In EventNook, our goal is to help organizers to get their jobs done quickly and easily so that they can save time and focus their energy on making events more successful and better experiences. It also helps a small team to handle a major big event.
This week, we are releasing another minor enhancement that can help organizers with series of events more efficient in managing the events.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, the organizers are shifting towards having series of webinars and virtual events. With virtual hosting, starting a webinar is also much faster than a physical seminar event as there are no issues with the physical space and venue.
VIEW DASHBOARD
When you have series of multiple events, one of the frequent tasks is to see the registration and sales stats dashboard. Previously, the users have to do more clicking and open the dashboard in the new tab. That will take 5 to 10 seconds to view the stats of the event.
Now, the organizers will be able to view the dashboard in a second of multiple events without going back and forth.
SEARCH EVENTS
When the organiser has series of events like 10 to 20 workshops happening under your account, the organizer needs to go to a particular event to manage, search will help to find it very quickly instead of going through a list of events.
BOOKMARK EVENTS
Bookmarking feature is another way to quickly go to the events that you are managing daily. You can quickly go to the bookmarked events tab and manage the event in 2 seconds.
Happy Organizing the events! Stay Safe and Stay Connected!
about eventnook
EventNook is based in sunny Singapore and we have empowered events from 21 countries and counting. We have been supporting a range of events from various organizations – small non-profit organisations to top brands such as Google, IBM, EY, Deloitte, etc.
If you are planning to organize events and looking for the right event registration management solution, please contact us [EventNook – Contact Us] for a free trial and consultation.
Do you see a QR code everywhere in almost every event you attend, and have you ever wondered how do QR codes work or how they can be beneficial in the event industry? If you are beginning to understand QR code possible use cases in events, this article will help you one step ahead towards event market domination. The following are the contents we would cover.
What is a QR code?
How to use the QR code?
Where to use the QR code in Events?
How to create the QR code?
1. What is a QR code?
Before we jump to the possible use cases, we must first learn the QR code’s basic concepts.
QR code stands for Quick Response code, a two-dimensional version barcode capable of storing lots of data almost instantly by scanning with the mobile device. Nowadays, QR codes can be seen everywhere and anywhere widely used for marketing, advertising, events, healthcare, education, and payment.
There are two types of QR codes: Static & Dynamic. The Static QR code is fixed and permanent, and its data cannot be edited after completion. It could help link email addresses, social media, URLs, wifi passwords, etc. On the other hand, dynamic QR codes can store more data and can be edited and even after you have printed it on paper.
2.How to use the QR code?
QR code can be decoded in two ways:
Third-party QR code reader app that converts the image to usable information
The device camera functions as a built-in QR code scanner in a mobile device, such as new smartphone versions: iPhone, Bixby vision for Samsung, etc.
3.Where to use the QR code in Events?
QR codes for Event Marketing
You can use QR code to amplify your event marketing efforts in boosting more attendees. By offering additional information in the QR code, users can simply scan the code and view all the event details: location, time, and link to the event ticketing platforms to purchase the event ticket with a tap.
It is also perfect for advertising on paper-based printing materials such as leaflets. The space needed to spend on the ads page can be minimized and promotes advanced technology excitement through scanning. You can easily print those printed ads and do leaflets printingonline at Gogoprint, and they will deliver your orders to your doorstep. You can create large-scale marketing campaigns on prints such as billboards, advertising posts, even bus stops, and even in digital worlds by integrating the use of QR codes.
As an additional benefit, you can track and optimize your QR code campaigns in digital and print. In that report, you can view the real-time metrics such as location, time scanned, types of devices used, total scans, etc.
QR codes for Business Cards
Business cards are mandatory, especially in networking and business events. Instead of writing out your business emails, website, address, and some other details on your business card, you could easily create a QR code and print it on a business card without occupying too much space on it. QR codes on a business card are essential to communicate with your potential business partners, customers, and investors. They can be stored with your basic information and your company or product information to build your company’s credentials to the business community.
