QR codes on event badges

What the code should open

• A contact card, using a vCard QR code, so people save each other's details in one scan
• The session schedule or event page, using a website QR code
• A check-in or ticket code, if your registration system issues one

Decide what the code is for. Contact exchange helps attendees; check-in helps organizers. If you need both, put them on different sides of the badge with clear labels.

Check-in codes are unique to each attendee and usually come from your ticketing system. Our generator makes one code at a time, so it suits contact cards for speakers, staff or a small team rather than hundreds of unique badges.

Size on a badge

Badges are small. A common insert is about 10 by 7.5 cm (4 by 3 in), and the name still has to be readable from a few steps away. Keep the code to about 2.5 to 3 cm (1 to 1.2 in) square, which scans from handshake distance.

A contact card gets dense quickly. Name, company, job title, work email and one phone number are enough. Every extra field adds detail to the pattern, and a dense code at 2.5 cm stops scanning reliably. If someone wants to share more, link to a profile page instead. The business cards page has more on keeping a contact card lean.

Privacy first

A badge is worn in public all day, and anyone in the room can scan it. Only include what each attendee has agreed to share.

• Ask at registration which details go into the badge code.
• Default to a work email over a mobile number.
• Never include a home address.
• Let people opt out and print their badge without a code.

Badges flip

Lanyard badges spin. Half the time a badge is facing the wearer's shirt just as someone goes to scan it. Print the name and the code on both sides of the insert.

Put the code below the name, not above it. The name is what people read first, and the code is the follow-up. A short line beside it, like Scan to save my contact, tells people they can skip the business card.

Print and test

Most badges come off an office or event printer onto card or perforated sheets. Print a test sheet, slide one into the holder, and scan it through the plastic sleeve, because clear sleeves add glare. If the sleeve is glossy, test under the venue's lights or switch to matte holders. Check the size and printing guide, then print the full set.