QR Codes to Make Event Organising More Innovative

QR Codes have made a huge leap from being exclusively present in payment sections to popping up on newspapers, magazines, posters, and so on, with a millennial audience just as captivated to take out their smartphones and scan them.

In a nutshell, QR Codes [Quick response codes] are the traditional upgrade from barcodes that hold more information and are accessible by a wider audience.

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According to a recent survey by Statista, over 86% of people in the US and UK reported having scanned a QR Code in 2020. QR Codes can be easily scanned by a smartphone, to reveal information that is embedded within.

The fact that they are accessible by a wider audience, highlights the very advantage of their use case in events. With Uniqode, you can create and use QR Codes at events to expand way beyond sharing event details on paper and give event marketing and managing a new approach in this new contactless era.

Create an event QR Code with Uniqode's QR Code maker

QR Codes in events: An innovative way to entice millennials?

How to use QR Codes in events?

Why QR Codes?

Examples of QR Codes being used in events

QR Codes in events: An innovative way to entice millennials?

Handling an event could be an arduous task, be it corporate or casual. But with the right technology, one can make sure that no issue or topic goes overlooked, all the while executing an event applause-worthy. Reaching out to an audience that is mostly engrossed in smartphones, needs to be done in a way that grabs their attention and contains the element that a personal invitation would.

While marketing and reaching out to people regarding the event is a key aspect, managing the audience that does turn up is another. While QR Codes have been around for a long time, their creative uses have definitely highlighted the fact that it is a technology at disposal that could be the answer to most event handling issues.

How to use QR Codes in events?

The versatility of QR Codes has been a major reason for their increased and widespread usage, with an audience who knows to pull out their smartphones and scan, upon noticing one. Be it a big or small event, the presence of these pixelated black and white squares can do wonders and give the required edge to better event handling.

1. Promote the event

While print material has the potential to create impressions for a limited amount of time, adding a QR Code can allow maximum impressions during the interval. If one is advertising through posters or billboards and other print media, having a compelling ‘Call to Action’ and a QR Code underneath it, with an explanation regarding the event can compel the audience to be intrigued and finally scan the QR Code, only to be impressed with seamless information delivery. You could have the QR Code leading to a website or details of your event.

A poster depicting an event and a QR Code associated with it

Also read: How to make a QR Code for a poster

2. Create e-invites

QR Code for invitations can help you flawlessly plan for any event as it combines the real world and technology. You can create a customized QR Code as an e-invitation or even a printed one. You could have this QR Code lead to various options,

Link a Google Maps location to your event within the QR Code

Create an RSVP QR Code to receive an attendee’s response prior

Create a calendar QR Code to ensure that the event date is saved to the user’s calendar upon scanning

Lead to a website, or a poll regarding the expected crowd

Allow attendees to enter contests, access to event maps and special offers

Let employees register for volunteer opportunities

While these are just some options, curating an e-invite could turn out to be a good adaptive strategy to create impressions and create anticipation prior to the event.

With our easy-to-follow guide on creating ticket QR Codes, you can easily share them online or add them to physical tickets at your next event.

3. Optimize event handling

Based on the type of event, the approach to using QR Codes could vary. Ranging from a professional board meeting, where QR Codes could be used to share materials with every attendee, to a food fair, where different stalls could be equipped with QR Codes, which, upon scanning, could lead to more information or websites; one just has to think outside the box when it comes to this technology. Creative usage could steer the event away from any miscommunication or confusion during the event. For example, if you are organizing a huge event, you can invite on-site volunteers with QR Codes. It also helps people generate passive income and helps you select the perfect volunteer by clearly mentioning the criteria to the people once they scan the QR Code.

In cases of events that require on-spot registration, QR Codes linked to a Google form requiring participant details could lead to more efficiency. Impressions can even be created post-event, with a similar idea, linked to Google forms that allow the attendees to comment and review post-event.

Why QR Codes, above all other technology?

For an event planner, the perfect event would be to have a good audience turnout, effective communication, and interaction to ultimately build trust regarding planning skills. The benefits of using technology in the process is vast, however, outlining the major questions before assigning and using the technology is essential.

