Better Networking: How to Design Rock-Star Name Badges

It’s long past time that name badges and nameplates at EVERY meeting, workshop, or conference appropriately facilitated connections, conversation, and community.

Approximate reading time: 10 minutes.

In 2023 you might think we’d no longer need to talk about this. Yet here we are.  Too many groups still produce poorly designed name badges or nameplates for their meetings or conferences.  Perhaps this brief primer can help change this once and for all. Have additional ideas or suggestions? Please add them in a comment.

What’s the Job To Be Done (JTBD)?

Before designing any element of a meeting, workshop, or conference, we should clarify the JTBD.  I suggest that name badges and nameplates should make it easier for people to connect and converse. More specifically, they should help facilitate:

1. Recognition and introductions

2. Connections and community

3. Meaningful conversation

The end goal? Stronger relationships and expanded networks.

Note: Because name badges or nameplates are inaccessible for those who are blind or have low vision, encourage participants to introduce themselves verbally, sharing relevant badge info as appopriate.

What principles can guide better badge design?

With these three objectives identified (or others you determine), we can experiment with different designs that might help achieve them. Here are a few design principles that increase the odds this will occur.

1. Select a badge size and shape that meets your requirements and aspirations.

While it is easy to default to the omnipresent 3.25” x 4.25” size, badge companies offer other options. 

This is especially true if you drop the plastic cases for badges, a worthwhile decision since they are environmentally irresponsible and generally unnecessary.  Any shape can be printed and punched with an opening suitable for attaching a lanyard or clip/pin combo.

But don’t get too crazy.  A human sandwich board is probably a bad idea … or is it?

2.  Use a typeface, font, and font size that ensures a person’s name (or at least the first name) is readable from a reasonable distance. 

So many badges or nameplates fail this critical test. If I have to invade your personal space to read your badge, it is essentially useless.

I strive for name readability from 7-10 feet away.  To test, print a few sample badges, put them on a few colleagues, and assess effectiveness at different distances. Also try them out with one or more people seated to simulate someone in a wheelchair or the mix of positions people might experience before or after a session.

Select a san serif typeface*, one without adornments at the end of the letters (without serifs).  These tend to be more linear, upright, and modern in appearance such as Futura, Helvetica, Calibri, and Verdana.

*Though typeface and font are often used interchangeable, they actually are two different things.  Futura is a typeface; Futura Light is a font.  This 4-minute video nicely explains the distinctions and uses a music analogy that resonates with me:  Futura would be the album title while Futura Medium, Futura Bold, Futura Extra Bold, et all would be song titles.

Here’s what I might initially try for badges:

• First Name: 50-60 point Futura Medium or Bold

• Last Name: 40-48 point Futura Medium or Bold

• Other Info:  20-30 point Futura or Futura Medium

I always drop to a lighter weight font in a smaller size for title and organization unless that info is deemed a priority for distance visibility.

Pick a typeface and font likely to work for the length of the majority of participant names.  Then manually adjust those that don’t.

Color printing gives you another tool to affect contrast and readability, but most badge printing I see is still in black and white.

3.  Determine other “must include” info for the badge.

Conference and/or sponsoring organization branding is probably the other most common element included on name badges.  Personally, I try to allocate the least amount of badge real estate to that info as I can (no more than 10-20%). A huge conference or company logo doesn’t really advance any of the three objectives outlined earlier.

I generally print that information at the bottom of the badge or in rare cases, on the left or right side if the info is narrow in width.  The point is to subordinate the branding to the participant info.  You could even offload it to a ribbon, button (my favorite choice as it serves as a memento), or other separate element that people could add to their badge.

4.  Consider including a networking or conversation catalyst.

Ever notice how some hotel employee name badges include their hometowns?  This piece of information can be a catalyst for conversation with guests that turns a transactional moment (i.e., checking in) into a more relational one.