When an event accepts walk-in customers and customers need to do onsite registration or onsite ticket purchase, it could be redundant in the registration process if you collect the attendee’s information with the manual registration process.
In that case, you can create a QR code for the URL of the registration site or event ticket platform and print it somewhere in the event registration area so that people can quickly scan the QR code to register or purchase the tickets in a short time on their own. And you can assign one or two staff at the onsite registration counter to help with it if there are any issues.
QR codes for Event Check-in
Check-in with a QR code can speed up the process and will help to avoid the long queue at the entrance. It can also track people’s attendance at an event. To create a QR code for event check-in, you can use an event registration software like EventNook.
With EventNook, once registrants purchase the ticket or register the Event, they will automatically receive the e-ticket embedded with an instantly generated and unique QR code. Then, on the event day, the event organizer can use a free EventNook mobile check-in kiosk to let people check in by scanning each registrant’s unique QR code. All you need is iPhone or iPad device.
In that way, QR codes can track the attendee’s check-in, absence data, and solve the long queue problems in event registration and make your events look stunning and professional with advanced technology excitement. Check out the below video on how smart check-in with QR code works.
QR code for Event Badges
Adding QR codes on custom event badges can improve the event entry process and provide networking and additional marketing opportunities.
For instance, there may involve a large group of attendees attending the same event in networking or business events, and it can put more pressure on the event management team to make both admission and re-entry faster. In that case, using digital methods can help with this. You can use registration software like EventNook, which can not only track the attendees but can provide onsite event badge printing services by showing the unique QR code to scan on the EventNook smart mobile check-in kiosk.
As you see in video above, within 2 seconds, you can print onsite custom event badges. You can also include QR code on the name badge that enables participants to network as digital business cards to streamline the networking efforts. Below is another sample video of how EventNook can scan the QR code inserted badge and track exhibitor leads.
4.How to create the QR code?
There are many free online QR code generators. You should still consider credibility, clarity, and brand reputation, such as if they got trusted by big names and brands in choosing the best QR code generators. Most QR code generators allow free static QR code, but you cannot change the information behind your QR code once generated in the QR code generator. But with the subscription, you can create the dynamic one, which allows you to edit the data behind the QR code even after printing. The followings are recommended free QR code generators.
QR codes for URL, WIFI, social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Email, Text- https://www.qrcode-tiger.com
QR codes for Event Check-in, Onsite Badge Printing- EventNook
I hope you find it helpful. If you have any feedback on the article, please feel free to drop us hello@eventnook.com, and we would love to hear your thoughts!
If you are keen to know more about EventNook services for your upcoming events, we will be glad to assist, and please feel free to contact us.
In our last post, we shared how you can apply the data generated from Google Analytics (GA) Audience Reports to your events.
While it is important to know who your audience is, it is as important to know how your audience arrived at your event website to begin with. Google Analytics’ Acquisition information tells you just that. This is crucial in determining which online marketing tactics are bringing the most visitors to your event website.
We will discuss the following subcategories under Acqusition:
Overview
Channels
All Traffic
Referrals
Campaigns
Keywords
Cost Analysis
Google Ads
Social
Overview
Acquisition Overview provides a snapshot of what Google calls the “Acquisition-Behavior-Conversion (ABC) Cycle.” In short, it shows you how your audience come to your event websites, what they do while they are on your website and whether they have completed a goal you have defined in GA (e.g. completing a registration or calling for an enquiry).
Channels
Channels tell you how your audience arrived at your website. The following are the explanations of each type of channel:
Organic Search like Google, Yahoo! or Bing queries, provide the majority of web traffic for most websites
Referral traffic comes from a link on another website
Direct visitors come to your site by entering your unique domain name into their web browser
Social traffic comes from places like Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest
Paid Search traffic comes from Google Ads or other advertising platforms
Email simply means the traffic comes from a link clicked from an email
All Traffic
Next, you want to know which website sends people to you. The default settings here show a breakdown of your biggest traffic sources.
