Future Developments for the RFID Festival Wristband.

Most sizeable music festivals have been using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology in their festival-goer wristbands for some years now. What developments are currently taking place with this technology and design that festival organisers need to consider for events this year and into the future.

Use of wristbands at music festivals has been around for many years and its primary function was to quickly help identify festival-goers with access to designated zones. The original wristbands were generally plastic and had no other function than access control. Advances in RFID technology has enabled chips to be incorporated into wristbands allowing secure wireless data transfer between wristbands and readers.

RFID Technology.
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology works by using a small chip and antenna embedded within the wristband to communicate wirelessly with an on-site RFID reader. The RFID chip contains a unique identifier that can be used to store information such as ticket or payment data, access permissions and personal information. The primary function of this technology is access control but in recent years has incorporated secure payment processing systems.

Functions and Features of RFID Wristbands.
Wristbands are generally issued at festival entrance gates where ticket buyer's data is confirmed by scanning a pre-issued QR Code. The ticket purchase data is transferred to the wristband issued to that individual which may give the wearer access to VIP zones or backstage areas for example. More recently tickets buyers have been able to upload funds prior to an event and these will be loaded onto their wristband which enables cashless payments of on-site products and services. Funds can also be topped-up on-site which means the festival can become completely cashless.

Wristband Design and Sustainability.
Traditional dumb wristbands were made of plastic and disposed after use however in the current climate of sustainability and no single use plastics these style wristbands are no longer acceptable. Sustainable festival wristband design is evolving to create environmentally friendly reusable RFID wristbands. Materials gaining traction for wristband construction are fabrics and bamboo or those made from other recycled or biodegradable materials. The festival organisers can reuse wristbands by asking festival-goers for a small deposit which is refunded on return of the wristband at the end of the event. Organisers should also consider where their wristbands are manufactured and by selecting a local supplier the carbon footprint from transportation will be reduced.

There are considerable benefits to both organisers and festival-goers gained by the use of RFID wristbands. The user experience means faster access in and out of different zones along with convenient fast cashless payments for food and beverages. The organisers can also gain access to visitor data which helps to track crowd flows along with data on demographic data. 

For festival organisers planning their events using a software management platform like Festival Pro gives them all the functionality they need manage every aspect of their event logistics. The guys who are responsible for this software have been in the front line of event management for many years and the features are built from that experience and are performance artists themselves. The Festival Pro platform is easy to use and has comprehensive features with specific modules for managing artists, contractors, venues/stages, vendors, volunteers, sponsors, guestlists, ticketing, cashless payments and contactless ordering.

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