When planning events, event managers often think about the big picture, such as speakers, venues, and catering. However, the small things can have the most lasting impact in making an event memorable and something attendees will remember for months.
These two simple items do much more than you may think. Badges can physically organise your event. They can also help promote your brand message and leave attendees with a special token to take home. For event managers looking to differentiate themselves, badges and pins offer an affordable way to achieve this.
Why Badges and Pins Really Matter at Events
Your Brand Goes Everywhere
Unlike posters and banners mounted on a wall, custom badges and pins travel with your attendees. Every person wearing your pin becomes a mobile billboard for your event. They will wear them at coffee breaks, during networking, and even after they get home. This free marketing continues long after the event is finished.
Keep Things Organised
Clear identification is what makes an event look professional! When staff wears badges, attendees can easily identify them for assistance. When your speakers have special pins, everyone knows they are speaking/what their role is. You'll find that this simple system makes your event run much smoothly and makes people feel more comfortable.
Create a Sense of Belonging
When all attendees at the event wear the same badge or pin, it creates an atmosphere of belonging to something special. The feeling of belonging to a group of people creates community, which increases engagement and encourages participation in activities/discussions.
Different Types of Badges and Pins for Your Events
Basic Event Badges
Modern badges can do a lot more than just display names; you can also add QR codes for sharing contact information or various colours to represent the different types of attendees. Lanyard badges continue to be popular, but magnetic badges are also an option - both are durable options.
Custom Lapel Pins
Custom Lapel pins featuring brand logo or event theme seem less like promotional items and more like gifts. These make a great addition to a corporate event, conference, or any event to make a memorable impression. People often collect these pins for display.
Awards and Recognition Pins
Special pins can recognise competitions, training, or accomplishments, if an event features competitions, training, or accomplishments. Completion pins are a great option to motivate people to complete workshops, and a "winner" pin can make competitions exciting. These pins (recognition items) give a person something to physically show as their "reward".
Staff and VIP Pins
Staff pins identify assistance, speaker pins identify important presenters, and VIP pins create an atmosphere of exclusivity for special guests. The use of colour in this visual identification allows attendees to find the right person at the time. It helps improve how your event flows by visually identifying the types of people and their roles.
Simple Design Tips That Work
Keep Your Brand Consistent
Use the same colours, fonts, and style of your logo that you use everywhere else. Consistency builds recognition of your brand, and it keeps your event organised and professional-looking. Don't try to reinvent your brand just for badges and pins.
Less Is More
Don’t overload the badge or pin with too much information. Keep to the most important things - logo, event name, or person’s name. A clean, simple design is more readable and creates a more professional look.
Make Them Worth Keeping
Insert the date of your event or a special note to give the item a sense of being collectable. When people feel they should keep your badge or pin, your brand enjoys extended exposure.
Choose the Right Materials
Metal and enamel pins feel more premium and are a great option for special events. Plastic badges can help you stick to a budget when purchasing for a larger group. Wood materials may appeal to companies that care about the environment. Choose what works for your event and budget.
Real Benefits for Event Planning
Easier Crowd Control
It is easier to manage an event when the staff, speakers, and types of attendees are easily identifiable. Security is better and attendees know whom to approach when they need other services.
More Value for Sponsors
Badges and pin badges allow you to acknowledge your sponsors without taking up space in your other materials. Placing the sponsor's logo on a pin badge gives your sponsor some exposure while beautifully displaying the sponsor's name without adding clutter to your design.
Great Value for Money
Custom badges and lapel pins provide excellent results at a reasonable price compared to promotional items or elaborate giveaways. Even premium materials can be affordable for most event budgets.
What's Popular Right Now (2025)
Eco-Friendly Options
More organisations want environmentally friendly materials for their recognition items, and recycled metals, sustainable wood and biodegradable plastics are appealing to companies that are interested in their environmental footprint.
Clean, Modern Looks
People prefer simple, elegant designs over busy, flashy ones. People like badges and pins that are simple and professional-looking instead of busy and complicated.
Collectible Series
Companies that plan multiple events create pin collections that encourage people to attend more events. In this way, they promote community and provide people with reasons to come back to events regularly.
Why Choose RD Custom Awards
At RD Custom Awards, we understand the needs of event managers. We are leading manufacturers of custom badges, lapel pins, medals, and trophies. Over the years, we have been confident in our ability to create the right items to assist the success of your events.
We work with your timeline and budget to deliver exactly what you need. Whether you're planning a meeting for 5 or a conference for 200, we help you with the right materials and designs for each specific situation.
Our experience with many event managers shows our ability to solve any problem, and we take pride every day to deliver a quality product on time, each time. When your reputation is on the line for all the details to be right, we hold ourselves to your same standard.
Making Your Events Better with Simple Details
Great events come from thoughtful planning and memorable gestures that people appreciate. Badges and lapel pins can improve your events while establishing a stronger connection to attendees without breaking the bank.
Smart event managers have learned that you can find success by paying attention to the details that matter to people. When you add thoughtful badges and pins to your event, you are demonstrating your invitational care for their experience and also creating an opportunity for ongoing brand exposure.
Are you ready to enhance your next event by offering custom badges and lapel pins that people will actually want to keep? At RD Custom Awards, we will create recognition items, badges, and lapel pins that serve to remember your event. We will work with you to design and deliver impressive custom products that satisfy your objectives and your budget.