All Referrals
This section excludes search engines and direct traffic and shows the websites visitors use to arrive at your site.
Campaigns
This section provides a breakdown of your Google Ads and other web advertising campaigns. You can see if your event advertising dollars are going to good use by tracking conversions and other metrics of visitors who find websites through paid campaigns.
Keywords
If you run a Google Ads campaign, you can see how your ad campaign keywords impact search results and traffic. If you do not run a Google Ads campaign, you can still see what kind of keywords people typed in Google to find your website through Acquisition> Search Console> Queries.
Cost Analysis
According to Google, “The Cost Analysis report analyzes costs for your non-Google ad campaigns. To see Google Ads cost metrics, use the Google Ads reports.”
Google Ads
This information is particularly useful to website owners who are spending valuable marketing dollars on a Google Ads campaign. Here, you can learn about your bids, keywords, destination URLs, placements and more.
Social
Social media has become an indispensable tool for all businesses. Most events with high ticket sales have successful marketing campaigns across numerous social media platforms. With so many social media platforms, how can we keep track of them all? Fortunately, GA makes it easy to analyse social media metrics all under one roof.
How do I apply information from the GA Acquisition report in my events?
Most significantly, the data would influence how you would strategize marketing campaigns for your event, for example:
Knowing where most of your traffic comes from would equate to identifying your “money-maker”. You can then increase your marketing activity through that channel, which could bring in more customers.
Knowing which channels are falling behind would signal that you need to find a marketing solution to increase reach in that channel. For example, if your LinkedIn account is not performing as well as your Instagram account, it could be because LinkedIn is a platform for professionals and Instagram has a casual setting. You may look into using different content if you currently standardise marketing content across both channels.
Pump, maintain or drop my ads? Knowing whether your money spent on ads are worthwhile could assist you in making future marketing decisions.
With the help of the Acquisition Report, you can better direct your digital marketing resources and look forward to receiving higher online ticket sales for your events!
If you are looking for a simple, yet powerful registration software for your next event, please contact us for a free consultation and live demo – https://overview.eventnook.com/p/contactus
On 3rd September 2019, EventNook was part of the largest event on Singapore’s spacial calendar, the ESRI Singapore User Conference (ESUC). With the theme ‘Inspiring Outcomes’, ESUC 2019 explores how GIS technology is changing the way organisations operate and serve their communities — today and for generations to come.
This event fully utilised all of EventNook’s services, which included:
This event had a general registration booth, VIP registration booth and a walk-in booth. ESRI used EventNook’s Onsite Instant Badge Printing service for the general registration booth. For VIP registration, ESRI used our printers to pre-print the name badges for the VIPs, where they would collect them at the booth when they check-in.
WHat we noticed…
Many VIPs went to the general admission booth to check-in although their name badges were already ready for collection at the VIP booth. Luckily, this was anticipated by ESRI and EventNook. Our Event Management Software had a feature where the VIPs could check-in at the general counter where they would be identified if they were VIPs or not. If they were VIPs, they would be checked-in, but their name badges will not be printed, after which, they would be directed to the VIP booth to collect their badges. This reduces confusion and wastage through double-printing of badges.
The Smart QR Check-Inand Onsite Instant Badge Printing service was highly efficient. The whole check-in process for a delegate only 10 seconds. Here is the breakdown: 1 second to scan the QR ticket + 1 second to print the name badge + 3 seconds to attach the lanyard to the name badge + 5 seconds to pack the goodie bag.
There were many walk-in registrations and people who came on behalf of their colleagues. Although these delegates did not have their details in the registration system, we were able to register them very quickly with ourEvent Management Software and have name badges printed for them on the spot.
