On the ground at EDB Connect 2026

On 2 February we ran the front door at EDB Connect 2026. If you came through registration that morning, the bit you'll remember is the bit you didn't have to think about — you walked up, checked in, and a badge was in your hand a few seconds later.

Behind that calm was a setup we've refined over a lot of events. We ran six counters in total: four self-check-in kiosks for guests who'd pre-registered, and two staffed counters for everyone else — walk-ins, last-minute changes, anyone who needed a hand. Splitting it that way matters more than it sounds. The people who already knew they were coming move themselves through in seconds, which keeps the staffed counters free for the handful who genuinely need a person.

Every counter had a thermal badge printer sitting right beside the tablet. Scan the QR from your confirmation (or register on the spot), and the badge prints there and then — no pre-printed sheets to sort through alphabetically, no "sorry, I can't find yours." If you registered on the day, the same counter took your details and printed your badge in one go.

None of this is flashy, and that's the whole point. A registration desk is judged by one thing: whether the queue moves. Spreading the load across self-service and staffed counters, putting a printer at every station, and letting pre-registered guests handle themselves is how you keep it moving even when everyone arrives in the same fifteen minutes.

It's the same kit and the same thinking we bring to every event we run — and the same platform we license to organisers who'd rather run it themselves. If you've got a morning where a few hundred people land at once and the first impression has to be effortless, this is the part we quite enjoy getting right.