Self-checkin kiosks and
badges printed in 4 seconds.
Attendee walks up, scans the QR on their phone, name and seat print on paper. No queue. No laptop-per-desk setup. No Cvent OnArrival invoice at the end.
One URL. One iPad. Zero registrations lost at the door.
Open the kiosk URL on any tablet in fullscreen. Attendee scans their pass QR against the camera. Badge prints. Screen resets for the next person in 3 seconds.
Scan your pass QR
Self-serve for 90%, staff-assisted for the rest.
Most attendees walk up and print their own. VIPs, walk-ins, and anyone who forgot their phone go to the staff desk. Same interface, one extra permission.
From car park to seat in 90 seconds.
The Cvent OnArrival quote that started this whole thing.
A pharma client in Mumbai forwarded us a Cvent OnArrival quote in 2024. ₹68,000 for a two-day rental. That covered four iPads locked to their app, four Zebra label printers, a technician on standby. On top of the Cvent event fee. On top of the annual Cvent seat.
We ran that same event on our software with a Brother QL-820 they bought outright for ₹18,000. It printed for the next four events too. Zero rental cost after day one.
The trick isn't the printer. Any printer that can print an HTML page or a PDF works. The trick is the kiosk browser flow. Guest walks up, scans the QR on their phone against the iPad camera, name and seat appear in half a second, print button fires automatically or waits for a staff tap. That's it.
We spent longer than expected on one thing: the jam-recovery flow. Printer jams happen, especially in monsoon humidity. So the kiosk has a Reprint button per attendee, and a failed print never double-registers a check-in. Small detail, saved us in Kochi in July when 3 badges came out blank.
A 900-person conference in Delhi, gate-open to full room.
- 2 weeks out. Client buys one Brother QL-820 (₹18k) and one Canon Selphy backup (₹12k). We ship them a template preview: badge with logo, name, company, seat, QR, session track colour band.
- 1 day before. Set up two kiosk stations at the venue. Each is an iPad on a stand + printer + power strip. Total setup time: 22 minutes including cable management.
- Gate opens, 8.30am. First 50 attendees in the first 10 minutes. Median scan-to-badge: 4.1 seconds. Two stations run parallel so effective throughput is roughly 30 badges per minute.
- 9.15am peak. 380 attendees checked in. Queue depth at each station stays under 4 people. No paper program handout needed.
- 10am, first paper jam. Staff pulls the label roll, feeds a fresh strip, hits Reprint on the last attendee's row. That guest's badge appears in 6 seconds. Check-in was already logged, so no double-scan issue.
- End of day. 892 attendees badged. Total printer consumables used: about ₹1,400 in labels. Total time staff spent on manual badge writing: zero.
Cost per event after the first: ₹1,400 in labels. Compare to Cvent's ₹50k+ per-event rental.
Onsite check-in kiosks priced across the market.
For a 1,000-attendee, two-day event in India, 2026.
| Tool | Model / Cost | Notes | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cvent OnArrival | ₹50k - ₹1.2L / event | iPad + Zebra rental. Technician included. Vendor lock-in. | Rich, expensive, slow to change |
| Zebra rental (local vendor) | ₹8k - ₹15k / printer / day | Hardware only. You bring the software. | Only makes sense once |
| Eventbrite Organizer app | Bundled % + printer BYO | Check-in yes, badge print no. Manual paper writing. | Half the workflow, not enough |
| SignupDesk kiosk | Included + ₹18k printer | Any HTML/PDF printer. Buy once, use forever. Jam-safe reprint. | Pays back in one event |
Vendor prices vary by region and negotiated discount. Ours is included in the platform fee.