Adding a comparable element to name badges can be a catalyst for community and conversation, as well as a chance for participant self-expression.  Three ways I often see this done are:

1. People select ribbons that reflect qualities about themselves or topics that interest them and attach them to the bottom of their badge.

2. People do the same with a stamp or sticker placed on the badge itself.

3. A registration question response is pre-populated or space is provided for you to answer on-site such as: Ask me about _________.

Badge Bar at a TEDx Indianapolis conference.

An engaging option I sometimes see at receptions, social events, or workshops (particularly those with a small number of attendees) is a Badge Bar*.  The bar provides arts and craft supplies individuals can use to decorate their badge in more creative and personal ways.

Decorating your badge at the bar is itself a networking activity.  Just instruct people to make sure their badge flair honors its primary purpose: readable names from a distance.

*Be sure to use tables of different heights so your bar provides inclusive access.

Making the most of nameplates

Nameplates have to do some heavy lifting to fulfill the three objectives set out earlier.  Why?  Because room sets often make it more challenging to do so.

I recently participated in a committee meeting where I could not read a single nameplate because the hollow square room set spread us out so much. Someone went to the trouble of creating a 100% dysfunctional tool for almost 20 people.  #fail

Store-bought nameplates are often too small to be very useful.  I make my own using letter-size cardstock in landscape folded in half.  For small rooms or gatherings, portrait layouts can sometimes work (in portrait, do your designs 2-up so two nameplates/page are printed).  The name badge design principles also apply here, but nameplates have a few special considerations.

Four sample black and white nameplates in landscape orientation.

Above are four landscape nameplates I created for sessions I facilitated.  Most names were printed in 144-point Trebuchet Bold, either centered or flush left.  When appropriate or requested, space is provided for adding pronouns.

The lower left nameplate is a slight variation in that the name has been left blank and a section for pronouns has been specified.  Participants are asked to add their name using any of the chisel-point colored markers I supply. A sturdy medium point marker is available for pronouns.

Pro tip: always print a few nameplates with the name area left blank in case unexpected attendees show up or someone’s name needs to be changed.

On the side facing the participant, I sometimes repeat their name as is commonly done, but more often than not I instead include:

• suggestions on how they can be facilitative during the session.

• advice for applying content to context for workshops (see nameplates in the left column above).

• guidance or quotes related to the session purpose if it is a retreat, strategic planning session, et al (see nameplates in the right column above).

I always discuss the nameplate content at the onset of the session.  If names were printed on both sides, I’ll provide the other info on a table tent or in some other manner.

But wait, there’s more!

You still have the blank 11”x8.5” nameplate surface that is not being displayed.  If we’re acting with intention, why not use that space to facilitate community-building or learning?

For staff or board retreats, I might provide everyone with a sheet of labels containing different positive adjectives/qualities (creative, strategic, empathetic, great listener, et al), one per label.  Print the adjectives PDF below on 1/2" x 1-3/4" blank return address labels.

Adjective List

14KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

During breaks and lunch, I invite participants to place labels on the underside of colleagues’ nameplates, ones that reflect their perceptions of them or qualities that they appreciate in them.  My label sheets include a few blanks for write-ins.

You’d be surprised how many people take their nameplates upon departure when they contain useful feedback.  At the end of a retreat, I often include a little time for people to read and react to how others perceive or appreciate them.

For workshops, I might include a few reflection questions or prompts on the blank side and have people respond to them during a designated reflection and application segment.  Or leave it blank and encourage people to write down “aha moments” and other takeaways as they occur during the session.

Bottom Line

Acting with intention is the hallmark of great facilitation.  Every choice we make can help accelerate progress on the desired outcomes for a meeting or workshop.  It’s long past time that name badges and nameplates at EVERY meeting, workshop, or conference appropriately facilitated connections, conversation, and community.

Bonus Provocation:

If you eliminated name badges (some conferences have), how else might you facilitate networking, connections, and community-building?

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© Facilitate Better and Jeffrey Cufaude, 2023. All rights reserved.

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