The event floor doesn't slow down for anyone. Sessions end, crowds form at booths, and exhibitors are expected to engage, pitch, and capture leads simultaneously. The traditional scan-and-qualify flow is great when there's time for it. But when there's a line five people deep, opening a full lead qualification form after every scan isn't a workflow, it's a bottleneck.

Quick Scan mode fixes that.

What's New

Exhibitors using Lead Capture in the Swapcard mobile app can now switch to Quick Scan mode: a streamlined scanning experience that records the lead instantly and returns immediately to the camera, ready for the next badge. No forms, no interruptions. Just scan, confirm, repeat.

Qualification can still happen - just later, at a quieter moment.

How It Works

Open Lead Capture in the mobile app and tap the scan button.

1. On first use, a brief explainer sheet introduces the two available modes.
2. Toggle to Quick Scan using the mode switcher at the bottom of the camera view.
3. Scan a badge - a toast notification confirms the lead was recorded.
4. The camera stays live. Scan the next badge. Keep going.
5. When you reopen Lead Capture later, the app remembers whichever mode you last used.

Key Behaviors

• Two modes, one toggle - exhibitors switch between Qualify (full flow) and Quick Scan (instant capture) directly from the scan screen.
• Instant confirmation - a lightweight toast message confirms each successful scan without interrupting the camera view.
• Persistent mode memory - the app saves your last-used mode, so staff who prefer Quick Scan don't have to switch every time they open the feature.
• No leads lost - every badge scanned in Quick Scan mode is recorded in full and available for enrichment and qualification after the event.
• Mobile only - available on iOS and Android event apps.

Why Exhibitors Will Love It

Peak booth traffic is where ROI is made or missed. Exhibitors who can't capture leads fast enough during high-volume moments lose connections that never come back. Quick Scan mode removes the friction exactly where it hurts most - letting booth staff stay present with attendees, keep the energy alive, and handle the qualification work calmly between sessions or at day's end.

More leads captured. Less stress on the floor. Better exhibitor ROI.

💡 Pro tip: Encourage exhibitors to use Quick Scan during keynote breaks and session transitions - those 10–15 minute windows generate the most foot traffic and the least available attention. They can qualify their full lead list once the rush subsides.

Great networking starts with great data. The more Swapcard knows about your attendees, the smarter AI recommendations become, and the easier it is for participants to find the right people. That's why we've added six new suggested custom fields to your people setup.

And here's where it gets powerful: these fields pair perfectly with the recently launched Profile Completion Tracker. Even if you use an external registration system that didn't capture this data upfront, attendees will be prompted to complete their profile directly in the app. Missing data? Recovered.

What's New

The suggested custom fields library now includes six new pre-built fields you can add with a single click:

• Company Size — Single choice: from "1" to "1001 or more" (includes "Prefer not to say")
• Job Level — Single choice: Early-Career Professional, Experienced Professional, Senior & Specialist, Manager, Director, Executive (C-Suite), Other
• Job Functions — Single choice: Operations & Production, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Legal, HR, Technology & Data, Other
• Attendance Goals — Multi-choice: Networking, Exploring new products, Selling solutions, Learning about industry trends, Finding investment opportunities, Attending sessions, Just curious, Other
• Market Locations — Single choice: Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Europe, Latin America & Caribbean, Middle East, North America, Oceania, Global & Multi-Regional, Other
• Company/Organization Type — Single choice: 12 options from Startup to Corporate to Government to Healthcare & Life Sciences

How It Works

1. Go to your event's People custom fields settings in Swapcard Studio
2. Browse the Suggested Fields section when creating a new custom field
3. Select the fields you need, and answer options are pre-populated
4. Mark them as editable so they appear in the Profile Completion flow

What used to take several minutes of manual field creation now takes seconds.

Why This Changes Networking

This isn't just about cleaner data, it's about what that data unlocks across the entire attendee experience:

• Smarter AI Recommendations: Every field gives Swapcard's AI more signal to work with. Job level + attendance goals + market location = highly relevant meeting suggestions instead of generic ones.
• Powerful Attendee Filters: These fields become available as filters in the attendees list. Attendees and Exhibtiors can narrow their search by company size, job function, or market location to find exactly who they're looking for.
• Works Even Without Swapcard Registration: Using a third-party registration tool? No problem. Add these fields, enable Profile Completion, and let attendees fill in the gaps once they're in the app. The data still feeds AI matchmaking and filters.
• Exhibitor ROI: Lead retrieval gets dramatically more useful when every scanned badge carries structured data like job level, company type, and buying intent.

