Your Guide To Using QR Codes for Attendance

Whether it’s a grade school classroom or a corporate meeting, everyone participates in a roll call at some point in their lives—so we all know how time-consuming and inefficient taking attendance can be.

Thankfully, there’s a much quicker and simpler way to ensure everyone is present and accounted for: Quick Response (QR) Codes. Using these pixelated solutions for attendance can save time and eliminate the risk of manual data entry errors. This is because they integrate with tracking tools, allowing employees, students, or event attendees to sign in and automatically mark their attendance in your system—it only takes a single scan. 

In this guide to using QR Codes for attendance tracking, we’ll show you how this technology makes manual roll calls a relic of the past.

How do you use QR Codes for attendance?

QR Codes are a type of 2D barcode that encodes various kinds of information, including text, URLs, and contact information. A scanner or smartphone (iOS and Android) camera decodes and processes the embedded data, allowing individuals to access information seamlessly.

So, how do you use these nifty solutions for attendance? You can either link them to an attendance form, where attendees fill out their information, or create a unique code for each individual to scan as they enter your event. 

If you choose the first option:

1. Create a form with vital attendee information fields. For example, if you’re an educator who wants to use QR Codes in the classroom to track student attendance, you can include fields like student name, student ID number, email address, and date. 
   
   
2. Generate a link for the form. 
   
   
3. Choose a QR Code generator. 
   
   
4. Attach the link to a QR Code. 
   
   
5. Print the code and position it somewhere every attendee can see, like the classroom entrance. 
   
   
6. Ask attendees to scan the code to access the form and fill out vital details. 

Alternatively, you can create a custom code for each attendee and have them scan the codes as they enter your classroom/event. For this route:

1. Choose an event attendance management system. 
   
   
2. Enter expected attendees’ information and generate unique check-in URLs for each one. 
   
   
3. Generate a custom code for each person using their unique links.
   
   
4. Send the codes via email or print them on badges. 

For this to work, you need to integrate your chosen QR Code generator and event management database. This way, your system logs each QR Code scan automatically. 

Are QR Codes better than using Google Forms or Google Sheets?

While solutions like Google Forms/Sheets and Microsoft Excel are useful, QR Codes provide certain advantages that can enhance attendance tracking:

• QR Code scanning is quicker than manually entering information into a form. 
  
  
• You can integrate QR Codes with a database that automatically logs attendance to boost attendee convenience. 
  
  
• If you choose Dynamic QR Codes, you can update them to serve other purposes after your event. For example, you can use them to direct attendees to a QR Code survey that collects feedback on your event. You can even conduct future conference marketing with QR Codes by redirecting their destinations to event information pages and registration platforms. 

Why are QR Codes good for attendance tracking?

Using a QR Code attendance tracker offers several key benefits. Here are a few of them:

Digital system integration

QR Codes effortlessly integrate with various digital systems, including attendance tracking tools. This allows data to move directly from the QR Codes and scanning devices to other systems, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Attendance data

Taking attendance is only one of the tasks associated with attendance tracking. After taking roll, you have to enter that data into whatever system your school or business uses.

Along with eliminating the need for manual data entry by automatically capturing and transmitting information in real time, using QR Codes to track attendance can provide additional data and insights such as on-time history.

Touch-free accuracy

One big benefit of QR Codes is that you never have to touch them when you scan them. Being touch-free offers a couple of advantages, the first being safety. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing the spread of infectious diseases has been a top priority for many organizations. 

In addition to helping prevent the spread of germs, this also reduces the potential for errors (such as accidentally marking someone absent because your fingers touched the wrong part of the screen).

Flexible customization

QR Codes can link to a wide range of information, allowing you to provide personalized experiences for your students, employees, or event attendees. You can link them to:

• Images or videos that highlight your event
  
  
• Online resources like PDFs containing your event’s schedule and speakers 
  
  
• Event registration forms 

Because of their flexibility, you can use them before, during, and after your event. You just need to update their destinations to direct people wherever you want. 

Environmentally friendly

With reports expecting global solid waste to reach 3.8 billion tons by 2050, it has become increasingly crucial for brands and individuals to opt for environmentally friendly solutions whenever possible. QR Codes are one such solution. 

QR Code attendance tracking is a fully digital solution that eliminates the need for paper lists and attendance forms. While it may not seem like much, creating a new form every day for taking class attendance can waste a lot of paper. Tracking attendance with QR Codes reduces this paper waste, supporting your organization’s green initiatives.

When to use QR Codes for attendance tracking

Whenever you need to record the attendance of a large group of people, QR Codes are the most efficient and accurate way to get the job done. But to be more specific, let’s look at a few settings where tracking attendance via QR Codes makes the most sense:

Education

At large schools and universities, there can sometimes be as many as several hundred students in a single class. Even in smaller ones, tracking attendance with QR Codes is the fastest and most reliable way to make sure students are present. 