ESRI employees were able to easily manage the registration booths as our mobile check-in kiosks are easy-to-use even for first-timers. Our Onsite Support Team was also there to brief them prior to the event and saw through the entire event from start-to-end.
ESRI employees managing the registration booths
EventNook is honored to be a part of this Smart community and we enjoyed our time with over 500 professionals in this prestigious event. We would like to congratulate ESRI on the success for their big event!
If you have an event like this and would like us to help, drop us an email at hello@eventnook.com!
EventNook started with a humble beginning in 2012 to make organizing events easy and hassle-free for event organizers. Here, we are building the world class innovative event management platform by simplifying and redefining the old event management process with innovative solutions and leveraging on world class cloud and mobile based technologies. We have grown our business organically from serving a couple of events to thousands of events over 20 countries. We build our business from the ground up with one event at a time and we take pride in delivering great event experiences and make events inspiring.
Only 3% of cyber crimes are due to technical flaws and weak security. Then what are the causes for the other 97% of cyber crimes? According to Medium, employee errors are responsible for the majority of security and privacy breaches. All it takes is one unknowing employee to click on a malicious link, or to leave an unlocked laptop unattended, for an organisation’s personal data records to be leaked. In the events industry, while we collect a lot of personal data, we have also spotted many experienced companies with negligent practices throughout the course of our business.
Here are the top mistakes made by event management companies
#1 ‘Find your own names’
It can be really chaotic during event registrations, especially when there are so many people streaming in all at once. Searching for names from a huge pile of name badges is like searching for a needle in a haystack and you may be tempted to take what seems to be the easiest way out: Pre-printing name badges with personal information on it and displaying it on the table for all to see. Although having more pairs of eyes searching may help you save time, you may receive complaints regarding potential personal data breach as you are revealing your guests’ data for everyone else to see.
Revealing all personal data to your guests: A potential personal data breach!
What can I do then? Either hide these name badges behind the counter where only your event staff can see, or use a smart QR check-in and onsite badge printing service where you can print name badges instantly in under 2 seconds after the guest registers with a QR code.
Mobile QR Check-In Kiosk with Instant Onsite Badge Printing
#2 Not disabling ‘ Auto-Fill ‘ function
This is a common mistake when you need your guests to key in their personal data on digital devices on the spot, for walk-in registrations or lucky draws. When your device’s auto-fill is enabled, just keying in an alphabet or a number could reveal a whole list of related personal data of previous registrants. Don’t put yourself at risk of personal data breach, remember to disable ‘Auto-Fill’.
#3 Using sign-in books
Even if you don’t use digital devices to register your guests, you still have a high chance committing a privacy breach if you use sign-in books. Imagine if you are holding a recruitment event and you have your potential candidates register in the sign-in book. A potential candidate could glance through the names who could be vying for the same role and could find ways to undermine the other candidates when speaking to the potential hiring managers.
You could either have your event crew register your guests themselves after verifying their identity by requesting for their business cards or last 3 digits of NRIC number.
#4 Forgetting to log out
At EventNook, many event organisers rent our iPads for registrations and use our event management software to track their ticket sales and attendees. However, after the event, we noticed that many would forget to log out of our application on the iPads. This could be a problem if we passed on the iPads to the next event manager, as they could access the previous records and sensitive data.
Hence as part of our best practice, the EventNook team will always ensure that these personal data would not be accidentally passed on to others as we will always do a check to ensure all accounts are logged-out, before handing the device over.
#5 Event part-timers’/volunteers’ error
No matter how careful you are with personal data, you must ensure that your event helpers are as cautious as you are. Many event managers are aware of such privacy risks, yet they forget to thoroughly brief the rest of the team about the do’s and don’ts when handling personal data.
