And Also Help Track The Demographics Of Your Attendees

By Andrew Schonzeit

Coming from a generation of Schonzeits who specialize in ID badging and security, I have seen the industry go through many changes over the years. Security is part of my DNA and I?m excited to share my knowledge with the marketplace and help create a safer world.

In 1943, my grandfather Hyman Schonzeit founded Identification Service Corp. in the heart of New York City as a manufacturer of laminated credentials and safety tags. With its own design staff, printing presses, and lamination equipment he quickly grew the business by winning large corporate and governmental contracts that included providing the War Department with ID cards.

Today, Idesco has become a leader in ID badging solutions. The company has evolved significantly over the past seven decades as we continue to help organizations worldwide keep their employees, visitors, and assets as safe as possible.

Over the last few years, we have decided to focus on event credentials and more specifically badging solutions including oversized card printers and badges. We have all attended large events at stadiums or concert halls and have seen people wearing large badges that were visible from a distance.

Having a larger badge makes it easier for the security personnel to scan a crowd and identify at a glance who has proper credentials and access rights to designated areas.

In addition to the security benefits, large credentials can help event managers understand the demographics of attendees and track the entire journey and touch-points of a visitor. Adding technology to a card is a great way to get unique data about attendees and visitors.

In an increasingly customer-centric world, the ability to capture and use this kind of data to shape solutions and improve the event experience as a whole is extremely important.

To address these issues, Idesco has added a full line of oversized printers to its repertoire to help event managers issue event credentials on demand. Today, these printers are widely adopted by the event industry and we don?t see this slowing down any time soon.

There are many ID card solutions available and I look forward to discussing the benefits of each and helping people feel not only safe and secure at events; but being able to understand how oversized badging can help event managers with their future marketing initiatives.

How to Print Oversized Badges
Event managers now have many options when it comes to personalizing oversized badges at an event. Most of our customers order pre-printed cards then buy or rent printers to print the cardholder?s data onsite. A very popular printer for this type of application is the XXL 2.0.

Widely adopted by event managers all around the country, the XXL printer is used to secure major venues, concerts, award ceremonies, tradeshows, and other corporate functions.

The XXL printer can print up to 180 full cards per hour in color and up to 1,400 cards per hour in monochrome. Print speed is critical – long registration queues can quickly become a nightmare for event managers so it is imperative to issue badges quickly and effectively.

Therefore, a great option is to preprint cards and personalize badges in monochrome as it only takes a few seconds to print the cardholder?s information with a monochrome ribbon.

Adding data to your cards can also be done onsite. These printers come with optional encoders.

For instance, the XXL printer was the first portable card printer capable of personalizing oversized badges with RFID and UHF encoding.

When choosing an oversized ID card printer, you must consider the following:

• Do I need a portable solution?
• How much information do I need to print?
• Do I need to encode data?
• Will I be using a PC or a Mac?
• Do I need networking capabilities?

There are different types of ID badge printers available that we will discuss in future articles. As technology advances, we will see more and more ID badging solutions hit the marketplace.

At Idesco, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the technology curve and bringing the latest ID card solutions to our customers. The door is always open when it comes to bringing in new ways to protect people and events worldwide.

About The Author
Andrew Schonzeit, President of Idesco, has been with the company since 1984 in a variety of roles. He has served as the President since 1988. Andrew Schonzeit has worked on major projects for customers that include Department of Homeland Security, News America, the US Open, New York City Mayor’s Office, and the Rubin Museum of Art. Mr. Schonzeit is a graduate of New York University. His unique expertise of the ID card industry has helped Idesco become a major security company in the country.