Is facial recognition valuable to your event?

Facial recognition will bring changes to the event industry. However, alongside the cost, there are concerns about privacy and how attendee data is stored and used. 

It could be of great benefit, particularly at large-scale events. But would your attendees be comfortable knowing they are being watched?

Facial recognition technology

The recognition technology is becoming more advanced each year and is now being used commercially as biometric identification in place of passwords. 

It has also been introduced by the Metropolitan Police in London. 

Cameras in popular locations will scan passers-by to find criminals and suspicious individuals. This Computer Weekly guide looks at the use of facial recognition technology by UK police forces, and where it’s heading next. The guide includes police facial recognition controversies, including how it originally had ‘no firm legal basis, poor transparency and questionable accuracy (especially for women and people with darker skin tones)’.  

The EU Parliament adopted a ban on facial recognition in public places in 2023. While the technology may not be introduced to the rest of Europe soon, it can still be used for events.

Facial recognition technology is still new and daunting for the events industry. Organisers and attendees will need to experience it and see the benefits, before trusting it.

Will facial recognition improve the attendee’s experience?

Event attendees can opt-in to share a photo when registering and supply certain pieces of personal data. Then, faces can be scanned on arrival at the event, avoiding the need to queue for a badge. Or attendees can check on-site at a kiosk which produces a badge. 

The new radio frequency identification (RFID) badge has a code which can be detected by an electronic reader. It is far easier and quicker to detect than the current method of manually scanning badges.

It can also add another level of security if only people who have registered in advance and have been approved are permitted to join.

Data about the event can be collected and analysed in real-time. For example, in the conference rooms judge how well attended the sessions are, the number of attendees in breakout sessions, demographics of attendees, and the number of attendees for catering. 

A further step is to detect facial expressions to judge the interest in presentations and assess positive and negative reactions. Facial recognition cameras can also be used at exhibitions to find out how people navigate the event, which stands they visit and how long they stay there.

This technology can impress attendees and many will find it a fun and exciting experience. It will enable an attendee to have a completely personalised event, as a camera recognises a delegate’s face wherever they go. When they arrive, their badge will be printed automatically, in seconds.

Considerations

However, event organisers need to reassure attendees about how their data will be used. Where and how long it will be stored? How does it take UK GDPR into account? 

In the USA, guidelines on the use of facial recognition are falling behind. There are calls for federal legislation and an executive order, as well as attention from courts, the private sector, civil society organizations, and other organisations that work with facial recognition technology and provide guidance for the technology’s responsible development and deployment.

The technology does have its problems and will need to be addressed so that facial recognition can be used effectively. As with all technology, it can make errors and incorrectly identify attendees, leading to confusion and frustration. It can also be costly and time-consuming to set up and integrate into the event.