To register dealers for a conference with QR cards, collect each dealer’s name, mobile number and zone once, load them as the registered list, and give every dealer a personal QR pass inside the app. Staff scan the pass at the door, and the same list tells you who has not arrived.
What “QR card” should mean for a dealer meet
Dealers are not a typical conference audience. They arrive in delegations from a zone or a distributor, often with an owner and one or two staff, and the person who registered is not always the person who walks in. They also expect a gift bag, a lunch coupon and a seat at the right table. A card that only says “Registered” does not help the desk.
In practice a QR card is the dealer’s personal identity, shown on a phone, that resolves to a row in your registered list. At the gate, a scan shows who they are, which zone they belong to and whether the scan is accepted. Everything else (lunch, gala, return bus) hangs off the same identity.
Android dominates the Indian handset base: 93.89% of mobile operating-system share against 6.05% for iOS in September 2026 (StatCounter, 2026). Plan for Android as the default dealer phone, and test the pass on an older, dimmer screen before launch.
Step 1: one registration sheet, with the fields the desk needs
Build one spreadsheet. The minimum columns are name, mobile number, email (optional), company or distributor name, zone, designation and number of companions. Add dietary preference or gift-size only if the desk will actually use it.
Do not collect fields you will not read on the day. Each extra field is an extra chance of a mismatch, and each dealer you chase for it is a call you could have avoided.
Step 2: decide the entry rule per person
Dealers split into categories that need different rules. Write the rule beside the category:
| Category | Entry rule | Pass behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Registered dealer principal | Allowed all days | Entry pass on Home |
| Dealer’s staff member | Allowed, listed against the principal | Own row, own pass |
| Spouse or family | Allowed for gala only | Time window on that activity |
| Walk-in not on list | Desk approval | Added by an organiser, then scanned |
The point of a table like this is that the rule is agreed in advance by the sales head, not decided by a volunteer at the gate.
Step 3: load the list and test the login
Import the sheet as the member list. When a dealer opens the app, they enter their mobile number, receive a one-time code and land in the right group. Check three cases before launch: a dealer whose number is on the list, a number that is not, and an international dealer who needs an email instead of a phone number. A number that is not on the list should be refused, not admitted.
India had 1.03 billion internet users in October 2025 (DataReportal, 2026), so most dealers can receive a code, but a small share will have a number registered to someone else. Ask for the number they will answer on, not the one on the GST certificate.
Step 4: tell dealers exactly what to open
Your invitation message needs one sentence, repeated: open the app, log in with the number you registered, and open the Entry Pass tile on Home. Add a second line about brightness, because a dimmed screen is the most common cause of a failed scan. If you also print physical cards with the same QR for dealers who do not want to open the app, treat the print as your own arrangement: Sociana provides an on-screen pass and organiser scan, not badge printing.
Step 5: staff the door by zone
For a five-hundred-dealer conference, run lanes by zone rather than a single queue. Give each lane a steward with the organiser scanner open and a phone with a charger. A scan returns the person’s name, mobile, email, designation and city, which is enough for the steward to greet the dealer by name and point them to the right table.
Set the attendance rule for each activity: the opening session, the lunch, the gala dinner and the return coach. Each can have its own window and its own repeat-scan limit, so a lunch coupon cannot be used twice.
Step 6: close the loop after the event
At the end of Day 1, export who was scanned in and who was not. The no-show list is a useful sales call: a dealer who did not turn up to a partner meet is a conversation your area manager should have. After the final day, reconcile the scan log with your registered list and archive it.
Pitfalls
Printing cards before the list is final. Late additions and spelling changes cost more than the printing saved. If you must print, print from a locked list.
One pass per company. A single QR for a distributor lets six people in on one scan. Issue a pass per person and cap repeats.
No manual path. Phones die and batteries drain. Keep a lookup lane at the desk where a steward can find a name and mark them in.
How Sociana handles this
The entry pass and personal QR puts the pass on the Home screen and the personal QR in Profile, as one identity. Organisers read the code through the scanner on their own Profile screen. QR attendance and activities lets you set time windows, group eligibility and repeat-scan limits per activity. Member imports create the dealer list with zone and city fields, and OTP login checks the number against it.
HCCB Partners Meet 2026 in Goa used a partner list as the whitelist, phone OTP for domestic partners and email OTP for international guests, with content scoped by group. See the HCCB Partners Meet case study.
Frequently asked questions
Do dealers need to install the app to be registered?
They need the app to show the pass on their phone, but registration itself lives in your list. Keep a manual lookup at the desk for anyone who has not installed it yet.
Can I issue one QR card per dealer company?
You can, but it defeats the purpose. A shared code cannot tell who walked in. Issue one pass per person and use the repeat-scan limit to flag duplicates.
What happens when a dealer’s pass does not scan?
The usual fix is to reopen the code from Profile and scan again. If that fails, the steward searches the list by name or mobile and marks them in, and the attendance record stays complete.
Can we print QR cards for dealers without smartphones?
You can arrange printing yourselves with the same code, but Sociana does not supply badge printing or kiosk hardware. Treat printed cards as a back-up, not the main route.
Related reading
Glossary: QR entry pass, personal QR, repeat-scan limit, whitelist. Occasion hubs: dealer and partner meets and corporate annual meets. Browse templates and checklists for a registration sheet.