If anyone has any doubts that radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and its use at meetings, is a passing fancy, that notion can be put to rest right now. RFID World 2006, slated for Feb. 27 through March 1 at the Gaylord Resort Hotel near Dallas, Texas, has sold out, drawing 172 RFID companies from North America, Europe, China and Korea.
The number of exhibitors represents a 35 percent increase over this year’s event. Texas Instruments returns for the fourth consecutive year as the Signature Sponsor of RFID World, with other sponsors including such big players as Sun Microsystems, ADT/Tyco, Microsoft, ThingMagic, IBM, Tagsys, Oracle, Alien Technologies and SAP.
In the meetings and trade show space, RFID has gained notice recently in the use of “smart badges” and lead-retrieval systems, whereby attendees' information and interests are read automatically by special readers.
The technology also is expected to be used beginning early next year in new passports issued to federal employees, and all new and renewed passports will contain the chips by October. The RFID chips will have the capability of radioing to border officials the personal information of passport holders.
The technology has not been without its critics. Some have worried about privacy issues, and the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation have opposed attaching RFID chips to passports, arguing that criminals might surreptitiously scan travelers' passports at airports and other points of entry.
RFID was a hot topic at last summer's MeetingWorld, the conference and trade show for meetings professionals sponsored by MeetingNews and Successful Meetings magazine. Presenters noted the benefits of the technology, but also the caveats, discussing how RFID badges can broadcast personal information without an attendees' knowledge. Panel experts signaled that meetings privacy is an issue that will continue to grow and change as technological capabilities advance.