💡 Pro tip 1: Combine Attendance Goals (the only multi-choice field) with Job Level for instant attendee segmentation. An exhibitor scanning a badge will know immediately if they're talking to a C-Suite executive exploring new solutions or an early-career professional attending sessions. That context changes the conversation.

💡 Pro tip 2: All suggested answer options are fully editable. Use them as a starting point and customize to match your industry's vocabulary.

As a side note, we also added some suggested fields for Exhibitors to match with the People ones! 

The Profile Completion feature helps you increase attendee engagement and data quality by providing users with a clear, visual nudge to finalize their professional details. A complete profile is the cornerstone of successful networking; after all, it’s hard to make a "perfect match" if the AI doesn't know who you are!

What’s New

Attendees will now see a dynamic progress bar on their "Me" tab if essential information is missing. This visual indicator calculates a completion percentage based on core fields: Job Title, Company, and any Custom Fields you’ve set as editable.

How it Works

• The Visual Nudge: If a profile is incomplete, the "Edit Profile" button transforms into a more actionable "Complete Profile" button, accompanied by a percentage bar.
• Guided Editing: Clicking "Complete Profile" takes the user directly to a focused view.
• The "Finish Line" Feeling: Once the profile reaches 100% completion, the progress bar disappears, the button reverts to "Edit Profile," and the user gets that sweet feeling of digital accomplishment. 

Why Organizers Will Love It

• Better Matchmaking: More data means our AI can suggest more relevant connections, increasing overall attendee satisfaction.
• Exhibitor Value: Lead retrieval is only as good as the data captured. Complete profiles ensure your exhibitors walk away with high-quality, actionable leads.
• Cleaner Data: Higher completion rates mean your advanced filters will be more robust and insightful for better lead search.
• Smart Calculation: The completion percentage is rounded and specific to the fields you choose to make editable, ensuring the bar is always relevant to your specific event needs.

Sherlock is no longer just a guide; he’s now your most efficient team member. The latest update transforms Sherlock from a helpful assistant into a proactive networking and lead management agent. Whether you are an attendee looking to connect or an exhibitor hunting for ROI, Sherlock handles the logistics so you can focus on the conversation.

🚀 Lead Management on Autopilot for Exhibitors

Exhibitors can now manage their entire booth presence through a simple chat interface. Sherlock cuts through the menu clutter, allowing your team to stay on the showroom floor while he handles the data.

• Assign & Conquer: You can now assign or unassign meetings to specific team members through the chat, ensuring that every prospect has a clear follow-up owner.
• Booth Oversight: View your booth's meeting schedule, check in on team members, or browse available marketplace extras without leaving the conversation.

🤝 Networking and Meetings, Simplified

For every participant, Sherlock has evolved into a high-speed matchmaker. You can now use natural language to manage your entire event schedule and network.

• Instant Connections: You can now send connection requests with personalized messages and view your pending inbound requests just by asking Sherlock.
• Meeting Mastery: Finding a time to chat is easier than ever. Sherlock can list available meeting slots, schedule new meetings, or cancel existing ones if your plans change.
• AI-Powered Discovery: Leverage Sherlock’s brain to list recommended people, exhibitors, and products tailored specifically to your profile and interests.

📱 Full Engagement Toolbox

Beyond networking, Sherlock now helps you navigate every corner of the event app with deep-linking capabilities:

• Bookmark and Rate: Quickly bookmark sessions, products, or exhibitors. You can even rate a session directly through the AI after it ends.
• Stay Informed: Ask Sherlock to "show my notifications" or "list my meetings" to get an instant snapshot of your day.
• Deep Content Access: From browsing the full exhibitor list to viewing specific product categories, Sherlock provides a shortcut to every data point in the event.

Stop clicking and start connecting, let Sherlock handle the logistics while you own the floor.

The Meeting Conflict Alerts feature helps you and your attendees maximize every minute of the event by preventing double-booking between sessions and 1-to-1 meetings. You can now spot potential scheduling overlaps directly within the booking modal, ensuring that high-value networking doesn't come at the cost of missing a keynote.

In the fast-paced environment of a hybrid or in-person event, attendees often bookmark sessions and book meetings simultaneously. Previously, these conflicts were only visible on the meeting details page, often after the invitation was already sent. Now, Swapcard provides real-time visibility during the selection process.

Why this matters for your event:

• Increased Scheduling Efficiency: Attendees no longer have to jump back and forth between their personal agenda and the booking tool.
• Higher Session Attendance: By warning users of conflicts upfront, they are less likely to accidentally skip a bookmarked session for a meeting.
• Better Exhibitor ROI: Help representatives and leads find the perfect time to meet without the "Sorry, I actually have a session then" follow-up emails.

