by Lance on November 21, 2011
Use Event Badges to Increase Security without Hassle
Security these days can be complicated and expensive. Looking for a way to identify people that won’t take up all of your time? Look no further, one solution is here. And not only is it easy to handle, it won’t break your budget, either.
Personalized Name Tags
Whether you have a group of VIPs to keep an eye on, an entire convention to attend to, or a school to run, security is one of the biggest issues on the books. One way to identify people easily is to print personalized name tags (or event badges) for each person to wear. Each person can wear their name tag while attending an event, arriving at work or going to school, showing others who they are and that they belong on site.
Individual Codes
As an added security measure, you have the option of printing a unique number or barcode on each event badge. Especially in cases where there are a very large number of people around on a daily basis or many attendees at an event, this added layer of security can be useful and informative.
Unique Logos
Print unique logos on your event badges to add even more specialized security to an event, worksite or school. Include almost any design that you can send in a standard file format. Use specific logos to help identify different groups of people, or differentiate between companies at a convention by printing the company logo for each attendee to wear.
Important Details
There may be more information than simply a name or logo that you want to include on a name tag. Any information that can help to identify people quickly and easily can be printed on the event badge. If it can be included in a CSV file, you can include it on an event badge. For example, to print event badges for added school security, add an identifier of either “staff” or “student” to help recognize separate each group.
Event badges are an easy and fast way to add an extra layer of security to any event, site or school. They can be worn clipped right on the front of a uniform, or they can be hung around the neck with a lanyard that can be printed to include a logo as well. Print information on both sides of the event badge to utilize the full space available, or make them double sided so that important information will always be prominently displayed.
by Lance on November 18, 2011
Event Badges Increase Security at Sports Tournaments
When you’re responsible for a group of kids that aren’t your own, it’s important to keep track of everyone. Parents can be very protective over their children, especially when the children are young. Even in today’s world with cell phones and all the extra security that goes along with them, it is still possible to gain a straggler who doesn’t belong to the group, or worse, lose track of a child that does belong.
Keep an Updated Roster
At a sports tournament, there can be a lot of kids running around from all over the state (or even the country if the tournament is national). Many different teams may gather to battle for first place, depending on what kind of tournament is in play. The first step necessary to keep track of your team is to keep an updated roster (or list of names) of everyone who needs to be accounted for.
Identify Each Person
During the tournament, it’s not possible to constantly call out the name of every kid on your team in order to make sure they are still there. Besides, that would be exhausting and, quite honestly, silly. What you can do instead is to print event badges that have each name printed clear as day, right on the badge. That way you can identify each kid almost instantly, just by glancing at their badge. On that note, some schools have already started to use event badges for added security at home base.
Check and Re-Check
Printing event badges for each child on your team to wear will help decrease the risk of losing track of any member of the team. You will also be able to quickly notice if someone who doesn’t belong joins the crew. They will, of course, be missing their unique badge. Event badges can be printed to include almost any unique design or logo. That means that even if another team of kids is wearing event badges to identify themselves, your team’s event badges will be printed specifically for only your school, division or town.
Print individual event badges to help keep track of your team amid the masses at a sports tournament. These name tags are versatile and made out of weather-resistant materials, which make them convenient to reuse for added security at the next tournament, too. The team even has options on how to wear them, either by using a bulldog clip or a lanyard. All in all, event badges are an easy way to boost security for the whole team.
by Lance on November 4, 2011
Use Event Badges to Increase Security and Communication on the Set
In order to film a TV show or a movie, you need a crew of people to do a long list of various jobs. From the production staff to the office crew, there may be a lot of people who are on set to get the work done. It can be difficult to recognize all the faces running around and remember everyone’s names, especially with consideration to the constant flux of newcomers that may stream in from day to day.
Whether you’re a manager, supervisor, or an assistant on the crew, you’ll want to have a way to identify others easily. And others should be able to tell who you are, too. There are a number of methods to use for clear and fast identification, but there’s one in particular that’s easy, convenient, and cost efficient to boot.
Why Identify the Crew?
No matter how good someone may be at remembering names and faces, it’s easy to let one slip once in a while. The last thing anyone wants to do is to forget an important person’s name, and thus risk running into an embarrassing situation (or perhaps even losing their job). A great way to prevent this is to print event badges for each person on the crew to wear when they’re on the set.
