Short answer. Business cards are fine for a small stall with a few conversations a day. A lead retrieval app wins when many visitors pass the stall, several staff share the work and follow-up must be fast and provable. It also records consent, which a pile of cards does not.
Disclosure. Sociana publishes this page and sells an event app, so we have an interest in approach two. We say where the other approach wins, use no statistic without a dated source, and last reviewed it on 19 Oct 2026.
What each approach is
Business cards
Visitors hand over a card or drop it in a bowl; staff add notes by hand and key the details into a sheet after the show.
Lead retrieval app
The exhibitor scans each visitor’s personal QR from an app, adds notes, and sees a scan log and live counts. The organiser can see aggregate figures; the exhibitor owns the list.
Decision table: cost, effort, data, risk and scale
| Dimension | Business cards | Lead retrieval app |
|---|---|---|
| Cost. Cost as visitors grow from 100 to 2,000 | Cards are free; data entry hours and lost cards grow with visits | App cost shared across exhibitors; per-lead cost falls as scans rise |
| Effort. Effort to set up and run | None before the show; days of typing afterwards | Exhibitor onboarding and a scanning habit; export is instant |
| Data. Data you keep | Whatever got typed; no timestamp or consent record | A scan log with times, notes and counts per stall |
| Risk. Risk | Lost cards, illegible notes, slow follow-up | Visitors without a QR, signal issues, privacy expectations |
| Scale. Scale | Strains at busy stalls | Parallel scanning by several staff |
When business cards win
- Low footfall and long conversations.
- Visitors dislike scanning.
- No phones or no signal in the hall.
When a lead retrieval app wins
- Hundreds of visitors per stall.
- Several staff on one stall.
- The organiser wants proof of exhibitor value.
- Follow-up within a day matters.
How Sociana fits
Sociana’s My Stall gives each exhibitor a control panel: scan visitors with notes, live counts of scans and unique visitors, the scan log, stall chats and stall content. Visitors carry a personal QR in their entry pass. There is no hosted-buyer matchmaking or badge printing.
Features involved: Exhibitor My Stall & lead capture, Delegates directory & QR contact exchange, Reports & exports, Entry pass & personal QR.
Worked example: Bengaluru Wedding Fraternity Meet Up 4.0
At the Bengaluru Wedding Fraternity Meet Up 4.0, registration and payment lived on a web page, so the app recognised paid delegates, kept networking closed to the unpaid, and gave every exhibitor a stall they could run from their phone, with Scan a Visitor, a Scan Log and stall chat. The case lesson is that giving each stall its own scan log turns a crowded floor into a lead list the exhibitor owns. No date or counts are stated.
Read the case study: Bengaluru Wedding Fraternity Meet Up 4.0.
What to keep when you switch
Keep a card bowl for a prize draw if it brings people in, and let visitors choose whether to be scanned. Export the scan log the same day.
FAQ
Is consent needed to scan a visitor?
Treat the scan as an action the visitor initiates by showing their QR, and tell exhibitors how they may use the data. Under India’s DPDP Act, rules are being phased in, with further provisions from 13 November 2026 (Wikipedia).
Who owns the leads?
Define it before the show. In My Stall, each exhibitor sees their own scan log.
What if a visitor has no app?
Offer a manual add by name or phone, or a printed QR card.
Can organisers see exhibitors’ leads?
Decide this beforehand and confirm in writing what the organiser can see and export.
Keep reading
- Buyer guide: /best/exhibition-apps-india/
- Related comparison: /compare/paper-badges-vs-qr-check-in/
- Case study: Bengaluru Wedding Fraternity Meet Up 4.0
- How Sociana is priced: pricing
Sources and disclosure
- DPDP Act commencement: en.wikipedia.org (2025)
- Case study: BWF Meet Up 4.0
- Method and structure: Sociana’s own comparison, reviewed 19 Oct 2026
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