Renting Badge Scanners Is Risky. Renting Your Lead Gen Strategy Is Worse.

Why More Teams Are Bringing Lead Capture In-House

At 9:13 a.m. on a Tuesday, my phone rang.

It was a friend — an event marketer — calling from the RSA Conference in San Francisco, one of the largest cybersecurity gatherings in the world. She sounded frustrated. Overwhelmed. On the edge of tears.

Her team had spent deep into six figures to sponsor and exhibit at the event.

But none of it was working.

The rented badge scanners — the very devices exhibitors depend on to capture leads — had crashed. All of them.

No backup plan. No workaround. No warning.

Just… chaos.

Reps stood idle, waiting in line at the lead retrieval vendor’s support desk. Meanwhile, potential customers walked by the booth, unnoticed and unengaged.

And yes — the irony was hard to ignore.
The badge scanning system failed at the world’s largest cybersecurity conference.

But this isn’t a one-off glitch. It’s a wake-up call.

The Real Cost of Outsourcing Lead Capture

What happened at RSA wasn’t just a tech failure. It was a strategic failure.

When you rent the event’s badge scanners, you’re not just outsourcing hardware — you’re outsourcing your entire lead generation strategy. You’re placing the success of your event in the hands of a vendor you don’t control, with software you don’t own, and a process you can’t fix when it breaks.

And when it breaks — whether it’s slow syncing, total crashes, or missing data — you’re powerless.

Your reps can’t do their jobs.
Your CRM stays empty.
Your post-show follow-up is delayed — or worse, derailed entirely.

All while your competitors might still be scanning, logging, and converting leads.

That’s the risk of renting your demand gen infrastructure.

The Industry Is at a Breaking Point

We’ve been hearing more stories like this lately.
Tech conferences. Healthcare expos. Global trade shows.

Event marketers are frustrated with outdated, one-size-fits-all badge scanning systems that:

• Delay access to lead data until after the event

• Lack integrations with CRMs or MAPs

• Provide limited customization

• Break without warning or support

And worst of all, they leave you dependent on a third party for your most valuable event outcome: qualified leads.

As marketing budgets tighten and expectations rise, teams can’t afford to gamble.

That’s why more organizations are making a shift.

From Renting to Owning: A Smarter Model for Lead Capture

Forward-thinking marketers are no longer handing over their lead capture strategy to the conference. They’re bringing it in-house — and taking back control.

Here’s what that looks like:

1. Owning the Tech

Instead of renting event-specific hardware, teams use universal lead capture apps like Popl that work across any conference — with or without badge kit APIs. That means no more relying on fragile rental scanners or outdated systems.

2. Owning the Process

Teams configure their own workflows, qualifiers, routing rules, and integrations. Leads captured at the booth are instantly enriched and synced to CRMs and sales workflows — without delay.

3. Owning the Outcome

When you control the system end-to-end, you’re never stuck in line at the support desk. You’re engaging, scanning, and converting — on your terms. And you’re walking away from the show with data you trust.

Trade Show Spending Is Too High to Leave Lead Capture to Chance

Let’s be honest: exhibiting at major industry events isn’t cheap.

Between booth space, build-outs, travel, team time, and sponsorships, six figures isn’t unusual. It’s an investment. And the return on that investment comes down to one thing: how effectively you capture and convert leads.

So the lesson is:

If you’re going to spend six figures or more to exhibit at a conference...
You better not leave empty handed.

Conclusion: It’s Time to Take Back Control

What happened at RSA wasn’t an isolated incident. It was a symptom of a bigger problem — one that marketers are starting to fix.

By bringing lead capture in-house, teams are reducing risk, improving outcomes, and finally aligning their event strategy with their sales and marketing stack.

You don’t have to accept the badge scanner you’re given.
You don’t have to wait until Friday to access your leads.
You don’t have to watch hot prospects walk by while you're stuck at the help desk.

You can own your process.
You can own your pipeline.
You can own your success.

Because lead capture shouldn’t be the weakest link in your event strategy — it should be your biggest advantage.