We’ve heard it from our new inquiries over and over again, “Onsite badge printing for my event is super expensive” or “I didn’t realize that printing badges at my event would cost so much. Why is that?”
The ugly truth is, you are here because you don’t appreciate what it takes to run a successful on-demand, onsite badge printing and check-in service.
That was also my opinion too way back in 2018 when I began my journey into event organizing. I would call up badge printing companies, receive their quote and think “WOW, that’s expensive for a badge” and then move onto the next.
What did I do? I did what you’re about to do (probably) and go to my local print shop to get 600 badges printed off in an afternoon for $500.
What I wasn’t prepared for though was the sheer amount of carnage trying to hand out badges to 600 people who arrived at my event within 30 minutes of each other!
I soon realized that I’d messed up. Cheap wasn’t smart, it was disaster.
Long queues with stressed out volunteers frantically trying to find which Tom Williams was in front of them, then trying to find their badge in a sea of now unordered stacks, and frustrated attendees who just want to grab a coffee and a croissant to sit down after a long few hours of travel. It just wasn’t the first impression I had hoped for in my inaugural conference.
Don’t get me wrong, I prepared for it. I’d painstakingly arranged all the badges into alphabetical order, created check-in lanes for people with surnames starting with A to C, D to F etc. and briefed my volunteers who had arrived the day before the event on what to do.
Oh boy! did all that go out of the window within minutes of the doors opening. You see, people funnily enough don’t arrive in alphabetical order. Go figure!
“Never Again” I said to myself. From this moment I decided that onsite, on-demand badge printing was the only choice for given my event’s size, and it was my job to ensure I budgeted for it properly.
As soon as my event was over, I went straight on Google to find more companies that specialized in event badge printing. This time I had time and wisdom on my side. I could plan and budget for it.
For my 600-person event I was receiving quotes between $9,000 and $13,000 for a specialist to run my event check-in for me.
That’s $21.60 per badge when I was paying $1.20 for pre-printed badges or nearly 10% of my event budget to put it another way.
I didn’t make that margin on my last event, so where am I going to find an extra $10k? Do I put the attendee ticket prices up by $17 a ticket? What if I don’t sell enough tickets?
I began to realize that I wasn’t appreciating the costs of running onsite badging.
I was comparing it to another solution whereby all the equipment is installed in one place, didn’t need to be moved, required one operator, and can fulfil many customer orders per day.
Whereas with onsite event badge printing the equipment needs to be transported, setting up, required different software that allowed self-service operation, and of course the cost of staffing including their wages, travel, and overnight expenses.
These all depend on where your event is hosted and how far away your chosen badge printing supplier is from there.
Suddenly it dawned on me, the convenience and ease of the check-in process and a lot less stress for everyone right at the peak time was the value and the cost of it was a ‘me’ problem.
So, what did I do for my next event? That’s right, I built my own event platform along with self-service badge printing software like any normal event organizer, right?
I am fortunate that I had the technical experience and time to do this, but for you that might not be the case and you’re looking for solutions that bridge the canyon between pre-printing badges at your local print shop and going all in with an onsite badge printing solution.
I’ve already discussed the cheapest and most expensive options, but if you’re here and still reading, then it means you’re looking for something in between them.
Essentially you have 2 options that help bridge the gap and provide you with onsite badge printing on a budget. Both have their upsides and downsides compared to the full service, which I’ll come on to as I go.
DIY event badge printing’s popularity with organizers is on the rise. The lure of saving thousands of dollars while still retaining the professional check-in experience with the correct hardware is overwhelming.
Is DIY badge printing for you? To help you answer that question let me explain more about this service in detail.
What is DIY Onsite Badge Printing?
With this option you will rent the badge printer, kiosk computer, the software to operate it, and purchase the consumables like the badges and ink from a rental provider.
They will deliver the equipment to your chosen venue, you’ll set it all up and run your own event check-in process using your own staff.
After the event, you’ll repackage all the equipment and the rental provider will collect it, or in some cases you’ll need to drop it off at a local collection point.
What are the advantages of DIY badge printing?
All these advantages make DIY badge printing an attractive option to organizers. However, before you jump straight in, you’ll need to ensure that you’re prepared to take this option on.
What are the disadvantages of DIY badge printing?
All these disadvantages sound scary, but if you’re well prepared, have reliable staff who can own the planning and execution and you have a rental partner who can provide instant support when you need it, then this option could be viable for you.
However, before you decide there are a few more things you need to prepare for.
The cost of event badge printing hardware rental
Event badge printers aren’t your $99 home office printers, they are industrial, heavy-duty, and built for reliability. Buying one outright can set you back over $2,000.
When renting one you can expect to pay anywhere between $120 and $170 per day often with a minimum of a 3-day rental period.
In addition, you’ll need to rent a laptop or tablet with a QR code scanner under the same rental term, and these can be $60 to $85 per day.
You’ll also have to pay for shipping to your venue and for the collection as well. These printers are quite bulky and weigh about 26lbs (12KG), so expect to pay around $250 per printer each way.
