Your Sector, Your Security: Biometrics at Events

Events are a fantastic way of bringing people and businesses together for a common interest. They can also be great ways for you as a business to drive engagement and position yourself as a thought leader and expert on your subject.

The problem is, with so many people travelling to come to the same event, how can you ensure that your event runs smoothly and safely without putting a huge strain on your team?

Let’s take a look and see.

What are some of the core challenges that events face?

There are a number of challenges that can have an impact on the events that you run. Some of these can include:

1) Ticketing – Ensuring smooth entry for ticket holders

To ensure that there are enough resources and space for attendees at your events, it is important to have a ticket system. This not only helps to control the number of people at your event, but also helps you keep track of who is attending and ensures only people that have an actual interest remain present.

The problem arises when customers who have paid for their tickets have accidentally lost their physical tickets, or QR codes on mobiles are useless because their phone died. Queuing by the doors to get their lanyard printed is not only time consuming but also less environmentally friendly that utilises credentials about what they have instead of who people are. How can you prove that they are on the system without wasting valuable admin time to verify documents?

The biometric solution:

By allowing future attendees to pre-register their face or thumbprint at the event, they no longer need to worry about misplacing their ticket, simply scan their thumbprint and now they can enter. Additionally, it has the added benefit of cutting paper waste and eliminating the potential for fake tickets being created and circulated online.

2) Merchandise – Waiting queues for the sale of goods

It is no secret that attendees often want to bring back a little souvenir from the occasion. Perhaps you have allowed space for some independent vendors to make their own sales to your guest attendees.

If the merchandise is popular, it can cause a lot of congestion and may even make things difficult for the vendors if they are being flooded by frustrated customers that have been waiting for a long time.

The biometric solution:

Biometric payments are increasing, either on a specific event basis, using contactless payment with Apple pay or biometric authenticated debit cards like Samsung’s All-in-One Security IC, or through using systems similar to those in cashless catering. With storage area limited for event staff, having this option is much more secure and easier. Not only is this process much quicker and more efficient, but it could also help to cut down on theft as onlookers may be waiting to pickpocket physical cards or cash otherwise.

3) Access control – Determining who can access certain parts of your building

With all the mayhem that events can sometimes pose, staff will need to be able to quickly enter and move around parts of the building to help ensure that your event will be running smoothly and efficiently.

The problem is that without proper security measures in place, areas that should be restricted may be entered by unauthorised personnel. Even worse, you could be targeted by thieves which could even lead to potential data breaches.

The biometric solution:

Biometric access control solutions can be perfect for this because it helps with attendee and staff authentication, allowing only the right people to gain access to certain places at your event. Even better, if you have a VIP section that is limited only to specific individuals, you can limit access only to those that have been registered on the system as VIP guests.

Increase your security

If you are looking for ways to ensure that your events can run in the most efficient manner, whether that be through a ticketing system, speeding up the sale of goods from vendors or even through controlling access to certain parts of your building, biometrics are definitely something that you should be considering.

If you want to know more about biometric access control, biometric readers, or facial scanners that are available for events that you hold, you can arrange your free, no-obligation security survey by calling us on 0333 567 6123 or dropping us an email to [email protected].