If you have an event coming up, as a manager, it is your responsibility to look for a reliable vendor who will protect your attendees’ data. At EventNook, we respect the privacy of all individuals and strive to provide the ease of mind to all our customers when handling personal data. If you have any concerns regarding data protection for your events, or if you simply want to know more about our privacy policy, please email: hello@eventnook.com
In our previous post, we shared how individuals can take responsibility in ensuring their personal data stays protected. Now that many individuals are educated, they are more aware of how to make informed choices when choosing an organisation to safe keep their personal data. How then, as a business that collects personal data for processing, assure your customers that their personal data are in safe hands?
First and foremost, your customers will only trust you if you practice what you preach. Here are some rules-of-thumb you should adhere to:
#1 obtain consent
Firstly, you have to obtain either verbal, written, or even deemed consent for any personal data to be collected.
What constitutes as consent would include: Voluntary provision or cases where it is reasonable to voluntarily provide the data. Your customers also have a right to withdraw your consent at any time. One example would be the Do Not Call (DNC) registry where individuals can opt out of receiving unsolicited marketing messages and calls. Should your business be involved in telemarketing, you should ensure that numbers subscribed to the Do Not Call (DNC) Registry should not be contacted for marketing purposes. Each offence would incur a fine of up to $10,000 or face imprisonment. B2B marketing calls or messages sent to other organisations do not fall under the purview of the DNC Registry.
How do businesses check what numbers are registered on the DNC registry?
Create an account at a one-time fee of $30 ($60 for overseas companies) to gain access to the DNC system
You can enter up to 10 phone numbers manually at one time. Results of the search are displayed immediately
To check >10 numbers at one time by uploading a CSV file containing a list of all 8-digit Singapore telephone numbers. The results will be available for download after 24 hours
All results are valid for 30 days.
#2 Inform your purpose
Once you have obtained consent, the personal data collected can only be processed in an appropriate manner and for a reasonable purpose. You must ensure that your customers are informed of the purpose for which the personal data is being collected.
Every time you need to collect personal data from individuals, be it online or offline, try to have its purpose written down clearly (See image below).
#3 allow access
Individuals have the right to request we provide access to and make corrections to their personal data. There are some exceptions, such as cases in which providing access would cause immediate harm to the safety, or physical or mental heath, of the individual; threaten the safety, or physical or mental health, of another individual; or reveal another individual’s personal data.
#4 update data regularly
We must make a reasonable effort to ensure that all personal data collected is accurate and complete. Allow your customers to correct their data and prompt them update regularly. It is likely that the personal data will be used to make a decision that affects the individual to whom it relates, or is likely to be disclosed to another organisation.
#5 protection of data
You must protect personal data in your possession or control by making reasonable security arrangements to prevent unauthorised access, collection, use, disclosure, copying, modification, disposal or similar activity. If your business wants to store personal data in the cloud, you should take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer of data to the cloud complies with the PDPA’s data protection laws.
Most of the privacy breaches occur because of human error. Simply leaving your laptop unattended or forgetting to shred personal information before disposal could lead to personal data leaks. Ensure that your employees are aware and trained of how to collect, process, store and dispose of personal data to minimise such mistakes.
Delegate the task, not the responsibility.
If you engage 3rd parties and need to pass on your customer’s personal data to these vendors, it is your due diligence to do extensive research to see if the company is reliable. Read the security and privacy policies of the companies that you are giving your customers’ data to. You are still partially liable if there is any privacy breach on the 3rd party side.
#6 purge what you don’t need
You must cease retaining documents containing personal data, or anonymise that data, as soon as it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, or for other legal or business purposes. If your customers request for their data to be deleted, you should comply. If your business maintains physical or electronic records of personal data, these records have to be disposed appropriately, as stipulated in the PDPA.
#7 keep within bounds
You should not transfer personal data outside Singapore except in accordance with the Act’s requirements. If you must transfer it to another region, be certain that you have obtained consent from your customers prior to the transfer and ensure that the external company has a comparable standard of data protection.
