Session attendance tracking.
The right approach for your event.
Whether you need passive BLE detection, QR-based compliance check-in or RFID badge scanning — we find the right solution and deploy it. You get accurate attendance data without the manual overhead.
QR scanning creates exactly the friction you are trying to avoid.
Queues at room entrances. Staff tied up scanning instead of helping. Attendees who forget to scan, or whose phone battery dies. Data that is incomplete before the first session ends.
At multi-stream conferences with parallel tracks, manual check-in scales badly. The more sessions, the bigger the gap between what happened and what gets recorded.
QR codes
Attendees forget, skip, or have dead batteries. Data gaps from the first session.
RFID arches
Expensive hardware, long lead times, bottlenecks at narrow entrances.
Manual counting
Head counts don't tell you who was there — only how many. Useless for individual reporting.
Which session tracking approach fits your event?
There is no single best solution — the right choice depends on whether you need a verifiable audit trail, minimal friction, high throughput or footfall analytics. We work with all three approaches and recommend the one that fits.
Passive BLE — Crowd Connected
Zero frictionAttendees wear a small BLE tag clipped to their lanyard. Multiple beacons distributed throughout each room detect these tags passively — improving accuracy and eliminating corridor false-positives. No phone, no scanning, no interaction required. Also powers indoor navigation and footfall heatmaps on the same infrastructure.
QR Code — Cvent OnArrival
Audit trailAttendees display a QR code from the Cvent app; staff or self-scan kiosks record the check-in. Provides a clear, verifiable attendance record with timestamp. Integrates fully with Cvent registration data.
RFID — Cvent
High throughputRFID readers at room entrances register badge taps as attendees enter — faster than QR scanning, no phone required. Best for high-volume sessions where speed at the door matters. Requires hardware deployment per room.
Not sure which fits your event? We assess your requirements — venue, attendee profile, compliance needs, existing tech stack — and recommend the right approach. Or a combination of both.
Built for the events where attendance actually matters.
Mandatory sessions, proven attendance
Annual partner meetings, internal all-hands, leadership summits — events where knowing who was in the room for which session is a reporting requirement. Automated data replaces manual sign-in sheets without the friction of scanning.
Parallel tracks, complete picture
When five sessions run simultaneously across five rooms, manual check-in requires five times the staff. BLE tracking covers all rooms with the same infrastructure and no additional headcount.
Know who attended which briefing
Closed-door sessions, tiered access, investor briefings — passive detection lets you verify attendance without disrupting the atmosphere of the event or placing staff at doors.
Session reach, not just registrations
Sponsors often ask how many people actually sat through their session. Passive attendance data gives you an honest, verifiable answer — more credible than registration numbers alone.
CME and CPD credit tracking — with the right tool
Continuing medical education credits require a verifiable, auditable check-in record. For these events we use Cvent OnArrival (QR) or Cvent RFID — both provide the timestamped audit trail that CME accreditation bodies require. Crowd Connected BLE works alongside for footfall analytics, but the credit-bearing check-in runs through Cvent.
We handle the full deployment — you focus on the event.
Whether we are deploying Crowd Connected BLE beacons, configuring Cvent OnArrival, or setting up RFID readers — we manage every step from planning through to post-event data delivery. One team, all three approaches.
Beacon placement planning
Room-by-room plan based on floor layouts and entrance configurations.
Hardware sourcing & shipping
We handle beacon procurement and international logistics.
On-site installation & testing
Physical setup, signal calibration and pre-event validation.
Live monitoring
We watch system health throughout the event and fix issues on the spot.
Data export & reporting
Post-event attendance data formatted to your requirements.
Full breakdown
Equipment collected, venue left clean — no residual work for your team.
Add indoor navigation at minimal extra cost.
The same BLE beacon network used for session tracking can simultaneously power attendee wayfinding. When both services share one deployment, the cost per capability drops significantly — and your attendees get navigation inside the app they already have.
Session tracking only
Multiple beacons per room record attendance — distributed throughout for higher accuracy. Minimal hardware footprint, quick setup, focused data output.
Session tracking + navigation
RecommendedFull venue beacon coverage. Attendees get wayfinding; you get session attendance and full footfall analytics. Same hardware, same deployment.
How we've helped
Real examples from our work — shared without naming the clients.
Passive session tracking at a major annual partner conference
A large financial services firm holds its annual partner conference in Stockholm across multiple days and rooms. VI deployed Crowd Connected with lanyard-based BLE tags for all attendees, replacing manual session sign-in. Attendees moved freely between sessions without scanning anything. Post-event, the client received complete per-session, per-attendee attendance records for internal reporting.
Attendee tracking at a major European life sciences partnering conference
One of Europe's leading pharma and biotech partnering conferences deployed Crowd Connected for attendee tracking across a large multi-day venue. VI handled the full deployment: beacon infrastructure, on-site setup, live monitoring and post-event data export. The data provided organizers with detailed footfall patterns, session dwell times and movement analytics across the event space.
Session attendance tracking — common questions
How does automated session attendance tracking work at events?
Each attendee receives a small BLE tag that clips to their lanyard badge. Multiple BLE beacons are distributed throughout each session room — not just at the entrance — and detect these tags passively. This spread improves accuracy and reduces false positives from people passing in corridors. No app interaction, no QR scan, no arch hardware required. The system logs which registered attendees were present in each room and for how long, and exports the data to your event management system.
Do attendees need to do anything to be tracked?
No. Each attendee receives a small BLE tag that clips to their lanyard. The tag broadcasts passively — there is nothing to enable, scan or tap. Attendees do not need a phone, Bluetooth or any app for the tracking to work.
How accurate is BLE-based session attendance tracking?
Accuracy depends on venue layout and beacon placement. In standard conference room setups, detection rates are high and false positives can be minimised through calibration. We test placement before each event and adjust accordingly. For governance or compliance reporting, we are transparent about confidence levels.
Can session attendance data be exported to our event platform?
Yes. Crowd Connected provides attendance data that can be exported to CSV or integrated with event management systems. We manage the data handover and can format reports to match your internal requirements.
Can session tracking run alongside indoor navigation at the same event?
Yes — and this is often the most cost-effective setup. The same beacon infrastructure supports both wayfinding and session attendance monitoring. One deployment, two capabilities.
Which approach is right for CME or CPD credit tracking?
For CME and CPD credits, the check-in must provide a verifiable, timestamped audit trail — which rules out passive BLE detection. We use Cvent OnArrival (QR-based) or Cvent RFID for these scenarios, both of which generate the individual attendance records that accreditation bodies require. Crowd Connected can still run in parallel for footfall analytics, but the credit-bearing check-in runs through Cvent.
What is the difference between Cvent QR and Cvent RFID check-in?
Cvent OnArrival uses QR codes displayed in the attendee app or printed on badges — staff or kiosks scan them at the door. It requires no hardware beyond a smartphone or tablet per station. Cvent RFID uses badge-embedded chips read by hardware readers mounted at room entrances — faster for large volumes since attendees just walk past or tap, and does not require the attendee to open their phone. Both produce equivalent attendance records for compliance purposes.
Often combined with
Services that teams typically use alongside session tracking.