1. How does a QR Code work?

Essentially, QR Code is a 2-dimensional barcode that when scanned, opens up a link, contact, SMS, website among other things. It works on the basis of scanning using a smartphone, to provide more information regarding a subject. However, delving into the topic, there are mainly two types of QR Codes – Static and Dynamic.

Static QR Codes – These are mainly preferred for one-time usage, for instance, QR Codes on a particular food stall, on flyers and posters, event-specific game instructions and so on. The information once encoded, cannot be modified post-printing.

Dynamic QR Codes – These are mainly preferred for multiple time usage, without having to switch between QR codes. The information encoded can be changed, at any interval of time. For instance, using dynamic QR codes on event invites, attendee reviews, event QR Code registrations and so on, proves to be an advantage. The information encoded can be modified post-printing.

Learn to choose the best QR Code generator to create dynamic QR Codes

2. How do I track the performance of a QR Code?

This is where the advantages of dynamic QR Codes come in. With dynamic QR Codes, one can track the analytics regarding the number of scans, time, location, and duration of high activity. One can create landing pages that pop up on scanning the code, and even assign campaigns to different codes and manage them all in one dashboard. One can even download QR Codes in formats of higher quality, with zero compromises on quality.

GUIDE: QR Code scan tracking and analytics for your campaigns

3. How do I ensure that my QR Codes are scanned?

Before deciding on the use cases, it is essential to know certain tips to enhance user statistics. For QR Codes to be effectively scanned, the size should be below 1.2×1.2 inches and optimal placement of the code should be a priority. They can be used on flyers, posters, invites, stalls, product packaging, business cards, and so on, having ensured that the code is placed in a detectable location.

Examples of QR Codes being used in events

1. BookMyShow introduces paperless tickets

With the cinema industry on the rise and events around cities requiring the right medium to reach out to the audience, this company started offering a paperless ticketing experience, with the usage of QR Codes on tickets. With these tickets, one only had to purchase them online and scan them at the entrance of the event to gain access. This concept took over as a success and has contributed to environmental positive impacts as well.

An image of a ticket that encodes a QR Code

Include a QR Code in ticket PDFs that can be sent to customers’ emails

2. Scavenger Hunts at Coachella

While the Coachella Valley Music Arts festival draws quite the audience, with the program consisting of 160 artists, a variety of food and so much more, this year, the audience might have to use their smartphones for more than just live-tweeting and posting. The festival is all set to unveil a scavenger hunt consisting of scanning QR Codes to avail access to various challenges and to earn coins and badges, making the festival more interactive, with the help of these very QR Codes.

An image of Coachella - the music festival's latest idea - Scavenger hunts using QR Codes

3. The Venice carnival and treasure hunts

An annual festival held in Venice has ventured into the digital arena for the travelers of the 21st century. While they offer free QR Codes that lead to their Self Guided Walking game and the Carnival events map, the assurance of complete access to an interactive experience for users new and old is guaranteed with a great opportunity to view the Venetian Carnival experience in a modified way, with QR Codes.

An image of the treasure hunt organised using QR Codes in the Venice Carnival

The topic of events definitely brings forward the challenge of a productive and innovative way of handling them in this era. The benefit of using a technology that you can utilize for maximum benefit is that every single task needn’t be arduous and done by the event planner. Using QR Codes can ensure that none of the smaller events are overlooked and can prove to be a beneficiary devised plan for better event management.

Use Uniqode’s QR Code generator to create unique, customized QR Codes suited for your event and impress your audience! Explore our QR Code marketing solution for more QR Code use-cases or schedule a demo to seek guidance from our QR Code marketing experts.

Author Details

Navya Muralidhar

Navya is an ardent writer focusing on the benefits of QR Codes for businesses. She has been writing about QR Code topics into action oriented guides since 2019. Presently, she helps people understand the benefits of paid QR Code solutions as a powerful marketing tool. To know more about her work around QR Codes, click here.

navya.m@beaconstac.com