How to Identify the Crew
Printing event badges for each crew member to wear allows everyone to identify each other at a glance. Not only are there options for what to print on the actual badge, but there are also two distinct types of event badges to choose from. The choice will likely depend on the needs and status of the person who will be wearing it.
Make the Right Decision
Identify the crew with event badges that can be printed with each member’s name, a unique design, or any other information that can be provided in a CSV file. There are even options for how the event badge can be worn. Economy Event Badges can be worn in a clear plastic holder with a bulldog clip, or in a clear vinyl holder with a lanyard and clip.
If the lanyard option is chosen, the company logo can be printed right on it as well. This gives the whole badge the appeal of a useful, professional item that everyone can benefit from.
Every crew member will feel more secure when they are able to recognize each other by looking at their badges.
by Lance on September 5, 2011
Control Unruly Customers with Event Badges at the Office
I work at an office in Downtown Chicago that has been the unfortunate recipient of visitors who don’t exactly, shall I say, appreciate the services the company supplies, especially at the prices it supplies them at.
One fine day, a not-so-happy customer stormed through the front door, walked directly up to a manager and began screaming in a fury over a customer service issue.
Now, I’m not saying that a customer’s complaint is not important, but ultimately it is much more important to protect the security of an office and all of its employees than it is to attend to any singular complaint. Wondering how to protect your office and its most important assets (your employees) without submitting a capital expense request?
# 1: Lock your doors.
# 2: Stop scanning CareerBuilder for Receptionist resumes.
# 3: Use affordable and inexpensive ID Badges with unique numbers, barcodes, and/or magnetic stripping for easy security clearance.
You could hire a receptionist to keep an eye on the now securely locked office door, but what if the bathroom is not in the same suite as your office? It doesn’t make a great deal of sense to hire someone to let employees back in after using the restroom, especially with regards to how much it costs to add a receptionist onto the roster these days. Nor do you want to hand out a bunch of keys that are easy to lose and thus, non-cost efficient.
In today’s world, it’s all about multi-tasking. An employee may be listening voicemail, sending an email, and checking to see if a flight’s been delayed all at the same time. The last thing you want to do is take up more of their precious time. And how many times have we all had to fumble around for our keys in our respective purses or pockets, wasting valuable moments we could be spending doing a multitude of other important things?
The answer to your problem with office security lies in the cost-efficient and time-saving solution of ID Badges. Not only are they smart from an expense standpoint, they are incredibly easy to use and can even be worn fashionably, with an option to design your own lanyard.
Even your walk from the elevator to the office door will improve when you can glance at the person strolling next to you and almost instantly tell whether or not they belong in the unknown persons – and thus, potentially unruly customer – category.
by Lance on July 20, 2011
Event Badges, ID Cards, Security Tags
Requiring event participants, employees, or those who will be present on a secure site to wear identification tags is a smart move. A distinctive and prominently displayed badge, either attached to the front of a shirt with a bulldog clip or hung around the neck with a customized lanyard helps identify those who belong, and helps exclude those who don’t. Even organizers are surprised at how useful these event badges or ID cards are.
Where can you use event badges?
Conventions and Conferences: Keep panels and vendor areas secure by issuing event badges to paying participants. It’s no fair if seats are taken up by those who haven’t registered. No one can sneak in when everyone is wearing an easily identifiable badge.
Job Sites: Your equipment and materials are valuable. Reduce theft and losses by ensuring that strangers and thieves don’t get past the gate. Your employees should wear their ID badges whenever they’re on site, and report unfamiliar faces not accompanied by the requisite badge.
Youth Activities: Safety first is important, especially when there are children and adolescents to take into account. Make sure you’re on a first-name basis with students or campers, and double check that people unknown to you are not mingling with your kids! Teach your young charges that all adult associated with your group will be wearing a name tag with your logo and keep out those with ill intent.
Tour Groups: Gathering a group together in a new location? If you don’t know them well and don’t want people sneaking into your tour, a set of reusable security tags is the answer. Just issue paying customer a badge to wear while on the tour. It’s easier to keep your group together if you can identify them, and it’s easier to find tag alongs.
