Eurosonic Noorderslag Attendees Use RFID to Access Concerts, Workshops and Panels

Intellitix introduced its RFID solution in 2010, at a music festival in Quebec. Last summer, Parmley says, the technology "was a runaway—something that caught us a bit by surprise," with more installations at music festivals in North America than the company expected. In 2011, the system was deployed at the Austin City Limits Music Festival; the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, in Tennessee; Lollapalooza, in Chicago; and San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, to name a few. The technology proved to offer a better method for managing access control, the company reports, enabling ticket holders to pass through RFID portals at a rate of up to 3,000 people per hour, or 1,000 to 1,200 when tags were read using a handheld interrogator. At Bonnaroo, the system was also used to link wristband wearers with their Facebook accounts, enabling them to "like" a band or program to share with friends on that social network.

An attendee could also use his wristband to pay for food or other items, with the purchase deducted from a prepaid account linked to that person's wristband ID number. That unique ID could also be linked to an individual's e-mail address, so that every time the visitor had his tag read at a specific location, that read would trigger an e-mail to be sent to that person, containing further information regarding the event underway. For example, if someone enjoyed a particular band's performance, he could use the wristband to "like" the band on Facebook, receive an e-mail providing additional information about that group, and sign up to be sent future updates.

Berends hopes to take advantage of these features at next year's event. He envisions that individuals attending a panel discussion could receive more details about that session delivered to their e-mail address (this year, such a function was available only at a few select venues). A visitor could also use the feature to learn more about a specific band. However, Berends adds, Eurosonic Noorderslag has no intention of using RFID data to track attendees and their locations individually at the event.

Berends says he is still analyzing the details of attendees' movements throughout the 2012 event. In approximately a week, he says, he expects to have a better understanding of crowd movement, and could, if necessary, modify planning for the 2013 event, based on the numbers of visitors at any particular program—for example, to better manage foot traffic from one location to another.