Name badges and check-in
Name badges and QR check-in, from the same ticket
Every registrant gets a ticket QR code. At the door, scan it from the Check-in tab on any phone, or hand a volunteer a door-only link. Print name badges as a PDF of Avery-style sheets or one per label for a thermal printer, each with the person's ticket QR on it, so the badge itself scans.
What it does
Name badges and check-in in Programmable Talk
Badges as a print-ready PDF
First name large, last name, company, and an optional line from one of your sign-up questions (a role, a ticket type). The event's colour and logo are on it, and so is the person's ticket QR. Accents and Cyrillic print.
Sheets or a thermal printer
Avery 5392 and the 74459 kit's inserts (4×3in, 6 a sheet), Avery 5395 (3⅜×2⅓in, 8 a sheet), plain 4×3 and 3×4 sheets, or one badge a page on 4×3 or 4×6 thermal labels.
Scan to check in
The Check-in tab scans ticket QR codes with the phone's camera, or finds people by name. Walk-ins are added at the door. Print a single badge as someone arrives.
Door links for volunteers
A door-only link opens one event's check-in with no account. It expires, can be revoked, and sees only what the door needs.
A self check-in kiosk
Put a tablet by the entrance and let people scan their own ticket. It says "welcome" or "please see the desk", nothing more, so a stranger at the screen learns nothing.
Works when the Wi-Fi drops
Check-ins queue on the phone and sync in order when the connection is back. Each is sent once, and a ticket scanned offline is still checked when it arrives.
How you use it
- 1
Before the day
On the Check-in tab, choose a badge layout and download the PDF. Make door links for volunteers, or a kiosk link for a tablet.
- 2
Print
Print the sheets at 100% scale (not "fit to page"), or send one badge a page to your thermal printer.
- 3
At the door
Scan tickets or badges, search by name, add walk-ins. Each check-in marks the person as having come.
- 4
Afterwards
Who came and who didn't feeds the follow-up: those who came get the recording and a review link, the rest the recording and your next date.
Good to know
- Wallet passes aren't switched on yet
- Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes are built, but they stay off until our wallet certificates are set up. Until then the ticket is the QR code in the confirmation email and on each person's page.
- No badge from a typed email at the kiosk
- Only a scanned ticket prints a badge at the kiosk, because a badge has the full name and company. Typing an email at the kiosk is off unless you turn it on.
- The QR is a ticket, not a key
- Scanning a ticket opens nothing private. Opened by anyone other than your door, it only shows that it's a ticket.
Works with
Avery sheets
Layouts sized to Avery's own specs for 5392 and 5395, so the badges line up with the perforations.
Thermal label printers
One badge a page at 4×3 or 4×6 inches, as label printer drivers expect.
Sponsors' booths
Sponsors scan a badge from their partner kit to note "met at the booth", but only for people who chose to share their details with sponsors.
Questions
What size are name badges?
The most common are 4×3 inches (Avery 5392 inserts for badge holders, six on a letter sheet) and the adhesive 3⅜×2⅓ inches (Avery 5395, eight on a sheet). Talk lays out both, plain 4×3 and 3×4 sheets, and 4×3 or 4×6 thermal labels.
Do I need an app to check people in?
No. The Check-in tab runs in the phone's browser and uses its camera to scan. Volunteers use a door-only link, with no account.
Can people check themselves in?
Yes. Open a kiosk link on a tablet. Attendees scan their own ticket, and if you allow it, type their email. The kiosk never shows a list and can't undo or add anyone.
What if the venue's internet goes down?
Keep scanning. Check-ins wait on the phone, shown as "waiting to sync", and go through in order when the connection returns. The list you were shown stays on the phone so you can still search names.
Can sponsors scan badges for leads?
Only for attendees who chose to share their details with sponsors. Anyone else gives the same neutral answer, and the attendee can say yes in one tap beside their ticket.