Social Functions: ID badges with each participant’s name help you remember everyone’s name. It’s easier to take attendance, too. These badges create a sense of social cohesion, so you can instantly recognize each other.
Music Festivals and Concerts: Back stage security is a concern, especially if you book big acts. Issue security event badges to keep roadies in and groupies out! For long events, badges let your guests enter and exit at will, and help you eject fence hoppers.
Even after the event, the value of these badges continues to provide your organization with certain benefits. Printing event badges provides your guests with a tactile reminder of your event: badges collected at annual events may be displayed prominently in the home, reminding your guests of enjoyable times and providing their guests with a reason to ask about your group or activity. Sturdy plastic event badges, especially those customized with your guests’ names and adorned with your own custom image or logo, become cherished souvenirs.
by Lance on June 15, 2011
Event Badges for Worksite Security
Time was, we could throw a temporary fence around a construction project and rest easy, knowing that we had done our best to secure the site. Even without the fence, the worst thing that might happen would be a few kids poking around. But as our company got bigger, our projects got larger. Site security became a much bigger issue, and a fence was not enough.
These days, some of my active sites require security guards at night. An unfinished construction project can be a sort of attractive nuisance, day or night, and with a lot of workers on site, I can’t always recognize every laborer in my employ. I’ve got to protect my materials and my interests. That’s why I had to issue ID badges to the crew.
Constructed Color
For my regular crew, there are white security badges, imprinted with the company logo, along with their names. This helps everyone recognize the men and women in my organization. Since I occasionally bring in independent contractors, I decided to print a second run of badges. These yellow event badges identify the wearer as an independent contractor, and let my crew know that these workers belong on site as well.
Then I even printed a third stack of badges, in red, for visitors. If the client wants a tour of the site, or it’s Take Your Children to Work Day or something, authorized visitors get the red security badge. Printing them in red makes them highly visible, and the entire crew knows to keep a special eye on anyone wearing a red badge. This keeps everyone out of trouble and helps keep the worksite more secure.
In the Dark
At night, our night watchmen are also issued white ID badges. There have been issues with thieves trying to steal materials and, when they were caught by our keen guards, they tried to claim that I had sent them! But I’m a stickler for these ID tags now, and everyone who works for me knows that no one comes on the site without the proper identification. I mean, even city inspectors have to wear the yellow badges. So now, it’s easy to tell whether or not someone is sneaking around the site after dark, or if they’re authorized to be there.
Hanging Around
Wearing an ID on a lanyard can be dangerous for some of the folks in my company if they’re operating power tools or heavy machinery. Most of them use a bulldog clip and attach the badge either to their shirt or their belt, depending on what they’re doing. I’ve had some complaints about the rule, but in general, people recognize that it’s safer this way. When you’ve got a hundred guys on sight, you’re not going to know every one by name. This way, you can glance at an event badge and get a pretty good idea of who you’re looking at and what they’re doing there.
No badge? Then I know you don’t belong!
Safety First with Event Badges for Convention Security
With expenses going up and revenue going down, the last thing you can afford is gatecrashers at your upcoming conference, convention, or expo. It’s unfair to your paying customers, and it compromises everyone’s safety and ability to enjoy themselves. Allowing uninvited guests to sneak in without paying is tantamount to giving your product away for free, and you need to guard against this type of theft of services in the same way that you’d guard a retail location from shoplifters. Event badges can help.
Use event badges for:
- Comic book, SF, anime, and other fun conventions
- Business expos
- Scientific conferences
- Large sporting tournaments
- Multi-day music festivals
- Auctions
- Any big event that takes place over multiple days or locations
Issuing event badges to legitimate guests is a surefire way to even the odds against unlawful entry, even for small gatherings. Unless you and your security staff are certain of your ability to identify every single person in the convention hall by sight, a discreet event badge is your best bet for maintaining the integrity of the event.
For added security, divide those involved into categories that make sense to you and print slightly different badges, distributed depending on where the holder is allowed to go. This might include one set of badges for regular convention-goers, another set for vendors, another for speakers, performers, or VIPs, one for staff and volunteers, and so on. Unique badges make perfect sense if certain areas of the conference are to be restricted. Private parties or privileges available only to those who have paid an additional fee are safer when all attending wear the correct ID badge.
