Comments on: Conventions, Events, & Geosocializing

By: MadBrew

MadBrew — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:05:57 +0000

@David: I think with simple badges and a staged roll-out (over the course of several years), it wouldn’t be too bad and the technology might eventually pay for itself (considering vendor rental/connection fees, paperless tracking, reduced manpower, streamlined organization).

The first stage should concentrate on building the app (with a mind for future expansion), badges, and setting up readers at primary locations: exhibit hall entrances, ballrooms, and other high traffic areas using about 10 readers. The second stage would include large vendor partnerships followed by a third stage for everyone else.

I’d also make the badges re-usable and give discounts to returning attendees (basically registration minus the cost of the badge).

By: David

David — Mon, 03 May 2010 22:55:38 +0000

In February at Toy Fair, the badges included RFID chips, which were scanned when entering the expo hall. This approach would integrate well with a registration system, eliminate the problem of lost paper tickets, provide up-to-date event attendence information (compared to paper rosters). However, while I think it’s currently technically feasible, it’s likely cost prohibitive.

On the other hand, manually checking-in at the sub-event level (for example, building and room number for a particular activity), should be feasible sooner.
.-= David´s last blog ..Super Duper Publications’ Educational Games =-.

By: MadBrew

MadBrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 19:47:48 +0000

@Daniel: My day job is programming, so I’m confident the code aspect of this is totally feasible. What may or may not be feasible is the cost of RFID hardware required to pull the complete package off.

By: Daniel M. Perez

Daniel M. Perez — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:29:12 +0000

I tweeted this link to some of my Miami techie tweeps, some of which created SquarePik, a Foursquare API-based app to see what they say about feasibility. I know squat about programming; I just know I'd use it. :-) .-= Daniel M. Perez´s last blog ..Rebuilding Vampire: It Is By Will Alone… =-.

By: MadBrew

MadBrew — Mon, 03 May 2010 17:12:55 +0000

@Daniel: Thanks. I also think it's too late to implement successfully for this year, but not to start planning for next year's event. I could really see a technology-embracing (the streaming GamesU seminars comes to mind) convention like NeonCon picking up on this idea. I've been playing around with some APIs myself and found the geolocation basics to be easy to implement. If I can catch up on NMP stuff, I want to put up a demo that shows what I'm thinking about.

By: Daniel M. Perez

Daniel M. Perez — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:52:11 +0000

Excellent summary of what we've been hashing out back and forth on Twitter for some days now. I don't expect anything this year, honestly (well, beyond an update to the Gen Con iPhone app), but for next year, I fully expect (and will be sorely disappointed if I don't see) Gen Con to be boasting at least some form of geosocial feature. Articles like this are the right sort of impetus to get the idea flowing and the wheels turning (hopefully). .-= Daniel M. Perez´s last blog ..Rebuilding Vampire: It Is By Will Alone… =-.