Using QR codes to streamline concert check-in process

[AndrewGreen]

Hello there! I work with an organization that produces a 50-concert summer festival. We have about 120 Season Pass Holders, about half of whom show up to any given concert. We would like to check them in at each concert and track their overall attendance.

Each person receives a physical Season Pass (a 3x5 laminate) that they bring to the concert, so my hope was to include a unique QR code on each pass that corresponds to a unique ID for each pass holder. Then our Front of House staff could scan that QR code via the Airtable app on their phone, and it would create a record of them having checked in for that concert.

One thought is that each concert could be its own view, and then any check-ins within that view could be clearly reconciled. Maybe that check-in could just be a timestamp, or it could be that when the staff scans their QR, it gives them an option to toggle a "check-in" switch.

Open to any all suggestions, and grateful for your help!

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Yeah that makes sense.  You could make the QR code be a link to a form with the person in question prefilled, that way whoever was scanning the QR code could just pick the correct concert and submit the form?

[AndrewGreen]

Thanks for the suggestion @TheTimeSavingCo .

I gave that a quick shot, but the process of scanning the code>opening the form> selecting the concert> starting back over for the next patron is a bit too slow. We'd like to keep the line moving the way they would at a big stadium i.e. just a quick scan and move on through.

That's why my thought was that if the QR code just referenced a unique ID for each pass holder, then the scan just acted as an automated key stroke entering that ID with a time stamp (like an RFID scanner). That's still not the most sophisticated, but it would be quick and functional (I think??).

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Ah hmm, you could set up an automation with a webhook trigger?  I believe you can put JSON data into QR codes, so you should be able to generate a QR code with the record's ID in it, and when the QR code is scanned it'll trigger the automation which would then create a new record in a table of your choosing, and link it to the person's record

The downside to this is that anyone scanning the QR code would trigger the automation though

[AndrewGreen]

You may very well be on the right track @TheTimeSavingCo but that's above my pay grade. Any directions or resources on how to build that would be immensely appreciated.

[Steve_Haysom]

Hi Andrew

A bit late but I think what you need for this might be a custom mobile phone app which could then extract the pass holder's id stored in the qrcode and update airtable. Other phones scanning the qrcode would not then trigger any airtable update. The qrcode could also contain a url (as well as the pass holder id) that takes other phones to a webpage describing the concerts.

[joe24]

I am sorry i want to do the same but i didn't quite understand how to do it, i have a bunch of nfc tags and i want to give the participants of the event a sticker tag that i can or my colleagues can scan at any moment to verify that they checked in.

[joe24]

can you give examples to such apps 

[Steve_Haysom]

I was thinking of a pwa (progressive web app) which is based on web technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, together with a QR code scanning library. I've had a look for no code ways to create this but haven't come up with anything. I did make one myself for a checking in/out app on my phone that connected to airtable.

[joe24]

thank you, i used a different approach where i linked the url to a nfc tag and linked the execution of the tag to open in the app directly. though i still have the issue of not being able to only view the record of the person on the table i have already made on airtable....