u/Fit-Firefighter-8943

We had a conference recently where the Wi-Fi looked fine during testing the day before. We tested with a few tablets, badge printers and laptops and had no issues. Once around 800 attendees arrived, things started falling apart. Tablets kept disconnecting, badge printers became slow, and staff had to keep refreshing the check-in system. The venue Wi-Fi showed a strong signal, so I am assuming the issue was capacity rather than coverage.

For the next event, what should we be testing beforehand?

We have a three day retail pop up coming up and need several checkout devices. I don’t want to buy hardware that will sit unused afterward, but I also don’t want the team wasting opening morning installing updates and figuring out settings.

Has anyone used a short term POS rental for this kind of setup?

We’re sponsoring a two-day industry conference and want to make the booth more hands on this time. The idea is to let people try a short product demo while they’re standing there, but the hardware part is annoying. Buying ipads, stands, chargers, cases, and backup gear for one short event feels wasteful.

Using the team’s personal laptops and phones also feels messy. Different screen sizes, notifications popping up, low batteries, someone needing their device back, etc.

For anyone who has handled sponsor booths or conference activations, do you usually rent demo devices for the event or bring your own?

At a fundraiser we worked on, one checkout station stopped connecting during the busiest part of the night. The printer company told us to call the payment provider. The payment provider said it was probably the wi-fi. Meanwhile, guests were waiting to pay for auction items and nobody on site knew who owned the issue.
We got it working eventually, but it made me realize that having the equipment isn’t enough. You need someone who understands the full event setup and can help in real time.
What kind of support do you usually have in place for fundraisers?

we’re planning a three day pop-up in a space that has never been used for retail.
payments, wi-fi, printers, displays, and staff setup all need to work from day one, but there’s no existing infrastructure to rely on.
for anyone who has done this, what usually gets overlooked when turning a temporary space into a working store?

We had a conference setup recently where the devices showed up the day before and the team ended up spending most of the night charging everything, installing apps, signing into accounts, labeling devices, and testing printers.
None of that was supposed to be our main job, but it took attention away from speaker prep, registration planning, and the venue setup.
For teams running larger events, do you handle all of this in-house or work with someone who sends everything ready to use?

We have a larger conference coming up and most attendees will probably arrive within the same hour in the morning.
My worry is that even a small issue at check in could turn into a huge line fast. Slow tablets, badge printers connecting to the wrong station, scanners not reading properly, or staff not knowing who to call can hold up hundreds of people.
It’s frustrating because you can spend months planning the speakers, sessions, food, and venue, then the first thing attendees experience is standing in a crowded line while the team tries to fix a printer.
For anyone who has managed high volume conference check in, what made the biggest difference?