets? Did you know that some of the biggest events across the planet are embedding electronics into their actual tickets? Does that sound crazy? Welcome to the wonderful world of RFID — the ticket technology that’s reducing lines, buffing security, and providing key insights to help event planners host better events.
Here’s the inside scoop.
What in the World is RFID Technology?
The acronym RFID stands for “Radio-frequency Identification” is a technology that involves embedding little RFID tags into “things” to make them smart.
So, let’s use tickets as an example here. A teeny tiny (we’re talking as small as 0.3 millimeters) RFID tag is embedded into the ticket itself. This RFID tag is essentially an antenna that can be used to communicate with other technology. So, if you embed an RFID tag into a ticket, you can identify that ticket with sensors.
Alright, so you get that RFID involves shoving itty bitty antennas into tickets. But why is that such a big deal?
The Top 5 Benefits of Tickets With RFID
1. Hack Your Event Entry Speeds
RFID tagged tickets can seriously speed up your at-the-door ticket processes. With traditional tickets, you probably have an employee scanning each individual tickets. So, someone has to reach into their purse, pull out the ticket, and hand it to your employees who have to check all security measures and then scan the ticket manually.
This can be a time sink. So what does the world look like with RFID tickets?
People walk up to the door, a sensor blinks green or red, and they walk in. The sensor doesn’t even have to directly face attendees. The time difference is massive, especially if you’re throwing large events with lots of people.
2. Improved Security
Today’s tickets have more security features than ever before. We spent an entire post trying to outline all of these incredible ticket safety features. But, here’s the thing — they’re still prone to human error. You can build the best ticket security system on the planet, but you always have to account for employee mistakes.
With RFID tickets, you don’t. The scanner either lights up or it doesn’t. If they create a fraudulent ticket, it won’t have an RFID tag. They’re nearly impossible to replicate. And if you combine RFID tickets with other security measures, you can prevent becoming one of the many events (12% of people buy fake tickets) fueling the multi-billion-dollar event fraud industry.
3. Get Real-Time Traffic Stats
For those of you running multi-day events, RFID tags can be the Tylenol that beats that never-ending traffic flow headache. Getting people in the door and into their seats is typically the most stressful component of event days. But with RFID tickets, you can monitor traffic flow in real-time. So, if you notice that people are getting stuck at Gate 4 during the first day of your event, you can push more employees to that gate or redirect traffic flow to other areas.
4. They’re Super Cool!
Let’s be honest — RFID tags are cool as heck! We can put little nano chips in thin paper tickets; what’s cooler than that? And when guests see interesting, unique, and awesome things like RFID tickets, they talk about it... A LOT.
RFID tagged tickets can do wonders for your event’s social media presence as well. Did you know that user-generated content gets 6.9x higher engagement on Facebook than brand-created content?
Want an extra boost?
You can send the RFID tickets straight to their door weeks before the event starts. Since you don’t have to worry about security, these extra few weeks give people a chance to brag on social media or take some pics. That’s free publicity!
5. You Get Some Great Insights
There’s an incredible amount of power packed into smart technology. Equipping your tickets with a little bit of tech can go a LONG way. You can leverage the RFID tag to instantly find people who have questions via scanners. You can even monitor event engagement and use the RFID ticket data to register attendees. After all, if they have to register for their RFID tag, you’ve got their emails, names, and more. That’s pure marketing juice!
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