#8 be transparent
Your business should always have a detailed privacy policy for all to access and read. Be prepared to answer all your customer’s concerns regarding privacy and data protection. If you make the necessary effort to protect your customers’ personal data, your customers will thank you for it!
At EventNook, we deal with a lot of personal data, so we practice extra caution in data handling and take pride in our commitment to protect all our customers’ personal data while delivering the results. If you have any questions on our data protection policies for your events, feel free to drop us an email or a call, our friendly team will be more than happy to assist you!
30th August 2019 was an important day for aspiring university students to secure a job with the multi-billion dollar manufacturing giant, ExxonMobil (EM). It was also a big day for EventNook as we had to ensure that the registration process for EM’s Campus Recruitment went smoothly.
As there were going to be many VIPs gracing the event, our EventNook Onsite Support Team made sure to be at the event early to prepare for the registration.
EventNook Onsite Support Team
For this event, we provided EM with the following services:
How did we help Exxonmobil start and finish off the event without a hitch?
Our end-to-end event management software provided an easy platform for EM to register all of their attendee’s details, such as name, university, industry, job scope with ease. They could also choose which details they would include in the attendee’s name badge. In addition, as there were some walk-in registrations, the software could seamlessly check-in these individuals over-the-counter and capture it in the system for registration tracking.
TheEventNook Onsite Mobile Kiosk Check-in System with QR code ticketing made the check-in process very quick. There was no queue formed as our registration process was extremely efficient.
For this event, EM requested to pre-print name badges for their Ambassadors as they were worried there would be printing errors for these VIPs. However, we realised it was time-consuming to search through the pre-printed name badges. In contrast, our Onsite Instant Badge Printing saved more time as we printed the remaining attendees’ name badges without mistakes, in just 1 second each! We would recommend using our eco-friendly, tear-resistant material to save time from slotting the name badges into plastic pouches.
Volunteers checking-in guests using EventNook’s equipment
The comprehensive equipment set-up and onsite event day technical supervision made the process simple even for the volunteers who only learnt how to use the app and equipment on the event day itself.
Equipment set-up on event day
We are honoured to be part of ExxonMobil’s successful event and we hope to work with them again!
EventNook started with a humble beginning in 2012 to make organizing events easy and hassle-free for event organizers. Here, we are building the world class innovative event management platform by simplifying and redefining the old event management process with innovative solutions and leveraging on world class cloud and mobile based technologies. We have grown our business organically from serving a couple of events to thousands of events over 20 countries. We build our business from the ground up with one event at a time and we take pride in delivering great event experiences and make events inspiring. If you have any enquiries regarding our service, please direct your questions to: hello@eventnook.com
If you are still collecting your customer’s NRIC data, you probably haven’t heard of the new law that kicked in on 1st September 2019. The new law prohibits holding or making physical copies of NRICs and the collection of full NRIC numbers unless required by the law. According to the Personal Data Protection Commission, this law applies to birth certificate numbers, passport numbers, drivers’ license, foreign identification numbers and work permit numbers as well. Unless you are a government body, this new law will affect your business.
Singapore has significantly tightened the law on NRIC collection, use, disclosure and storage, however, in specified circumstances, you may still collect NRIC data. Under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), such circumstances are referred to as “Permitted Situations”, which include:
Situations where the collection, use, or disclosure is required by the law or is an exception under the PDPA. However, you should still ensure that you have done due diligence in ensuring that you have informed your customers of the purpose of collection, use, or disclosure.
Situations where it is absolutely necessary to identify the individual to a high level of fidelity.
How do we determine when it is necessary? Generally, when a failure to identify an individual to a high degree of fidelity would pose a significant safety, security, financial, reputational, personal or proprietary risk, NRIC information would be deemed as necessary.
