In the not-too-distant future, you will be able to check out at the grocery counter stopping only long enough to pick up the receipt – the entire contents of the shopping cart was instantly scanned via RFID. The RFID reader in your car will sense the RF tag in your pocket, unlock the car, set the seats/mirrors and even turn on the car as you approach. The door to your home will unlock and open as you approach, turn on your custom set of lights, and play the music that you have selected in advance. There is a world of opportunities possible with RFID.
What are the hurdles for implementation?
There are two challenges to the widespread adoption of RFID:
- The price (currently from about $.20 to more than $3.00 for passive ID tags): This will come down to a fraction of a cent when methods of printing onto paper are refined.
- Concerns about security and human resistance to change: In the same way that people resisted using bank ATM machines at the start, people will resist this new technology citing concerns about privacy and security. People don’t like change, but in the same way that ATMs are now in wide usage, so will RF tags because of the very significant increases in efficiency.
What are the applications to the meetings industry?
The applications to the meetings are numerous – virtually anywhere that name badges are checked or where leads are exchanged:
- Lead retrieval for exhibitors: Today’s optical scanners or mag stripe badges are cumbersome, time consuming and intrusive. RFID would be much faster and can be tuned to specific read ranges. For example, if desired it could be a 5-foot range to track anyone going by your booth, to a 5-inch range to track specific badges.
- Access control: Scanners at the entrances or meeting rooms could instantly verify that the person has legitimate access to a specific room or rooms.
- CEU tracking: People could be tracked automatically when they enter and exit a room for continuing education unit tracking.
- Access to cyber-cafes will open by sensing your ID: It will not be necessary to type in your name. If there is a message waiting for you, the monitor could automatically flash your name.
- Pick up of registration materials could be easily tracked.
- VIP’s could be tracked to be given specialized service, notifying staff or key sales people when they have come “within range.”
- Crowd flow tracking, for example to assist in exhibit marketing, could be done easily and unobtrusively.
These are just a few of the opportunities. We are already seeing several meeting industry suppliers starting to build RF Tags into badges and other networking products. This is just the beginning, however. The next few years will see widespread deployment.
