As we transition back to in-person events with a traditional packet pickup experience, it’s important to consider implementing some new strategies to support the health and safety of your participants, volunteers, and event staff.
Packet pickup can often be busy and draw large crowds, so we’ve put together a few suggestions for maintaining a safe and seamless packet pickup experience for your participants.
Scheduled check-in times
Requesting that each participant books a specific time slot for checking-in or grabbing their race kit is a great way to ensure that only a small group of participants will be at your packet pickup station at one time. You can use Race Roster’s products functionality to create various time-slots and set a limit on the number of participants that can book each time slot. This will help you control the amount of participants showing up during each specific time frame, allowing you to achieve a smooth and spread out packet pickup process.
We’ve put together detailed instructions on how to configure your event for participants to book time slots for packet pickups.
Leverage the Onsite App and barcode scanners
To help sift through the waves of participants arriving at the same time for packet pickup, Race Roster’s Onsite App used in conjunction with barcode scanners will help your volunteers get every participant checked-in efficiently. In fact, we believe this process can be achieved in under 5 seconds per person.
The video above showcases the use of the Race Roster Onsite App, dynamically assigned bibs with scannable bar codes and the use of our recommended scanners.
Check out this past article to learn more about leveraging scanners to speed-up your check-in process.
Try computer-less check-in
Using pre-assigned bibs, printed signage, and Race Roster’s bib look-up tool, you can clear up some room in your packet-pickup space by removing computers from the process. We recommend printing large QR codes on your signage so that participants can scan them with their phones – taking them to our bib look-up page, where they can quickly look up their bib number and the bib number of anyone they are checking-in.
Host your packet pick up outdoors where possible
Distribute your packet pick up locations across regional running stores. Our Onsite App’s check-in feature allows each location to have a secure log-in and can search or mark participants as picked up across several locations and timeframes. This way you can see how many have picked up and how many are remaining, while avoiding handing out a packet twice to someone who has already received their items. The check-in feature of our Onsite App will save you from printing paper lists and prevent you from struggling to keep track of logistics at more than one location.
Additionally, we recommend using clear signage to help participants find the correct station and lay out tape to ensure participants waiting in line are maintaining a safe physical distance.
If you have any questions about these solutions, we’re happy to help! Please contact us at director@raceroster.com or timer@raceroster.com.