In the first hour or so of your gathering, distributing the event badges makes sense for everyone. Guests should be checking in and picking up any orientation materials anyway, so issuing the badges at this time provides a moment for them to transition into your event. Organizers have an extra moment to double-check their information and an extra opportunity to begin learning people’s names. Guests themselves will appreciate event badges that double as name tags.
But it’s your security detail that will benefit the most from these security badges. At a glance, they’ll be able to determine whether or not someone belongs in a specific area. In addition, if a registered guest does cause any trouble, the information on his or her event badge will make it easier to handle.
Anonymity works in some situation, but not when you’ve invested a lot of time and money into planning this event. Keep track of everyone in the room with a stack of well-designed, custom event badges!
How to Create Your Custom Event Badges
Ready to add an extra layer of security to your large, multi-day event, or to any worksite that could use some added identification for the many people passing through on any given day? Creating Event Badges or ID Badges for everyone who belongs is a fast and easy way to provide visual markers indicating who belongs. The process is simple and the badges themselves are inexpensive.
Begin by determining whether paper badges (printed on heavy card stock and displayed in sturdy vinyl sleeves) will suffice, or if you will choose to spend a little more money for the much more durable hard plastic cards. The question is basically one of longevity. For a three-day event, paper is more than sufficient. Your paper Event Badges will survive even the roughest weekend, and live to serve as a souvenir of the experience. For long-term use, the plastic badges, which can tolerate the occasional accidental trip through the washing machine, are a good choice.
Next, choose your design. If you’ve already spent time and money creating a unique logo, you’ll want to get some more mileage out of that. You can just send the design file along with your order (most standard file formats: TIFF, JPEG, PDF, GIF) and it will be faithfully reproduced onto you ID Badges. If you haven’t got an image in mind, you can find one in a large online design gallery. TicketPrinting.com offers all their designs for free, and you can use the image from any product as the background for your badge. Or, work with an artist and get the custom design that you really want produced just for you and your event or company.
Now, determine what information you want printed on the badge. The name of the company or event is a good place to start. Dates, mottos, or other unique indicators can be helpful. You may choose different badges for different people. Perhaps executives will be denoted by different colors or phrases. If identification is your purpose, you’ll need to compile a file containing all the names you’ll need printed on the badges. It doesn’t cost that much extra to personalize each one with the right name. And data that can be stored in a CSV file can be used to customize each badge.
Remember, you can print the back of the badge as well! This is a good place to add a sponsor logo or other information unique to your event or mission.
Finally, decide how to display the badge. A bulldog clip is a simple option. For those who prefer not to muss up the front of their shirts, a lanyard allows your guests or employees to wear their IDs like necklaces. You can choose a plain lanyard, or spend a little more money to customize the lanyard as well. Lanyards come in your choice of five colors—red, royal blue, navy blue, black, and white, and can be imprinted with any text you choose.
And you’re done! Just place your order and you’ll receive a digital proof in twenty-four hours. Your Event Badges will be printed in a few days (most orders will ship in 3 to 6 days, depending on the size and complexity of the order; large orders of custom lanyards will take a little longer).
Just plan ahead and you can enjoy the safety and security of custom Event Badges.
Safe Schools: ID Badges for Educational Safety
Let me begin by saying that I do believe asking teenagers to wear ID badges at school is a sort of radical idea. It’s not completely radical, though; I know other principals who have implemented them with positive results, and I think ID badges are a lot less of an imposition on students and parents than, say, school uniforms, which we also considered. When I was in school, it went without saying that you dressed appropriately, or you would be asked to leave. The same was true for behavior. As long as everyone agreed on some formal boundaries, there could be informality in other areas.
Out of Control
But my students seemed to be losing control. It’s a good high school, a well-kept campus in suburbia, where high property taxes ensure that arts and athletics programs are well-funded, in addition to our award-winning English, math, and science departments. But some students took their prosperity for granted. There were incidents: small but disturbing. Vandalism, public sexual behavior, and violence, and they were all taking place on school grounds during school hours!
The idea of ID badges occurred to me when a new teacher came to me almost in tears. She had caught two students smoking and defacing a bathroom mirror, and when she confronted them, they refused to reveal their names! With nearly two thousand students in our school, it seemed unlikely the culprits would be brought to justice. The last straw came when a security guard brought one of the teens to my office: the girl wasn’t even a student at my school!
