When it comes to name badges, geek is now chic. Almost six years after the dotcom bubble burst, high tech has come to the lowly name tag.
This technology is so unfamiliar to many that the burgeoning industry has yet to settle on a catchy moniker. But we’ll call them e-tags. These are small, digital devices designed to replace traditional paper name badges. They are worn or carried by event attendees and can wirelessly transmit information between
one another and stationary sensors.
A small but enthusiastic cadre of companies is luring meeting planners into investing in these devices. If these vendors succeed, you’ll never look at another cheap, laser-printed name tag the same way.
E-tags have also been called “social networking tags” for their ability to connect otherwise oblivious attendees. Loaded with attendee data, e-tags silently communicate with one another, then alert wearers when they encounter someone with common interests. The e-tags light up, or flash icebreakers on an LCD display. At a speed-dating event, for example, e-tags can temper awkward meetings by blinking, “I voted for Nader too.”
In a business-to-business setting, these tags could drive commerce and fire up moribund trade shows. With e-tags loaded on the supply side with exhibitor wish lists and on the demand side with attendee demographics, they can potentially streamline the process of linking suppliers with prospective customers. Vendors can avoid giving the sales spiel to everyone who passes by, and attendees can more readily find answers among the aisles without getting bogged down with T-shirt giveaways.
George Eberstadt, managing partner of e-tag developer New York-based nTag Interactive, is counting on these types of applications. “We’re working with people that have a certain vision,” he says. “Once the systems mature and people get used to them, they won’t be expense items; they will be cost-savings items.” Among nTag’s leading competitors: Lausanne, Switzerland-based SpotMe offers a small handheld computer and an array of messaging and networking solutions; Laguna Hills, California-based SmartBadge makes its own PDA style e-tags and proprietary software; and Los Angeles-based Charmed Technology makes a businesscard-size e-tag with LED blinkers.
Meeting planners can also preload the e-tags with agendas, surveys, exhibitor lists, and alerts about impending events, such as that notoriously empty 4 PM keynote speech. E-tags can track attendee movements—in and out of a room, for example—using sensors. Most organizers use this data to gauge aggregate attendance, rather than monitor the whereabouts of individual guests.
Pricing varies widely. Expect to pay in the range of $20 to $100 per person per event. Cheaper solutions include devices and do-it-yourself software, with added charges for professional services and technical help. Higher end packages bundle all these for one fee. The companies we spoke to seemed willing to discount
simply to grow the customer base.
Cindy Wright, a business analysis manager with the Staubach company, a commercial real estate advisory firm in Dallas, invested in some 700 etags from nTag for Staubach’s recent company meeting. Besides enabling employees from across the country to greet one another by displaying shared interests, the e-tags powered a contest that fueled attendee enthusiasm. Employees were awarded points for networking with colleagues, attending meetings, and answering surveys on the devices.
The e-tags compiled points in real time. “We really pushed the envelope in the complexity of this project,” Wright says. “Our attendees were surprisingly enticed by the tags. We have a lot of highenergy individuals who would [normally] sit in meetings reading email on their BlackBerries. Instead, they spent time checking their schedules, responding to surveys, and checking their point standings on their nTags.”
While Wright admits it is too early to measure the e-tags’ empirical benefits, she is already seeing attendance metrics she never had before, and an impressive response rate to company questionnaires. “So many more people took surveys on the nTags than ever before,” she says. “[In the past] getting someone to fill out a paper evaluation practically took an act of Congress.”
Now that the event is over, Staubach employees will be able to log onto personalized Web pages to remind themselves of whom they met and what interests they shared, as well as download contact information.
Wright says the downside was the “weeks and weeks” she spent formatting attendee information into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets so nTag could load the data onto the devices. Before she commits to using e-tags in 2005, she wants to see the next generation of hardware. She is further proof that even the early adopters of e-tags are treading carefully in this uncharted territory. “It’s an education process,” SmartBadge president John McNicol says. “We’re trying to get the word out.”