According to the SingaporeLegalAdvice.com, these situations are exceptions:
When an individual is a new employee joining an organisation (pursuant to the Employment Act)
Collection, use, disclosure versus retention
The law may cut you some slack when it comes to the collection, use, and disclosure of NRIC data if you manage to find a suitable justification. However, this is not the case with retention or storage of NRIC data. Under the new NRIC guidelines, you are only allowed to retain NRIC data only if it is required by the law. Even if you need NRIC data to accurately identify an individual to a high level of fidelity, you should dispose of the data once you have correctly identified that individual.
Therefore, you should take note that even if you are in the clear for collection, use and disclosure of NRIC data, you may not be able to fit the clause related to retention.
Can I request to look at the nric just to verify an individual’s identity?
You may be faced with a situation where you need to verify if you are dealing with the right person and may need to merely take a glance at the individual’s NRIC. In this case, if you have no intention of keeping or obtain control of the individual’s NRIC data, this will not count as a collection of personal data on the physical NRIC.
next steps
Check if your current business procedures or processes require the collection, use or disclosure of NRIC data. If yes, check if it is categorised as a “Permitted Situation”. If it is not a permitted situation, review if it is really necessary to identify your customers to a high degree of fidelity and ensure that you dispose of the NRIC information when it is no longer necessary for business or legal purposes.
“I am still collecting nric data. is it too late to change?”
Better late than never. If you are still collecting NRIC data for event registration or for other reasons, switch up your business processes before you get caught for flouting the PDPA, which could get you fined up to $1 million! Here some quick methods you can use to help you switch away from using NRIC data, yet, still provides the necessary amount of security:
Tag your customers with a combination of identifiers (e.g. First Name + Last Name + D.O.B.)
Collect only the last 3 digits and the alphabet of the NRIC (e.g. XXXXX123A)
At EventNook, we respect the privacy of all individuals and strive to provide the ease of mind to all our customers when handling personal data. Data safety and privacy is not a one-time job but a commitment. EventNook is committed to continuously improve our customer data safety and privacy to comply with higher standards, beyond the minimum compliance level of GDPR and PDPA. If you have any concerns regarding data protection for your events, or if you simply want to know more about our privacy policy, please email: hello@eventnook.com
Facial recognition is a biometric technology that mathematically stores an individual’s facial features. This allows the technology to identify a person in live video or digital images without any other information. With this, your facial features become your digital fingerprint.
Our clients never fail to ask us this question: “How do you ensure that our data is privately secured?” Being event organisers, they not only value the efficiency and convenience of technology, but also realise the threats it poses to the privacy and freedom of its users.
Our company currently uses the QR code check-in system which enables automated and instant self check-in. In the meantime, we are also actively hunting for a diverse range of check-in methods, including facial recognition.
The use of facial recognition has been gaining momentum in the last few years. Some common examples include tagging a friend on Facebook, unlocking your phone with Face ID and airport customs inspections. The biggest advantage of Face ID would be the speed of the check-in process. However, at the heart of the debate, some concerns regarding the consensus among users and algorithmic biases are raised.
Facial data as sensitive data, whose responsibility is it?
EU’s data protection regulation has defined sensitive data to be “Data about an individual’s race and ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, health information as well as genetic and biometric data”. Thus, facial data of all people is sensitive data, which calls for an even higher level of protection. This requires all companies to be aware of their responsibilities when producing, disseminating and applying users’ data, and to pay attention to the following aspects: How can they obtain users’ consent in a transparent way? Is the facial recognition software inevitably accompanied by the issue of algorithmic bias?
Consent
Usually, event companies will ask the users to upload their headshot in order to later identify them at the check-in point. Once they upload their headshots, it is considered that they have yielded their consent. However, the decision power of consenting is not on them all the time. Some events provide guests with the option to check-in using other methods, such as QR code or manual registration, and attendees can choose to upload their headshots or not. However, for some events, face identification is the only check-in method, which makes it mandatory for any guest to consent to sending out their biometric info. In such a case, it cannot be said for sure that consent was given out of the individual’s free will for the use of their personal data.
algorithmic Biases
“We have entered the age of automation. Over confident, yet under prepared.” – Joy Buolamwini.
