Which badge stock to buy
- Avery 5392: 3×4 in inserts, 6 to a letter sheet, for clip or pin badge holders and lanyards. Printed landscape, 4 in wide and 3 in tall. The Avery 74459 hanging-badge kit's inserts use the same sheet.
- Avery 5395: adhesive 2⅓×3⅜ in badges, 8 to a letter sheet. Stick-on, so there's no holder to buy, and good for one-day events.
- 3×4 in, tall: four portrait badges on a letter sheet, for any perforated badge stock of that size.
- Thermal labels: one badge a label, 4×3 in or 4×6 in, for a label printer at the door.
Sheets are US letter (8.5×11 in). For A4 printers, check the stock's own instructions: most print fine from a letter PDF with scaling off.
Printing so it lines up
- Print one page on plain paper first and hold it against a badge sheet up to the light.
- In the print dialog, set the scale to 100% or "Actual size", never "Fit to page".
- Print the real sheets with the paper type set to labels or heavy paper, so the printer feeds them straight.
What makes a badge readable
People read badges from a metre or two away, often at a glance. So the first name is the biggest thing on it: it's what someone needs to say hello. The last name and company sit smaller underneath, and the role, if you add one, smaller again. Long names shrink to fit the line, and only a very long one is shortened with an ellipsis. Add your event's name for the strip across the top.
From a spreadsheet
Paste a CSV with a header row and the columns are found by name: "name" (or "first" and "last"), "company" or "organization", and "role" or "title". Without a header, each line is read as name, company, role, separated by commas.
A code on each badge
Give a link and every badge gets a QR code for it, such as your event page, a feedback form or the slides. It's the same code on every badge.
Badges in Programmable Talk
When registration runs on Talk, badges come from the registrant list on the event's Check-in tab, in the same formats. Each one carries that person's own ticket code, so the badge itself scans at the door, and the badge wears your brand's colour and logo. You can print everyone, only those checked in, or a selection, or print a single badge on a thermal printer as each person arrives.