QR Codes for Events: Tickets, Venue, Schedule, Badges

QR codes for events do four separate jobs: the ticket scanned at the door, the venue link that gets people to the right entrance, the schedule sign that has to survive a room change, and the contact card that saves a new connection in one scan. Each job wants a different code, and only one has to be dynamic. Here is which code goes where, what the platforms do with a scanned ticket, and how big to print each one.

The short version

Tickets: the ticketing platform makes the ticket code; do not make your own. Eventbrite's help states that "By default, each ticket comes with a QR code." and that a used ticket shows an error when scanned again.

Venue: a Google Maps link in a URL QR code on the confirmation email and the day-of signs, so the scan opens the pin or the route. The Google Maps QR code guide covers which link to paste.

Schedule: one dynamic code on every sign and badge, pointed at a page the organizer edits. When a session moves, the page changes and the printed code does not.

Contacts: a vCard QR code on the back of the badge and on table tents.

On QRCodePrime, static QR codes are unlimited and free with no account, and every free account includes 10 dynamic QR codes, free for life, with scan analytics. No credit card required, no watermarks, and no ads on the site or on the redirect.

Which QR code does which job at an event

The table is the whole plan on one screen. Static codes hold their content in the pattern and never change; dynamic codes hold a short link and can be repointed after printing, which is only worth paying attention to for the schedule and anything else that may change during the event. A dinner or a party can add one more code, a playlist QR code on the table that opens the evening's music or lets guests add a song.

Ticket QR codes and check-in at the door

A ticket QR code holds an identifier that the ticketing platform's scanner app looks up, marks as used, and refuses the second time. Eventbrite documents the flow for its organizer app: the app uses the device's camera, and "An error message will appear if the QR code is already checked-in or not valid for this event." The same help page covers the fallback when a code will not scan: "To check in attendees without scanning, search or scroll to find their ticket."

That duplicate check is what stops a screenshot of one ticket from admitting two people. Eventbrite's page on preventing ticket sharing says it plainly: "If a ticket has already been used, you'll see an error message when you scan it." The same page recommends collecting a name for each ticket on the order form, "That way, every ticket has a different name on it.", which makes the by-name fallback work when the scan fails.

Two consequences for an organizer. First, do not make ticket codes in a general purpose generator; the value is in the platform's lookup, not in the pattern. Second, do not put personal data inside the ticket code. A ticket gets screenshotted and posted, and an opaque identifier gives away nothing when someone reads it with a scanner such as the online QR scanner.

The backup when a phone will not scan at the door

Phones arrive dead, cracked or dimmed, and the door has to keep moving. Three fallbacks cover it, and all three are documented by the platforms rather than invented here.

The wallet pass: Apple's iPhone guide describes presenting a Wallet pass to a scanner, "If prompted, authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your passcode." and then "Present the code to the reader." A pass in Wallet is faster to find at the door than a code buried in an email.

The printed ticket: put the ticket code in the body of the confirmation email, not only in an attachment, so the attendee who printed the email at home has a paper copy. The printed code needs its white margin; Denso Wave, the company that invented the QR code, states that it "requires a four-module wide margin at all sides of a symbol."

The name list: Eventbrite's help describes checking attendees in by name from the app, and its page on ticket sharing describes checking in from a laptop or a printed list. A printed alphabetical list with a checkbox column also covers the case where the venue WiFi and the cellular network both fail at once.

Venue location QR codes: get people to the right door

A venue code holds a map link, so the scan opens the pin or the route with nothing to type. Google documents a search URL and a directions URL for this, both of which open the Google Maps app when it is installed and the Maps website in a browser when it is not, on Android and on iOS. The Google Maps QR code guide compares the share link, the search link and the directions link by size and shows how to make one in five steps; the address QR code guide covers Apple Maps links and coordinates.

Where it goes: the confirmation email, a reminder email the week before, and signs at the parking entrance and the loading dock. A venue with a hidden entrance gets a directions link rather than a pin link, so the scan starts the route. The location QR code generator makes the coordinate version for a spot with no street address, such as a field or a trailhead.