How it works:

Whether on the Web App or Mobile, the system now automatically cross-references bookmarked sessions with meeting requests.

• For Personal Conflicts: If you try to book a meeting during a session you've bookmarked, you'll see a clear warning: "Conflicting registered session: [Session Name]."
• For Participant Conflicts: If you are inviting others who are already "busy" with a session, the modal will display: "[Name] has a session at this time."
• For Group Meetings: If multiple participants have overlaps, the system neatly lists each conflict in a bulleted format so you can pick a better slot for everyone. 🤝

Quick Summary of Improvements:

• Instant Visibility: Warnings appear the moment a time slot is selected in the booking modal.
• Cross-Platform Support: Available on Web, iOS, and Android (with updated, intuitive icons for our Android users! 🤖).
• Contextual Data: Displays the specific name of the conflicting session so users can make informed decisions on the fly.

The new Semantic Search engine helps your attendees find exactly what they need, even if they don’t know the exact keywords to type. By moving beyond simple character matching to understanding the intent and context behind a search, Swapcard is making discovery more intuitive than ever.

Whether an attendee is looking for a "Software Engineer" or a "Developer," our search now understands they are looking for the same thing. 🚀

🌟 Why this matters for your Event

• Smarter Connections: Attendees can find relevant peers based on professional roles, biographies, and skills, even if their terminology differs.
• Boost Exhibitor ROI: Potential leads will find exhibitors and products based on the meaning of their descriptions, not just the names.
• Global Accessibility: Our new multilingual model understands multiple languages simultaneously. A query in English can now surface relevant content written in French or Spanish. 🌍
• Empower Sherlock, your AI Agent: This upgrade acts as a "brain transplant" for Sherlock. By providing our AI agent with better, context-aware data, Sherlock can now deliver significantly more accurate and helpful answers to attendee questions.

🔍 What’s New in the Search Bar?

We’ve overhauled the way our system "reads" your event data across People, Sessions, Exhibitors, and Products:

• Role & Identity Matching: We prioritize job titles and companies to ensure the most relevant professional profiles appear first.
• Deep Bio Insights: Our search now "reads" biographies and "About" sections to capture expertise and interests that aren't listed in a simple title.
• Custom Field Integration: Data like "Interests," "Skills," or "Industry" is now baked into the search DNA, making niche discovery a breeze.
• Hybrid Power: We’ve combined the speed of traditional text search with the "intelligence" of semantic search, giving you the best of both worlds: precision and flexibility.

Pro Tip: You don't need to change a thing! These improvements happen behind the scenes. Your attendees will simply notice that the platform feels "smarter" and more responsive to their needs.

🛠️ Continuous Improvements

• Multilingual Support: We’ve integrated a Multilingual model, allowing for seamless cross-lingual searches (e.g., searching in Korean to find English sessions).
• Performance Monitoring: We’ve added real-time tracking to ensure these "smarter" results don't slow down the user experience.

The Hosted Buyer module just got a major flexibility boost! 🚀

The latest update to Smart Meetings gives you total control over how generated and manual meetings are released to your participants. You can now choose whether to publish meetings as Pending or Confirmed, and manage them without the restriction of a single "meeting organizer."

Giving you (and your participants) more flexibility

The Hosted Buyer feature helps you bridge the gap between automated matchmaking and manual oversight. Previously, publishing meetings often felt like an "all or nothing" action. Now, you have the granularity needed to match your specific event's workflow, whether you want to force-confirm matches to guarantee ROI or allow participants to give their final consent.

What’s new?

• Publish as 'Pending' or 'Confirmed': When publishing draft meetings from the Hosted Buyer tab or creating them manually in the Studio, you now have a toggle.

  • Pending: Participants receive an invitation that they must manually accept. This is perfect for events where "opt-in" consent is a priority.
  • Confirmed: Meetings are added directly to schedules as accepted. Ideal for high-stakes hosted buyer programs where attendance is mandatory.
• Meetings with multiple meeting organizers: Now, both participants for the generated meetings have equal rights to reschedule, add descriptions, or invite others. No more bottlenecks caused by one person holding the keys to the meeting! 
• Updated Notifications & Emails: We’ve rebranded "Meeting Requests" to "Meeting Invitations" to better reflect the professional nature of these interactions. Participants will receive clear, actionable alerts to accept or decline pending invitations directly from their notification center.
• Real-time Activity Tracking: Attendees can stay on top of their schedule with the activity logs. They’ll see exactly when a meeting partner has accepted, even if the meeting status is still pending for others.

