Two great events were held in Manhattan earlier this year where attendees were provided with wristbands to communicate with event organizers, check-in and vote on various food selections. BizBash magazine recently profiled these two events and the unique way they used RFID and NFC technology. Even though this technology has been around for a long time, it has finally made its way into the event stratosphere and with great success. 

RFID is the use of a wireless system that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object (in this case a wristband). The tag contains electronically stored information which can be read from up to several yards away. 

The Manhattan Cocktail Classic held in May of this year provided guests with a custom Wi-Fi wristband enabled with microchips that guests could tap at 80 different reader stations across 4 floors of NYC's Public Library. 

Each guest linked their band directly to their email address and on the following Monday were sent the cocktail recipes they were interested in. In addition, guests could link their wristband directly to their Facebook and Twitter accounts and instantly upload photos from the photo computer kiosk to Facebook. A video wall rental displayed booze-inspired quotes from famous authors that was equipped with a reader so guests could tap it and auto-tweet the quote to their followers. 

In the week before the event, The Manhattan Cocktail Classic hosted 4 happy hour events around the city where attendees could pick up their bracelet and staffers would register the guests on iPads. Guests were given a chance to win 2 round-trip airline tickets to London if they would link their Facebook and Twitter accounts to their wrist band. 

At Lobster Roll Rumble 2012, guests were given Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled bracelets that allowed guests to link them to their Facebook and Twitter accounts and vote for their favorite lobster roll by tapping their band against a reader box at each vendor's station. The good news is 90% of the more than 1,000 guests voted and 20% linked their bands to their social accounts. The votes were displayed on a large video screen on a real-time basis. 

If attendees were linked to social channels, they could tap their wristbands against video walls and check into Facebook or tweet preset phrases shown on the wall. 

Near field communication (NFC) establishes radio communication with devices by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters. 

At both of these events, the overall attendee feedback was very positive and both organizations plan on perfecting the use of this technology in the future. 

AV Event Solutions is a California meeting equipment supplier who can provide your next event with Wi-Fi network arrays, iPads, kiosk rentals and Video Wall rental units. Give them a call today to learn more about their offerings!