You can also use QR Codes in educational institutions to record attendance in non-classroom settings, such as science labs, field trips, and special events.

Events and conferences

Attendance tracking isn’t always required at events and conferences. Still, event attendance tracking offers benefits like improved event planning and increased return on investment (ROI). 

Using QR Codes for event management can provide valuable data to help with future planning. For example, by seeing the number of people who attend your conference (through scan data), you can gauge the numbers to expect at future events. 

Further, you can always repurpose them to deliver more customized guest experiences. Whether this means playing a funny animation when they check in, linking them to the resources they’ll need, or gifting them a digital gift card, QR Codes give you plenty of room for creativity. 

Corporate training sessions

Many organizations choose to track attendance during internal training sessions to ensure all team members are present and participating. QR Codes are ideal for tracking attendance at these events since they make the process quick and hassle-free, ensuring that it doesn’t take up too much time on the schedule.

As with tracking attendance at events and conferences, you can also use the opportunity to create personalized experiences for your employees.

How to set up a QR Code attendance system

Thanks to tools like QR Code Generator PRO, using QR Codes to track attendance has never been easier. Here’s how to set up your QR Code attendance system:

1. Figure out your requirements

First, determine your needs. This includes considerations such as:

• The number of attendees
  
  
• The frequency of events
  
  
• The type of attendance data that you plan to collect

In most situations, a simple check-in system is all you need. However, if you plan to track other details, such as sessions attended within a conference or time of entry, you’ll need a system that can collect this additional data.

2. Sign up for QR Code Generator PRO

To generate QR Codes for attendance tracking, you’ll need to use a tool designed to create custom codes. With QR Code Generator PRO, creating, distributing, and tracking custom QR Codes is quick, easy, and effective.

When you sign up for QR Code Generator PRO, you can make high-resolution, printable QR Codes with just a few clicks. Once you create one for each of your attendees, you can use QR Code Generator PRO’s user-friendly Dashboard to track attendance data and other actionable insights in real time through scan data.

3. Generate your unique QR Codes

After designing your QR Codes, including how they look and the information they store, it’s time to actually generate them. If you want to create a unique code for each event attendee, you’ll need a QR Code generator that allows bulk creation. Thankfully, QR Code Generator PRO allows it with just the tap of a button!

4. Distribute the QR Codes

You have various options when distributing the QR Codes you generate for attendees. You can:

• Print them and put them on cards or badges.
  
  
• Distribute them digitally via email.
  
  
• Position them at the entrance of your event or classroom (for general QR Codes that direct attendees to an attendance form).

5. Set up your scanning infrastructure

Ensuring the scanning process is accessible and efficient is a major step to setting up a QR Code attendance system. You can have attendees scan the QR Codes using their own mobile devices, or you can provide dedicated scanners near the entrance.

Remember, all attendees must be able to scan the QR Codes for this system to work. For example, if you require them to use their own devices, you’ll need to make sure everyone has a smartphone or tablet capable of scanning QR Codes. Alternatively, if you plan to provide the device(s) yourself, ensure you have enough to give out and that each participant can access what they need on the system.

6. Integrate with the database

Centralizing your attendance data in a database is key to keeping it organized and ensuring easy analysis. So, integrate your QR Code system and attendance tracking tool.

With QR Code Generator PRO, the database automatically receives transmitted attendance data for efficient storage and analysis. You can also export the information you collect into shareable CSV reports.

7. Perform a test run

You only have one shot to make a first impression, so you don’t have a lot of room to make mistakes when confirming attendance. 

Once your QR Code attendance system is up and running, it’s a good idea to test it to make sure everything works. Scan each code yourself to ensure:

• You configured the QR Codes properly.
  
  
• The attendance form they link to is functional.
  
  
• The data goes to the database.

Performing this test run ahead of time will help you avoid any hiccups when it’s time for full-scale implementation.

8. Roll out, educate, and monitor

It may take a little while for everyone (including yourself) to get used to the new system, so patience is important. Educate all attendees on how it works and what they need to make sure everything goes smoothly.

As you go about using your new QR Code attendance system, be on the lookout for improvement opportunities. Since QR Codes offer many customization options, you may find plenty of ways to make your attendance system more efficient and insightful.

Embrace the future of attendance tracking with QR Code Generator PRO

Taking attendance manually is a thing of the past. Thanks to clear advantages such as reduced hassle and improved accuracy, QR Codes represent the present and future of attendance tracking.

If you want to create a fully customized QR Code attendance tracking system, QR Code Generator PRO is the perfect tool. It lets you create custom QR Codes for whichever purpose, be it classroom attendance tracking or event attendance monitoring, providing valuable insights to facilitate decision-driven planning. You can generate bulk QR Codes, saving you the time you’d otherwise spend creating a unique code for each attendee. 

Sign up today to see how QR Code Generator PRO makes tracking attendance at schools and events a process that practically runs itself!