If each student were required to wear an ID badge, I thought, teachers would never have this problem. They’d always know the name of the teen they were dealing with, and we could tell at a glance whether or not someone belonged on campus.
There was some resistance, mostly from parents who thought the plan draconian and compared it to the metal detectors through which some students must pass each morning if their school is in a rough neighborhood. But, when they saw the statistics on crime and other offenses, most of them accepted my idea.
Getting Badges on Kids
The badges are not expensive to print. I found them online as “event badges”. They were ready quickly: within a week of my final decision, homerrom teachers were distributing ID tags with matching lanyards. The rules were explained: every student was responsible for his or her own ID. They were expected to wear them at all times (except in their gym uniforms—the coaches convinced me that might be dangerous). Lost or stolen badges must be reported at once. They would be responsible for the cost of any replacements. If they didn’t care for the lanyards, they were welcome to purchase their own bulldog clips. Badges simply had to be displayed right way up, where they were clearly visible. Obscene or inappropriate display resulted in an in-school suspension. I let them know I meant business.
To be fair, I ask everyone on campus to wear an ID card. I created one design for students, one for faculty, one for staff, and one for administrators. Yes, I wear my ID badge proudly every day!
Of course, handing out ID badges did not solve all the problems in my school, but it made things easier. The next time a non-enrolled teen decided to have a little fun in my high school, the security guard caught him walking through the door. Teachers reported less sass from students they didn’t personally know. We even found fun ways to use the badges: with bar codes and unique numbers, they could serve as raffle tickets during pep rallies, and every Friday, I would draw a number and announce the winner over our intercom. Prizes varied, but the kids did enjoy the free ice cream for themselves and their friends, and the logo T-shirts I sometimes distributed to the winners.
It’s not a perfect solution, but ID badges for high schools was the solution for us.
by Lance on April 15, 2011
Simply the Best Multi-Day Events with Wristbands
When summer is on its way, it’s time for festival season. With the sun shining down and the weather warming up, folks are ready to get out and gather. Planning your own Woodstock? How about a street food fair? Do you have a renaissance faire in the works? Or, do you plan on inviting a group of artists to take over your community for a few days. Any multiday event can benefit from wristbands.
Tickets and Event Wristbands
Whether you are welcoming a gaggle of modern day lords and ladies or your guests are navigating a thoroughfare of taco trucks full of street food and slow food, event tickets and wristbands will help you manage the crowd.
When an event spans several days, admission tickets can get lost or dog-eared, causing anxiety for both guests and staff. When you sell tickets in advance and exchange them for Tyvek wristbands at the gate, crowd management becomes much easier.
These custom printed wristbands are made of Tyvek, a material that is somewhere between paper and plastic. DuPont Tyvek wristbands are strong, waterproof, and non-transferable. Once staff members place them around guests’ wrists, they will remain in place until they are cut off at the end of the event.
Because they are durable, event wristbands can be worn for the several days spanning the events relieving worries about lost or damaged tickets. Guests need only present their wrists as the gate to be let inside.
Custom event wristbands allow guests a great freedom of movement, so they can wander through the festival grounds or get out and dance with the crowd once the band gets started.
Who’s Who?
At a multi-day event folks will quickly need to be able to distinguish between attendees, volunteers and staff members. By choosing colored wristbands for individuals who have different roles at your big event, you make your venue friendlier and safer. When guests are lost or in need of help, they can easily identify the folks who can help them.
Tyvek wristbands also allow you to manage special events within your multi-day affair. Do you have guests you want to invite back stage or to a party within the party. Colored wristbands allow you to keep sort out your VIPs from the rest of the crowd.
If you are serving alcohol at your festival, wristbands of different colors can make your barkeep’s jobs much easier.
Reduce the Impact
Big events, especially ones that span several days, can have a big impact on the environment. When you’re planning your affair, you want to find ways to reduce the footprint of your event as much as possible. You will feel great about it. Your guests will appreciate it and so will the planet. You can start by choosing recyclable materials for your event collateral.
Tyvek wristbands are functional, and they are also recyclable. Your guests can wear them throughout the multi-day event and then turn them in for recycling when it is over.