Now you need to work out how many kiosk units you need. This depends on the software you’re going to use and whether it supports self-service by the attendee or requires an operator.
The cost of badge printing consumables
Typically, there are 3 main consumables for a printer. The ink, the badge labels themselves, and a printer ink waste box.
A set of inks can set you back around $120 and depending on your badge color design and whether you’re printing double sided or not, you can expect anywhere between 400 and 600 badges to a set of inks.
Badge labels are typically sold on fanfold packs of 250 or 500. You will always need at least 15% more badges than you have tickets sold to cover reprints and initial printer alignment. We sell packs of 500 for $145 a box while others can charge up to $400 for 250.
What about the software and badge design?
Renting the hardware is just one component of DIY badge printing, now you need the software to check-in and print the badges you’ve designed.
Sure, you could just use Microsoft Word and manually type in the person’s name to a template and press print, but that is not practical when you need to check the validity of a ticket, and you have 100’s of people trying to check-in. The resources both human and hardware would simply cost too much.
The software you choose will depend on how you expect to run your check-in process. The easiest way is to allow self-service scanning of ticket QR codes by the attendees themselves. This way you need fewer staff members.
However, for this to work you need a solution that can integrate with your ticket registration platform or offer registration services inclusive otherwise attendees will be confused and you’ll end up needing to manually search for them by name or email address.
When you go to badge printing rental companies for quotes, be sure that they include this software in their price rather than it being a hidden extra you don’t spot and then you end up with a box of bits at your event you cannot use!
In summary, DIY badge printing can be done and done successfully provided you have planned for it and not just trying to wing it on the day.
The cost savings can be quite considerable compared to outsourcing the solution to a specialist company.
Here at Just Attend we are the only company that offer a complete DIY badge printing solution with our in-house developed software and registration integration you need for one transparent and complete price.
We specialize in the small to medium sized events (300 to 1,500 attendees) where organizers want a professional experience but have strict budget constraints. After all, I created Just Attend for an event just like this.
When you choose our DIY service you get:
Assisted DIY badge printing is the halfway house between pre-prints and fully outsourced onsite badge printing.
It combines equipment rental with technical onsite support to set up and maintain the equipment throughout your event. This means you don’t need to worry about how it all goes together or if something stops working during your event.
Generally, the technician will not get involved with the check-in operation but will be there to train you and your team on how to use it and they’ll monitor the equipment, replace inks and badges etc.
The biggest advantage of assisted DIY badge printing is the convenience of having a technical expert on hand to provide instant support so you don’t need to worry or take that on board. You’ll also not need to hire the equipment in advance of your event for a trial run either which can offset some of the cost.
The biggest disadvantage of course is the cost. Unless you are extremely lucky that the technician lives next door to your venue, you’re going to need to pay travel and when your event is multiple days, overnight expenses on top of their daily rate.
Many organizers don’t fully appreciate that, but it’s unavoidable.
For a technician, expect to pay between $400 and $600 per day, plus expenses depending on location and how many days a technician is required. Some rental providers who quote you their rates will exclude expenses until you have signed up with them, so be careful when signing your agreement.
Assisted badge printing is by far our most popular service we provide to our customers due to the convenience of having someone on site and available to take charge and care of things.
Unlike our competitors who will just sit in a corner and wait for you to go to them, our technician will actively get involved with your check-in process alongside your team.
They’ll take care of all the setup, testing, and any maintenance issues with the equipment. They’ll also take care of any attendee support queries like changing names on badges etc. they’ll train your staff, and they will work front of house to assist your team in getting your attendees from door to expo floor as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Are any of these options truly affordable badge printing solutions? Of course, they are never going to be as cheap as pre-printed badges from your local print shop, but they are a lot cheaper than going all in with a fully outsourced and staffed badge printing firm (We can do this too if you want), allowing you to bridge the gap.
So how much do these solutions typically cost?
I am sorry to say that it depends. I built Just Attend with the ethos of simplicity and transparency to our customers. As an organizer myself, I am tired of being ‘scammed’ by companies giving me cheap quotes but then stinging me with hidden charges once I had signed.
But let me leave you with this example.
“You need badge printing for a 500-person event over 2 days in Los Angeles. How much will it cost for DIY only and assisted DIY badge printing?”
For DIY only which includes everything you need, hardware, consumables, shipping, software and support would be around $3,500 inclusive.
For Assisted DIY badge printing for the same event, including hardware, consumables, shipping, and a technician onsite would be around $4,200 plus expenses.
With regards to expenses, we charge a flat rate of $500 for travel, $160 per night lodging, and $75 per day meal allowance, bringing the total cost estimate to approximately $5,000
For a fully outsourced staffed badge printing service you can expect to pay $8,000 to $9,000 for this type of event.
If you would like to see how much DIY or Assisted Badge Printing may cost for your event, then we created a handy estimator tool on our website where you can get an instant cost estimate based on your event needs.
Chat to us today about your event badge printing needs.
Unique Attendees
Sessions Delivered
Exhibitor Leads Generated
Badges
Printed
