Separate three different jobs
An admission scan establishes whether someone can enter. Lead retrieval helps an exhibitor record a contact and conversation. Session attendance records participation in a particular activity. All three can start with a QR code, but they need different data, permissions and retention. Treating them as interchangeable is how teams buy a scanner that cannot deliver the intended follow-up.
Find out what the code contains
Ask whether the badge contains contact details directly, an identifier resolved against a database or a link requiring a network connection. Establish whose database it is and whether exhibitors are permitted to access it. A scanner reading a code does not establish a right to the underlying attendee record. Do not assume a generic scanning app can retrieve an organiser’s protected data.
Demonstrate the conversation record
Use a fictional attendee to show a complete lead: scan, qualify, add notes, assign an owner, export and find the record in the destination CRM. Whova’s public overview describes business-card and QR-code scanning among its exhibitor tools. That is a starting point for questions, not evidence that every organiser’s badge or every CRM is supported. Ask which product, event configuration and paid option the demonstration uses.
Check permission and attendee expectations
Explain to attendees what the scan means, who receives the information and the intended follow-up. A request for a specific brochure should not silently become consent to unrelated marketing. Discuss the appropriate legal basis, notices and retention with the people responsible for your event’s privacy programme. This guide is a procurement checklist, not jurisdiction-specific legal advice.
Test a busy stand, not a quiet desk
Use several staff devices, change connectivity and repeat a scan. Confirm how duplicates are merged, whether notes survive and whether one colleague can see another’s work. Ask what happens if the organiser changes an attendee record or withdraws access. Do not quote a supplier’s scan-speed or revenue claim as an independently measured result. The useful output is an accurate, permissioned record, not a large raw scan count.
Make the export part of acceptance
Check that names, company, role, qualification answers, notes, owner and collection context arrive in separate usable fields. Define who can export and what happens when the event licence ends. Have the sales team review a test export before purchase. Agree a follow-up responsibility and measure what happened after the scan; otherwise a successful badge-reading demonstration can still produce unusable leads.
Sources and research basis
Sources checked 2026-10-17. Supplier capabilities and venue specifications are attributed to their published documentation. No first-hand test or visit is implied.