Helpful Tips for Choosing Custom Wrist Bands for Staff & Volunteers

One of the challenges for special events, fairs, and festivals is that they have to manage a large number of temporary staffers and volunteers. It’s important to identify the authorized staff and volunteers to distinguish them from the general population. It may not be feasible nor economical to provide long-term badges to identify workers who will only be employed for a short period. Therefore, one effective method of identification is custom wrist bands.

Custom wristbands printed with the event logo and a special designation of “STAFF” or “VOLUNTEER” can help event organizers and security manage the staff and control access more effectively. Wrist bands are highly visible, brightly colored, and non-transferable so event security can validate that only authorized staff and volunteer workers are permitted access to restricted areas of the event.

In addition to the wording printed on the custom wrist bands, color coding of the bands can be used as a secondary measure for identification. Perhaps volunteers for Saturday are issued yellow custom wrist bands, while Sunday volunteers are identified with blue custom wrist bands. This can be an economical method to further categorize and identify the staff because you can have a single imprint (and therefore single imprint set up fee) while using color coding to indicate a secondary categorization, such as type of employee, access level, day of the week, etc.

Ordering custom wrist bands is simple and these days there are many different ways to customize the bands to promote branding, prevent counterfeits, and accurately identify groups of people. You can choose full-color, multiple colors, foil printing, serial numbering, and even bar coding for a more advanced method of identification.

Here are some helpful tips for ordering custom wrist bands to identify your staff:

• Plan what you will have printed on your custom wrist bands. Include your event’s logo and perhaps event dates. Do you want to include the designation “STAFF” or “VOLUNTEER” or use color coding to indicate an access level?

• Decide the quantity of wrist bands you require for your overall event, including staff, general admission, etc. 
• Consider limiting the number of different imprints for your order and instead opting to use color coding as another method to identify different groups of people (Staff, Volunteers, Performers, Media, General Admission) or different levels of access (concessions, concert, backstage, etc.). This will save you money as you avoid additional custom setup fees or plate charges.
• Determine which style of custom wrist band will best suit your needs. Does it need to be waterproof? Reusable? Non-transferable? How many colors will you need? Is it worth it to have full-color printing to promote the branding?
• It’s always best to order your custom wrist bands in advance of your event by at least four weeks to ensure that you have the wrist bands on hand to distribute to your staff.
• Choose a reputable wristband company such as Precision Dynamics Corporation which has been the number one wristband company since 1954. You don’t want to take any chances with your order. It’s critical to get your wrist bands on time and that they are high quality to meet your expectations.
• Get your artwork files ready. If you plan to print your logo, have a high resolution image file ready to go. You can usually get one from your marketing department. If you’re only printing text, most wristband companies will provide some form of typesetting. Lookout for companies that charge for typesetting though. Precision Dynamics provides typesetting for free.

Determine the date you need to have your custom wrist bands delivered by. Allow yourself plenty of time to be able to effectively distribute them to staff or designated ticketing stations.