Part of her research examines how accurate facial recognition software are when examining people with different skin colour and gender. Microsoft has the highest accuracy of 94%. However, all softwares have algorithmic bias that better recognises certain types. For example, lighter males on average have a much better accuracy than that of darker females.
While the biggest advantage of facial recognition in event check-in is its efficiency, some delegates may be stopped at the entrance because the software fails to recognise females and people of colour. This “future technology” then not only loses its advancement but also its credibility of fairness.
Going from here
The future of technology is mostly in our hands. We need to decide for ourselves how we should incorporate it into our daily lives. The event industry primarily works with people, so it should not be a test lab for any technology that is not ready. However, we are confident that AI researchers and developers are doing their best to make the algorithm just and transparent, so we can expect a better future with the facial recognition technology.
Till then, the most efficient and secure method of checking-in would be through QR-code scanning. At EventNook, we make event registration easy with our fast and seamless QR code check-in.
To ensure the VIP experience for every premium guest, we need to perfect everything by preparing early and comprehensively.
Deloitte is a multinational professional services network. As one of the “Big Four” accounting organisations, it is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of professionals. Deloitte Singapore is affiliated to Deloitte Southeast Asia Ltd, a member of Deloitte Asia Pacific Limited and of the Deloitte Network.
A part of Deloitte CFO program, Asia Pacific CFO Vision 2019 Singapore, is a one-day exclusive conference for more than 100 of the world’s leading CFOs. The conference provides the opportunity to hear from top leaders and peers on how to address the increasing complexities and disruptions in business—and the world. For this year’s conference, EventNook was engaged to provide a VIP registration experience for the guests. To truly embrace Deloitte’s statement of “good isn’t good enough”, everything was prepared with precision and the highest standard, from badge designing to check-in support.
Here is a video of the smart check-in registration:
Self Check-In using QR Code with On Demand Badge Printing
Checking in can be a frustrating process, but we don’t want the first thing that the CFOs experience in this conference of easing disruption to be, a disruption. In order to deliver seamless registration on the event day, we need to make sure everything to be perfect beforehand, including badge design, badge material, printer, ink, onsite support, and so on. To do so, we create and stick with a comprehensive action timeline during preparation. As an intermediate service provider, we work closely with multiple entities: venues, badge suppliers, event organisers, and/or event management agencies, and so on, to ensure that the road to the event day goes smoothly.
Action timeline
One week before the event, we finalised the badge art-work with the designer of the badge before sending it out for mass printing. Specially for Deloitte’s event, we chose a thick, laminated art card for its aesthetic value and tear-proof feature.
Three days before the event, we have received the badges from the supplier and can begin working with the organiser to create and test the badge template (fields to be printed, font, spacing, bold/normal/inclined/underlined, position are subject to changes at this stage).
Two days before the event, we tested every device(printer, IOS device, laptop) ensuring that they are charged and well-functioning.
One day before the event, our onsite support specialists went down to the venue and did a full set-up to demonstrate the registration process and provided the product training to event agents and Deloitte team. At this stage, some minor changes regarding the badge template can be made. This event brought something new for the EventNook team – the customised kiosk(image below) the Deloitte team had custom made for the event. We prepared for the real event day by incorporating our devices with the kiosk before the event to ensure a smooth set-up and functionality for the event day.
On the event day, our onsite support specialists were at the registration site to monitor the check-in flow and on-the-spot troubleshooting.
The customized kiosk
The VIP registration process went as planned, checking in 250 guests within 30 minutes. Staff with Deloitte assisted the guests with their check-in and badge printing, with the queues for each counter at less than 3 guests at any point of time. At the end of the day, feedback like “You really pulled it off. I don’t need to worry at all” was received and we at EventNook are appreciative of this opportunity. We look forward to supporting yet another Deloitte event in the future!
EventNook 