How many badge printers do I need at my event?

The number of visitors per hour per printer

Before one can answer this question, one must ask another: In how much time do your visitors arrive at your event ?

With the answer to this question, we are going to be able to very easily make an approximation of how many printers are ideally needed. We assume that 1 printer unit can easily register ~120 visitors per hour & print a badge in the process. This number is by no means fixed but there are numerous other factors that can influence this number.

Other factors

Note: As indicated earlier, the number of 120 is not an exact science. There are many other factors that will affect this number:

Do visitors have their QR code in hand when they arrive at the event?
Is the path the visitors have to take to get to the registration desks logically structured.
The amount of experience that the person operating the printer has.
Who is the person operating the printer. We often find that if this person knows the event visitors well, they are more easily inclined to chat, which does not help the flow at the entrance.
Besides scanning the QR code and handing over the badge, are there any additional actions the person at the entrance needs to do? If so, this will also slow down the registration process.
Do you have a dedicated registration desk for problem cases. A “trouble desk” as we also call it can ensure that the flow at the other desks is guaranteed, thus reducing the chance of long queues there as well.