How to use it

1. In the Studio, navigate to Meetings or the Hosted Buyer tab.
2. Select your draft meetings and click Publish.

3. In the pop-up modal, choose your preference:

   • Check "Confirm meetings for participants" to bypass the request phase.
   • Leave it unchecked to send them as Pending invitations.
4. Decide if you want to Notify participants immediately or keep it quiet while you finalize the schedule.
5. Need to change your mind? You can still manually Confirm or Cancel any pending meeting directly from the side panel in the Studio.

This update ensures that whether you’re running a rigid VIP buyer program or a flexible networking marathon, Swapcard adapts to your rules—not the other way around. 🤝✨

The wait is over! After a successful launch on the web, Sherlock, the dedicated event AI agent, is now officially available on the iOS and Android mobile apps. 📱✨

The Sherlock mobile integration helps you put a personal concierge into the pocket of every attendee, ensuring they navigate your event with ease, even while on the move.

Your event, now in their pocket

Sherlock on mobile provides the same deep, context-aware intelligence as the web version but is optimized for the frantic pace of an onsite event. It understands who the user is, their specific permissions, and the unique layout of your venue.

You can now offer your participants a way to:

• Manage schedules on the fly: Participants can ask Sherlock to "Find a session about AI starting in 10 minutes" or "Show me my next meeting" while walking between booths.
• Surface leads in real-time: Exhibitors can use the app to quickly ask, "Who are the most relevant leads for me to meet today?" without needing to sit down at a laptop.
• Get instant support anywhere: Whether it’s finding the nearest restroom or asking "How do I scan a lead?", Sherlock handles the repetitive FAQs so your onsite staff can focus on high-touch VIP support. ☕

Why mobile changes the game

Bringing Sherlock to iOS and Android specifically aids in onsite engagement and logistics:

• Reduced Friction: No more switching between tabs or looking for information booths. Everything is a quick chat away.
• Better ROI for Exhibitors: By suggesting relevant products and booths to attendees as they walk the floor, Sherlock drives more spontaneous, high-quality traffic to your exhibitors.
• Find Leads: From finding the best leads to meet, or not, to exporting all your new business deals, Sherlock eases the Leads management, optimising sales time.

Key Mobile Capabilities 🚀

• Multilingual Support: Attendees can chat with Sherlock in their native language for a truly inclusive experience.
• In-App Guidance: Sherlock explains how to use the app (like lead retrieval or QR scanning) based on the user's role.
• Visibility-Aware: It only suggests sessions, exhibitors, or people that the specific user has the right to see or access.

How to get started

If you have already enabled the AI Assistant in the Studio, Sherlock will automatically appear for your users on the latest version of the Swapcard mobile app.

Not using it yet? Head to Studio > AI Assistant > Enable Assistant to give your participants the smartest travel companion they’ve ever had! 🕵️‍♂️✨

Sherlock is the Event Virtual AI Assistant by Swapcard, built to guide participants through exhibitions and help them get maximum value with less effort, less stress, and a lot more clarity.

For a limited time, Sherlock (Beta) is available for free so you can try it out, share feedback, and help shape the smartest AI companion for your events. Enable Sherlock by going inside the Studio > AI Assistant > Enable Assistant. 

What is Sherlock?

Sherlock is an AI-powered assistant natively built in the event app. Participants can simply chat with it in any language, and Sherlock will help them:

• Find the right people to meet and connect with
• Choose and register for the most relevant sessions
• Discover exhibitors, products, and booths and bookmark them
• Navigate the venue, halls, and facilities
• Get support on how to use the event app

Because Sherlock is part of the Swapcard platform (not a generic external chatbot), it understands your event setup, including:

• Who the participant is (attendee, exhibitor, speaker, etc.)
• Their past actions and behavior in the app
• Visibility rules and content access
• Permissions and feature access
• What each person can and cannot see or do

The result: contextual, tailored answers that feel specific to each participant and your event.

Why Organisers Will Love Sherlock

Sherlock helps organisers scale support and service quality without scaling onsite staff.

Reduce basic questions to onsite support

• Participants often ask the same simple questions: “Where are the restrooms?”, “How do I find my badge?”, or “Where is Hall B?”. Sherlock handles these repetitive, location, and logistics questions, freeing your staff to focus on high-value interactions and problem-solving.

Native, configuration-aware intelligence

Because Sherlock is built directly into Swapcard (not a third-party widget), it can:

• Respect visibility rules and access rights configured by the organiser
• Adapt answers based on the role and permissions of each participant
• Provide context-aware help, such as: suggesting only the sessions participants can actually join, showing only exhibitors or products that are visible to their group, or explaining what they can or can’t do in the app, according to your setup.

