The events and entertainment industry is one that will benefit from biometric technologies, such as fingerprint scanners, face recognition and palm scanners, in several different ways. The rapidly advancing biometric technologies are set to reshape the way in which events and planned, marketed and executed. From allowing events organisers to reduce queuing time, increase security, prevent fraud and help the environment.
The appearance of COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on this industry but it has also accelerated the introduction of biometric technology for many larger events venues. Many events venues are looking to put contingency plans in place in order to protect them from the current and future pandemics. This includes using contactless access control, ticketing and payment.
Ticketing
Transforming the ticketing system is one of the easiest solutions for event organisers as the technology is already readily available. Using biometric authentication, such as fingerprint scanners, palm readers and face recognition, to gain admission to venues/ events means that physical tickets won’t need to be produced. This has several benefits such as;
- Attendees can’t lose their tickets or damage them
- Fake tickets can’t be made and sold
- Better for the environment as physical tickets will not be needed
The biometric scanners can be teamed with evolving gate technology such as Digicon D-Flow gates.
Check-ins
By using biometric registration the check-in time to venues will be massively reduced and thus reducing the queuing times too. It will reduce the burden on staff that are required to check-in the attendees making the process smoother and more accurate.
Crowd control and access restriction
Using access control solutions in a venue can mean that certain event spaces are restricted for staff only or VIP areas. Such technologies will also give an audit trail, showing who enters the restricted areas.
Crowd analytics
Face recognition/detection will aim to provide emotional and physical profiles to give attendees a better experience. The technology is still being developed but the concepts are already being tested. If organisers can understand how much and what attendees enjoyed about the events, without having to carry out surveys, they can optimise the experience.
Crowd analytics will also help to map the foot traffic which will show the event guest journey. This can be used to make any modifications to the venue or help enhance future experiences at with the event or the venue.
Security
Enhanced security is a major advantage of using biometrics technologies. Access control into and around the venue will give the organisers an advantage. It will help eliminate the use of a fake ID to gain entry. It can also combat the problem of theft if face recognition was used to allow payment for food, beverages and merchandise inside the venue/event, by automatically charging a pre-registered card.
Marketing
By better understanding, the attendee experience through the data collected event organisers can then target their marketing better to the audience that would benefit or enjoy them. More tailored messaging can provide better attendance and higher levels of enjoyment at the events.
All of the above is only possible if the organisers have prior consent from the attendees to both collect and hold their data for processing. At the point of registration when data biometric data should be collected then consent must also be received to ensure GDPR compliance. With data protection regulations being part of the system there are already systems in place to ensure that event organisers can remain compliant and protect attendees rights.
As you can see, biometric technologies will bring mutual benefit for event organisers and attendees by enhancing experiences while improving efficiency and security. While its adoption is still growing it’s a trend that is likely to be accelerated by the current push for more advanced biometric technologies.
