Making the most of trade shows

Thanks to RFID chips embedded in trade-show nametags -- offered by Austin, Texas-based Alliance Tech -- a company can know how many visitors stop by their booth at a trade show and what companies they represent. Via a simple tag on the back of the attendee’s conference badge, a company can easily capture, track, and analyze the traffic patterns of conference attendees. Attendee information is kept private, since no personal information is actually stored on the tag, and it’s proven to be an incredibly accurate way to measure conference ROI and overall event success.

The founders of the company insist they are not invading the privacy of attendees, who can opt out if they don’t want their name to show up. Other companies are using the technology to track their salespeople. Alliance Tech plans to expand into shopping malls, where frequent spenders could opt-in to wear tags "that would trigger text messages and videos about sales as they walk the mall," reports Reveries.