Security Audit & Protections 

The agent has been audited for security, prompt injection protections are in place to prevent malicious manipulation, and safety filters are configured to block harmful content.

Outcome: Fewer support tickets, happier participants, and an assistant that truly understands your event.

Why Attendees Will Love Sherlock

Large exhibitions can be overwhelming. Sherlock is here to remove the noise and surface what truly matters: Turn overload into a clear plan!

• Handle content overload: Sherlock quickly surfaces the most relevant people, sessions, exhibitors, and products aligned with each attendee’s interests and goals.
• Avoid missed opportunities: In a few days, it’s easy to miss key meetings or sessions. Sherlock helps attendees spot who to meet and where to go so they don’t leave thinking, “I wish I’d seen that.”

• Reduce decision fatigue: Instead of endlessly scrolling through lists, attendees can ask,

  “What should I do this afternoon to get the most out of the event?”
  Sherlock suggests a personalized itinerary based on their interests, schedule, and what’s happening onsite.

• Uncover hidden gems: Sherlock highlights side sessions, niche exhibitors, or special activities that might otherwise be overlooked.
• Get in-app guidance: Sherlock answers questions about how to use the event app and features, tailored to what the organiser has made available to that attendee.

Outcome: More meaningful meetings, smarter content choices, and a smoother, more efficient event experience.

Why Exhibitors Will Love Sherlock

For exhibitors, every minute counts. Sherlock helps them focus on what generates value: Smarter networking, less manual work!

• Find your best leads: Sherlock helps exhibitors identify relevant leads or partners to target during the event instead of relying on random walk-ins.
• Make better use of exhibitor tools: Exhibitors often don’t have time to learn every feature in the app. Sherlock can answer questions like:
  

  “How can I capture leads at my booth?”
  “How do I see the meetings my team has today?”
  This guidance helps them fully leverage the platform.

• More professional networking: Sherlock can suggest ways to organize meetings, highlight networking areas, and help exhibitors structure a more professional and efficient onsite presence.

Outcome: Better-qualified leads, stronger conversations, and higher ROI from the event.

What Sherlock Can Do (Beta Capabilities)

In this first Beta release, Sherlock focuses primarily on Attendees and Exhibitors and interacts with all key elements of your event:

People

• Recommend relevant attendees or exhibitors to connect with
• Highlight interesting leads based on preferences and behavior
• Help participants send connection requests and advise on scheduling meetings
• Suggest suitable on-site locations for meetings

Sessions

• Help discover sessions by topic, format, level, or interest
• Recommend sessions tailored to each profile
• Answer logistic questions related to onsite information

Products

• Surface exhibitor products that match a participant’s needs
• Make it easy to bookmark and contact the seller

Exhibitors & Booths

• Help participants find specific exhibitors and their booths
• Show products, services, and availability for meetings
• Guide them on how to get there on-site

Personalized itinerary

• Help attendees build the must-have by combining meetings, sessions, and visits
• Adapt recommendations as time, interests, or priorities change

Facilities & Event Help

• Answer questions about parking, accessibility, opening hours, maps, or app support

Beta Launch & Pricing

To ensure Sherlock truly serves the needs of your exhibitions, we’re launching it as a Beta with the following conditions:

• It will be available for free for a limited period
• We’ll collect feedback from Organizers, Exhibitors, and Attendees
• This feedback will be used to refine the experience, expand capabilities, and shape future plans for the feature

Our goal is simple:
👉 Build the most helpful, reliable, and intuitive AI assistant for exhibitions.

What’s Next?

If you’re interested in activating Sherlock (Beta) for your future event, please contact Swapcard's teams to enable it!

We’re excited to see how Sherlock will help your participants navigate, connect, and succeed at your next event.

A new feature has been released that enhances the organizer experience by making it easier to manage participant profiles. As part of our ongoing development of people profiles refactoring, we have introduced two distinct email fields for each participant profile: the account email, used for login and communication, and the profile email, which is displayed to connections on the App.

To streamline the process of creating and editing people profiles, we have added these two email fields to the People Excel import and export functionality. This update allows organizers to manage participant information more efficiently and with greater flexibility.

Additionally, we have removed the "profile with account" column. Now, if you need to transform a user into a user with no account, simply remove the account email.

This new feature will make organizers' tasks smoother, more flexible, and more intuitive. Just go to the Studio > Content > People > Click Export or Create people > Import via Excel file.