iPads for event registration
Registration is the first thing an attendee sees and the only part of your event where a queue is visible to everyone. Most of what goes wrong there has nothing to do with the iPads.
Count stations by the arrival rush, not by headcount
Attendees do not arrive evenly. A 600-person conference with a 9am keynote has most of its queue between 8:00 and 8:45, so the number that matters is how many people arrive in the busiest half hour, not how many come all day. Ask your show for the arrival pattern, or look at last year's, and staff for the peak. A desk sized for the average is a desk with a queue at the only moment anybody photographs it.
Spares, because one will fail
Across a run of events something always happens: a unit dropped, a charger walks off, an app wedges. Keep spare units powered and logged in behind the desk, not in a box in the office. A spare that takes fifteen minutes to set up is not a spare.
Power is the one people forget
An iPad scanning badges and printing all day does not last all day. Either power at the desk, which has to be ordered in advance at most venues, or a charging case and a shift change. Decide before you get there, because a run of extension leads across a lobby floor is a trip hazard the venue will make you remove.
Do not bet the desk on venue wifi
Hall wifi is shared with everyone in the building, and on show morning that is thousands of phones. If registration needs the network, put some units on cellular data as a fallback, or order a wired drop for the desk. If your registration app works offline and syncs later, test that it really does before the day.
Printing badges changes the setup
On-site badge printing adds printers, paper, ribbon and somewhere to put them, and it is the part that slows a queue when it goes wrong. Bring more consumables than the math says, keep a spare printer, and decide who is allowed to clear a jam. Pre-printed badges sorted alphabetically are faster than any technology, if your list is settled in advance.
Lock the iPads to one app
An iPad on a counter is a device the public can touch. Single-app mode, or a kiosk configuration through device management, keeps it on the registration app and stops someone browsing on it. Our iPads go out enrolled, so the setup is done before they arrive and can be changed remotely afterwards.
Stands, cases and the height of the desk
Counter stands for a staffed desk, floor stands for self check-in, locking cases anywhere the iPad is out of reach of staff. Match the stand to the desk height: a screen at the wrong angle means either staff stooping all day or attendees squinting at it.
What we can do
We rent iPads in quantity with stands, kiosks, printers and hotspots, set up with your app and enrolled in device management before they leave. Around San Diego our staff deliver and set the desk up, and can stay for the event. Elsewhere it ships, with return labels in the box.
Equipment for this
Tell us what you need and a person replies the same business day. Nothing is booked until you say so.
Tell us what the job is
You don’t need a parts list. Describe what has to happen and we’ll work out the kit, tell you what it costs, and book nothing until you say so.