One neat idea they had at Google I/O that I had never seen before was that they offered you the option to embed a vCard with your contact info as a QR code on your badge.
I've had people give me their business cards at conferences, and the cards just sit in the bottom of my bag. If I scanned someone's badge and immediately added them to my contact list that'd certainly lower the barrier to getting in touch with them later.
That having been said, I opted out of this as Google did not let you choose what contact info to have encoded on the badge. You had the choice of encoding all of the info you gave in your registration (which in my case, included my home address!) or nothing but your name. So if you're going to go this route, make sure you give people control over what they're willing to share.
They do that with business cards in Japan (and cellphones that can scan them). Not sure why it hasn't caught on yet here in the US. My roommate has the same problem - stacks of business cards, but no easy way to digitize the info.
Why are last names and company names always printed so microscopic? Most of the time I actually care more what company someone is with than what their first name is.
I know several people want hide their last names at conferences for privacy issues, and printing it small makes it easier. Doing the same for one's company also seems practical if you're concerned.
Considering that I don't walk up to people and say "Hi, Intel, I liked your talk" I'd prefer the names be kept big. If I want to know where they work/go to school, I can ask them.
I've had people give me their business cards at conferences, and the cards just sit in the bottom of my bag. If I scanned someone's badge and immediately added them to my contact list that'd certainly lower the barrier to getting in touch with them later.
That having been said, I opted out of this as Google did not let you choose what contact info to have encoded on the badge. You had the choice of encoding all of the info you gave in your registration (which in my case, included my home address!) or nothing but your name. So if you're going to go this route, make sure you give people control over what they're willing to share.