QR for event attendance

[KaitlynNelson1]

Hi there, 

We have been tasked to created the event registration process for a huge event coming up this year. They want a pdf file to be in the registration confirmation and reminder emails that will have a QR code for each session they have signed up for. The idea is that the pdf will probably contain multiple QR codes unique to each registrant and will be scanned when they enter the session in the event. 

Is there a straightforward process for this? 🙂 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Well, a PDF isn't gonna be “in” a Marketo email,  no matter what. Attachments aren't supported. But you can of course link to a PDF from a Marketo email, and the PDF can be dynamically generated. (It’s not a static file hosted somewhere but rather generated on-the-fly so it can use all manner of Marketo personalization, just like a Marketo LP.)

The approach is quite simple: a Marketo LP calls a service like qr.io to embed a QR code in the body of the page alongside other personalized content, header, footer, etc. 

Then your email link is to PDFMyURL (not directly to the LP). When they click, the LP URL content is turned into a PDF automatically.

The effect is that they download/open a PDF with exactly the same look-and-feel as the Marketo LP.

[KaitlynNelson1]

I guess I'm wondering how I am going to be able to generate QR codes for each session. So they want the experience to be: 

A person can sign up for multiple sessions within the 3 days (they can choose between 100+). After they register on our landing page, they should get QR codes for each session they registered for so they can scan it when entering the session. We then want to include a pdf form for them to print out so they can have a physical copy as well. 

I'm also having a hard time wrapping my head around the architecture of it all. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

I guess I'm wondering how I am going to be able to generate QR codes for each session. S

---

Well, a prerequisite is to store their registered sessions in a Marketo field.

Showing QR codes on an LP that has access to that field’s {{lead.token}} — and generating PDFs from that LP — is the easy part IMO.

Because you must pull the sessions into an LP using a {{lead.token}}, you can’t use Custom Objects (which might otherwise be the right way) to store the sessions.  Instead, you should write all the registered sessions to a single Textarea field.

Then output that {{lead.token}} into the page. Parse the individual sessions out. Pass each session to your QR code generator API. Embed the QR code as a regular <img>. And so on.  

[KaitlynNelson1]

So if we have the 150 sessions to choose from at this event, I would only need one single text field? Wouldn't I need to created 150 different fields for these sessions? I would hate to do that, but I think that may be needed?

[SanfordWhiteman]

You can easily store thousands of Boolean-ish fields in a single Textarea using a standard format like JSON. That’s all you need for this process. For example, if each event is represented by a numeric string:

["1234", "4567", "6789"]

Of course your form needs to send the values in this format — easily done but you haven’t really explained how/where registration is being done in the first place. Once it’s in Marketo, forming event registration URLs from this data, creating QR codes for those URLs, and creating PDFs with the QR codes is simple.    

[KaitlynNelson1]

So registration will happen on a landing page/form that we are building. Then they want to use the QR codes to be scanned to get in the event (I just now learned that they don't know what application they would like to use for this so I also need to solve for this portion - If you have suggestions that would be awesome. Assuming we can use something that will scan their QR codes and it will give us data back unique to them and maybe switch their status to attended?). 

So if they sign up for 15 sessions from our landing page, we want the confirmation email to include the information for all sessions they signed up for as well as a link to a pdf that they can print. When they arrive at the event, they want to scan the codes to count their attendance. 

Another unrelated question is that they want to do registration caps for these sessions (150 sessions). I have used flowboost to create that cap before, but just want to verify that I will need to create one event program for the whole event, and then 150 event program for each session? Is that how I will need to do it since they want to cap registration for sessions?

Sorry for so many questions - this is a new ask for a huge event and I'm trying to figure out all the little pieces before starting to build anything.

[SanfordWhiteman]

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So registration will happen on a landing page/form that we are building. Then they want to use the QR codes to be scanned to get in the event (I just now learned that they don't know what application they would like to use for this so I also need to solve for this portion - If you have suggestions that would be awesome. Assuming we can use something that will scan their QR codes and it will give us data back unique to them and maybe switch their status to attended?). 

Any QR code reader app will work, including a consumer-grade mobile app like Google Lens. Of course those can be cumbersome to use quickly (i.e. with people lining up for an event), which is why barcode scanner hardware is easier.

The key in all cases is that scanning the QR code and opening the QR-encoded URL opens a Landing Page that auto-submits a Marketo form. Then everything else is done in Marketo Smart Campaigns.

So if they sign up for 15 sessions from our landing page, we want the confirmation email to include the information for all sessions they signed up for as well as a link to a pdf that they can print. When they arrive at the event, they want to scan the codes to count their attendance. 

Sure, makes sense.

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Another unrelated question is that they want to do registration caps for these sessions (150 sessions). I have used flowboost to create that cap before, but just want to verify that I will need to create one event program for the whole event, and then 150 event program for each session? Is that how I will need to do it since they want to cap registration for sessions?

From FlowBoost’s standpoint, you don’t need a Marketo event program for each session. FlowBoost can maintain 150 separate event counters with just 1 Marketo program (you pass it the whole field that includes 1234, 5678, and 7890 and it updates all those counters). You can fetch the counts for all those counters in parallel — I may have to put up a blog post that shows how to do this part — to grey out certain sessions on the form, etc.

Just remember as you build this out to not silo people off, e.g. the form needs to be designed with this application in mind, the LP needs to pull in the QR code dynamically, etc. It’s not so tough a project but has a lot of moving parts.

[KaitlynNelson1]

1. I'm not sure how I would set up a LP from a QR code that auto submits a form with their unique info in it. Do you know examples or documentation for this?

2. I've used flowboost for a single event but not for multiple that live inside one parent event. I don't see documentation on this in flowboost docs.. any help there?

3.  Not sure how to generate the unique pdf that needs to be generated. Any ideas? 

So sorry for all the questions.. I'm trying to figure out how to tie this all together and do not have experience with these pieces. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

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1. I'm not sure how I would set up a LP from a QR code that auto submits a form with their unique info in it. Do you know examples or documentation for this?

The QR-encoded URL includes goes to an LP with a hidden form. It also includes a special query parameter, or perhaps a hash like #submit. Then a little JS on the page checks for that special marker to auto-submit. At its simplest:

if( document.location.hash === "#submit" ) {
  MktoForms2.whenReady(function(readyForm){
    readyForm.submit();
  });
}

You of course make sure to include the Email Address in the URL as well, so it can be used to fill the hidden Email field on the form.

2. I've used flowboost for a single event but not for multiple that live inside one parent event. I don't see documentation on this in flowboost docs.. any help there?

Not so much a FlowBoost thing as standard JS. Instead of running FBCounter.autoAdd once, you run it multiple times in parallel.

let counterBase = "/regLimitCounters/forEvent";
let eventNames =  {{lead.Requested Events}}.split(",");

Promise.all( 
  eventNames.map( name => 
    FBCounter.autoAdd(counterBase + "/" + name)
  )
);

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3.  Not sure how to generate the unique pdf that needs to be generated. Any ideas? 

That’s where you turn to PDFMyURL (there are other such services but I’ve used this one and it works very well).