Schedule changes: the one code that has to be dynamic

The printed program is out of date as soon as a speaker misses a flight or a workshop moves rooms. One dynamic code on every sign and on the back of every badge solves it: the code points to a page the organizer controls, the page shows the current schedule, and a change on the page reaches the next person who scans. The printed code never changes.

On QRCodePrime that is a dynamic URL code. The printed pattern holds a short link on qrcodeprime.com, and the destination behind it is edited in the dashboard; the guide to editing a QR code after printing shows the steps. Every free account includes 10 dynamic QR codes, free for life, with scan analytics, no credit card required and no watermarks, and the free dynamic QR code generator is where to make one. The scan counts also tell the organizer which signs were used, which is useful when planning the next event's signage.

A static code cannot do this: its link is fixed in the pattern, and a schedule page at a fixed link works only as long as the page itself is edited rather than replaced. The static versus dynamic comparison has the full trade-off.

Contact exchange: vCard QR codes on badges and tables

A vCard QR code holds a contact card, so a scan offers to save the name, company, phone and email into the scanning phone with no typing. On a badge it turns the networking ritual into a scan; on a dinner table tent it saves eight people from fishing for business cards. The vCard QR code guide covers making one, and the business card guide covers the print side. Make badge codes with the QR code generator for contact details, one per attendee.

Two details. A vCard is longer than a link, so it prints larger: a 105 character contact card encodes at 57 squares per side at the generator's error correction level, against 37 for a dynamic short link, both computed with the same library the generator uses. And a badge code is scanned by a stranger holding another phone, so it needs the full white margin and a plain label such as "Scan to save this contact."

Sponsor booths and lead capture

A sponsor code should open a short form or the event app's lead page, not a fishbowl. The attendee scans, fills in two fields, and the sponsor gets a record it can follow up on. A prize draw tied to the form gives people a reason to scan; whether that lifts booth traffic at a given event is something the organizer can see in the dynamic code's scan count rather than something to assume.

Make the sponsor code dynamic when the sponsor may swap the form after the signs are printed, and static when the form is fixed. The print marketing QR guide has the UTM pattern for telling booth scans apart from email clicks in analytics.

How big to print event QR codes

The smallest readable print depends on how many squares the code has, and that depends on what is inside it. The floors below follow Denso Wave's guidance of four printer dots per square at 300 dpi and a four square margin, and they are floors for a code held in the hand, not sizes for a sign read from across a hall.

A sign scanned from a few feet away needs to be several times larger than the floor; the print test guide explains how to check a real print at a real distance, and the troubleshooting guide lists the fixes when one fails on the day. The free generator exports SVG, which scales to any sign size without blur.

Common event QR code mistakes

Making ticket codes in a general generator. The duplicate check lives in the platform's scanner, not in the pattern. Use the platform's ticket.

Putting names or emails inside a ticket code. Tickets get screenshotted and shared. Keep the payload an opaque identifier.

Printing the schedule as a static code. The first room change makes every sign wrong. The schedule code is the one that has to be dynamic.

No name list at the door. Scanners fail, networks fail, phones die. Eventbrite documents check-in by name for exactly this; keep a printed list as well.

A venue code that opens the pin when people need the route. For a hidden entrance or a parking lot, use the directions link so the scan starts the route.

A badge code with no margin. A designer crops the white border to fit the layout and the code stops reading in dim light. Keep the four square margin.

Forcing check-in through the event app. Many attendees will not have installed it. The code in the confirmation email and the wallet pass work for everyone.

The events page has the code types side by side, and the print marketing guide covers tracking sponsor scans after the event. For the venue network card, the WiFi QR code guide covers the security type and the password characters that trip codes up.

Sources

• Eventbrite Help Center: Check in attendees at your event with the Eventbrite app for organizers
• Eventbrite Help Center: Prevent attendees from sharing tickets
• Apple iPhone User Guide: Use passes, cards, and keys in Wallet on iPhone
• Google Maps Platform: Maps URLs, Get Started (search and directions URLs, behavior on Android and iOS)
• Denso Wave: Point for determining the code area (module size and the four-module margin)