Audi FIS Ski World Cup Špindlerův Mlýn 2023 - accreditations and access control

Organizing an event such as the FIS World Cup requires meeting a wide range of specific conditions and measures, including those that apply to accreditations and access control. Whether it is the strict rules governing who may enter each zone, or the specifics of issuing accreditations to individual FIS officials, partners, teams and media. 

In total, the venue contains 12 zones that individual attendees can access according to their assigned permissions. At the entrance to each zone, we use unique QR codes on the accreditation cards to control access. 

Teams, athletes, FIS staff 

From FIS we received a database of 2,500 people authorized to enter the venue, along with their assigned zones and photographs of each individual. We imported this list into Inviton and generated accreditation cards marked with the numbers of the zones the attendee may access, along with their name, photo and a unique QR code, which we then scanned at the entrance to each zone. 

At the accreditation desk in the Race Office, these cards were then issued to the individual teams and FIS attendees. 

Team accreditation in the race office works differently from the standard accreditation of other attendees. One team representative comes to collect the accreditation cards, which are prepared in an envelope. The envelopes are prepared based on data filtered from the system by nationality, which allowed us to make the printing of accreditation cards more efficient and faster. 

Staff, Organizing Committee

Each group leader (Volunteers, Catering staff, Paramedics…) created a list of their team members and assigned each of them access permissions based on the accreditation matrix. We imported these lists into the system, which generated accreditation cards with a photo, QR code and authorized zones ready for printing. 

Media

Media registration took place directly on the website https://www.worldcupspindl.cz/ via our registration widget. Journalists filled in a form where they entered all the data required to grant media accreditation, along with the photo that would appear on their accreditation card. Journalists received an automatic email confirming receipt of their registration along with further information. Based on the data provided, SPR Media granted or rejected accreditations and selected the accreditation type for each journalist (Photo, Press, Rightholders, Non-Rightholders). Based on this data, Inviton can create the appropriate accreditation cards and, when controlling access with QR code scanners, allow or deny journalists entry to the individual zones. 

VIP registrations

At the World Cup we registered VIP guests in several ways - commercial ticket sales, RSVP invitations, and guestlists. 

1. Customers could purchase VIP tickets through the sales widget placed on the website https://www.worldcupspindl.cz/ where they paid for the tickets by card and received an automatic customized email with VIP instructions, partner logos and a ticket with a unique QR code attached. 
2. We sent invited guests an RSVP invitation email that included Accept / Decline buttons. After clicking the Accept button, they were able to complete the registration themselves, and based on that they received an email with instructions and a ticket with a QR code. If one of the invited guests changed, the invited guest could change the name of the registered attendee directly. 
3. For partners entitled to a certain number of entries as part of their partnership, we generated a guestlist (with an agreed, limited number of places for each ticket type) that they could manage themselves and add to, edit, or delete individual attendees on their own. After an attendee was registered on the guestlist, that attendee likewise received an email with a ticket and a QR code.

VIP parking

The VIP ticket included reserved VIP parking, where we used a mobile terminal (scanner) to scan the unique QR codes so that only attendees entitled to park could access the car park, since parking capacity in Špindl is limited. 

VIP accreditation

At the accreditation desk, VIP guests exchanged their ticket for a wristband that entitled them to enter the individual VIP zones. To make the hostesses' work easier, the scanners display the ticket type plus a color indication of the wristband they should issue to the attendee. The second check when issuing wristbands (to ensure the correct wristband is issued) is scanning / matching the wristband to the visitor's ticket, where the system will not allow an incorrect wristband to be scanned. 

For guests who did not bring their ticket with a QR code, the hostesses could look them up on the tablet by the guest's name and mark the wristband as issued. 

Access control

To control access to the individual zones we used 25 scanners, with which security staff and the VIP hostesses scanned the QR codes on attendees' accreditations, or the QR codes on wristbands at the VIP zone. Scanning QR codes has several advantages over visually checking attendees: 

1. Lower error rate - the scanner evaluates whether the visitor is authorized to enter the zone and shows a green or red light on the display.
2. Faster checks - once an attendee sees that QR codes are being scanned at the gate, they will already have their accreditation or wristband ready for the next entry. 

All the scanners we used for access control are online and can therefore work in real time with all new and updated accreditations and tickets, and evaluate whether a given attendee is authorized to enter a zone.  

Statistics

In Špindl we issued more than 4,200 accreditations in total, of which more than 2,000 were VIP accreditations, each featuring the attendee's photo, printed from the Inviton system – with different graphics depending on the accreditation type and the zones the attendee could access.

At the zone entrances we performed more than 15,000 scans, ensuring that only attendees who were authorized to enter could access the zones. 

We thank the organizers and the entire staff, and we look forward to the next World Cup in Špindl.