Monday, January 21, 2008

Soon we'll just leave off the names too

Remember when name tags at conferences could help learn or remember names? Can we still read them?

Now they're on really long neck cords which end up buttoned inside jackets, hang way too low to read, or twist around so only the back of the tag and not the name shows. If sitting at a roundtable the tag drop below the table. They've been reinvented to be "admission passes" to get into education programs, or on extenders (that make them hang even lower) to facilitate exhibitor scanning at trade shows. Printable space on cords, badge and holders sold to sponsors.

But who can see the name when it's not in sight line?

There are magnetic ways to attach a name tag on a lapel/shirt (to avoid the days of pin marks or having nowhere to clip), and certain neck wallets can hang at a reasonable (readable) length with two cords for each side of the badge to ensure they aren't twisting, swinging, or way too low. Sometimes we reinvent away from a primary purpose.

I miss being able to read names at conferences. Am I the only one?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

You are not the only one. This reminds me of an entry I read a while back - link

It discusses the design elements of a conference badge and includes an actual file template to create your own.

Here is an example of a badge that used this same idea - link

Anonymous said...

This is one of my pet peeves! At PCMA last week, I felt like a bit of a pervert as I craned my neck to see inside someone's jacket to their name tag. It's particularly bad at meals, when the tag hangs below the table.

I have one of those magnetic pins, but I usually end up using it to hold my glasses, and just shorten up the lanyard as much as possible.

I'll have to check out the site James mentioned...

Anonymous said...

My nametag peeve occurs when the NAR goes to Washington. Here we are, trying to make an impact on Capitol Hill, all of us sporting nametags on a lanyard woven with the name of some MLS vendor. Talk about a lost opportunity to target market our image to our important publics! "What's the name of this group?" "I dunno, the schedule says 'Realtors'."
"Well the name badge mecklaces say 'US Title.'" .....