—Matt Purdue
Photo illustration by Toni Lucatorto
This technology is so unfamiliar to many that the burgeoning industry has yet to settle on a catchy moniker. But we’ll call them e-tags. These are small, digital devices designed to replace traditional paper name badges. They are worn or carried by event attendees and can wirelessly transmit information between
one another and stationary sensors.
A small but enthusiastic cadre of companies is luring meeting planners into investing in these devices. If these vendors succeed, you’ll never look at another cheap, laser-printed name tag the same way.
E-tags have also been called “social networking tags” for their ability to connect otherwise oblivious attendees. Loaded with attendee data, e-tags silently communicate with one another, then alert wearers when they encounter someone with common interests. The e-tags light up, or flash icebreakers on an LCD display. At a speed-dating event, for example, e-tags can temper awkward meetings by blinking, “I voted for Nader too.”
In a business-to-business setting, these tags could drive commerce and fire up moribund trade shows. With e-tags loaded on the supply side with exhibitor wish lists and on the demand side with attendee demographics, they can potentially streamline the process of linking suppliers with prospective customers. Vendors can avoid giving the sales spiel to everyone who passes by, and attendees can more readily find answers among the aisles without getting bogged down with T-shirt giveaways.
George Eberstadt, managing partner of e-tag developer New York-based nTag Interactive, is counting on these types of applications. “We’re working with people that have a certain vision,” he says. “Once the systems mature and people get used to them, they won’t be expense items; they will be cost-savings items.” Among nTag’s leading competitors: Lausanne, Switzerland-based SpotMe offers a small handheld computer and an array of messaging and networking solutions; Laguna Hills, California-based SmartBadge makes its own PDA style e-tags and proprietary software; and Los Angeles-based Charmed Technology makes a businesscard-size e-tag with LED blinkers.
Meeting planners can also preload the e-tags with agendas, surveys, exhibitor lists, and alerts about impending events, such as that notoriously empty 4 PM keynote speech. E-tags can track attendee movements—in and out of a room, for example—using sensors. Most organizers use this data to gauge aggregate attendance, rather than monitor the whereabouts of individual guests.
Pricing varies widely. Expect to pay in the range of $20 to $100 per person per event. Cheaper solutions include devices and do-it-yourself software, with added charges for professional services and technical help. Higher end packages bundle all these for one fee. The companies we spoke to seemed willing to discount
simply to grow the customer base.
Cindy Wright, a business analysis manager with the Staubach company, a commercial real estate advisory firm in Dallas, invested in some 700 etags from nTag for Staubach’s recent company meeting. Besides enabling employees from across the country to greet one another by displaying shared interests, the e-tags powered a contest that fueled attendee enthusiasm. Employees were awarded points for networking with colleagues, attending meetings, and answering surveys on the devices.
The e-tags compiled points in real time. “We really pushed the envelope in the complexity of this project,” Wright says. “Our attendees were surprisingly enticed by the tags. We have a lot of highenergy individuals who would [normally] sit in meetings reading email on their BlackBerries. Instead, they spent time checking their schedules, responding to surveys, and checking their point standings on their nTags.”
While Wright admits it is too early to measure the e-tags’ empirical benefits, she is already seeing attendance metrics she never had before, and an impressive response rate to company questionnaires. “So many more people took surveys on the nTags than ever before,” she says. “[In the past] getting someone to fill out a paper evaluation practically took an act of Congress.”
Now that the event is over, Staubach employees will be able to log onto personalized Web pages to remind themselves of whom they met and what interests they shared, as well as download contact information.
Wright says the downside was the “weeks and weeks” she spent formatting attendee information into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets so nTag could load the data onto the devices. Before she commits to using e-tags in 2005, she wants to see the next generation of hardware. She is further proof that even the early adopters of e-tags are treading carefully in this uncharted territory. “It’s an education process,” SmartBadge president John McNicol says. “We’re trying to get the word out.”
—Matt Purdue
Photo illustration by Toni Lucatorto
