The verdict in three sentences
Once you pass 10 events a year and 20,000 cumulative delegates, paying an event platform per attendee usually costs more than custom software amortised over three years. The bigger gains are operational: badges printed in seconds at registration desks, exhibitor stands sold from a live floor plan, and clean data to sell the next edition to sponsors. For a Dubai organiser, as for our Dakar reference case, the project typically lands in Kolonell's medium application bracket.
A conference organiser's daily reality
A Dubai events company running 14 conferences, trade shows and summits a year handles very different audiences: physicians at a medical congress, bankers at a fintech summit, industrial exhibitors at a trade fair. Delegate passes range from AED 500 (student, one day) to AED 5,000 (all-access pass with gala dinner). Without a dedicated system, the team reconciles online forms, card payments, corporate bank transfers and badge lists rebuilt the night before.
The costliest friction points are well known: 45-minute queues at the venue, duplicate registrations, stands sold twice, exhibitor invoices issued weeks late, and no reliable attendance data to pitch sponsors.
| Metric | Without software | With integrated software |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in time per delegate | 2 to 4 minutes | 15 to 30 seconds (QR scan, badge print) |
| Payment reconciliation | Manual, 2 to 3 days per event | Automatic via card gateway and bank feed |
| Duplicate registrations | 3 to 6 % | Below 0.5 % |
| Exhibitor invoicing delay | 2 to 4 weeks | Immediate on stand booking |
| Attendance measurement | Estimated | Exact, per session and per day |
| Sponsor data | Raw list | Footfall report per stand |
Modules to plan for
- Registration and ticketing: price categories, promo codes, early-bird rates, group bookings for a company sending 15 staff, automatic VAT invoices at 5 % for UAE corporate clients.
- Payment: cards, Apple Pay, bank transfer with reconciliation. The delegate receives a QR code on confirmation.
- Badges: templates by category (speaker, exhibitor, press, delegate), thermal printing on site, access control per hall.
- Exhibitors: interactive plan of 120 stands, booking with deposit, exhibitor portal for logos and staff lists, furniture and power orders.
- Programme and speakers: agenda, rooms, slide uploads, a light mobile app for delegates.
- Reporting: revenue per event, attendance, lead scans per exhibitor, sponsor exports.
| Option | Cost, 2026 order of magnitude | Note |
|---|---|---|
| International platform, per attendee | AED 7 to 18 per delegate, plus 2 to 3 % on payments | Exhibitor tools often add-ons |
| Annual subscription platform | AED 30,000 to 90,000 per year | Caps on events or attendees |
| Online forms and spreadsheets | Low licence cost | No badges, no access control |
| Kolonell, simple application | 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (3,810 to 6,100 EUR) | Registration, payment, badges |
| Kolonell, medium application | 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (6,100 to 10,670 EUR) | Adds exhibitors, floor plan, reporting |
| Kolonell, complex application | 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (10,670 to 22,870+ EUR) | Multi-event, mobile app, exhibitor lead capture |
Kolonell maintenance runs from 35,000 to 120,000 FCFA per month (53 to 183 EUR) depending on support level. Badge printers, hosting and payment fees are priced in the quote.
How to scope the project
Start from your largest, most complex event, not the simplest: if the system handles 3,000 delegates and 120 stands, it handles the rest. List your real price categories, the documents corporate clients require (purchase orders, invoices in the employer's name, TRN on invoices), then on-site constraints: number of print stations, venue connectivity, offline scanning. Plan eight to twelve weeks of development and a mid-size test event before your flagship show.
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Rania, managing director of a Dubai conference company, welcomes 22,000 delegates a year across 14 events. At an average of AED 13 per delegate, platform fees reach AED 286,000 a year, about 71,500 EUR, plus 2.5 % on online payments. A Kolonell medium-tier build at about 10,670 EUR plus maintenance at 183 EUR a month (about 2,200 EUR a year) costs under 13,000 EUR in year one. The saving exceeds 58,000 EUR in the first year. Check-in time also falls from 3 minutes to 30 seconds per delegate: for 3,000 people, that frees about 125 hours of front-desk staff per show.
FAQ
Does badge scanning work if the venue Wi-Fi fails?
Yes, check-in stations keep a local copy of the delegate list and sync later. That matters in exhibition halls where 2,000 phones saturate the network at once.
Can corporate clients pay by bank transfer?
Yes, they receive a pro forma invoice with VAT at 5 % and their badges unlock on receipt. Card payments confirm instantly and trigger the QR within a minute.
How do we stop a stand being sold twice?
The floor plan locks a stand as soon as the deposit, usually 30 to 50 %, is paid. If the balance is not received within a set period, for example 7 days, the stand goes back on sale.
Can exhibitors capture visitor contacts?
Yes, through a smartphone lead-scanning module with the visitor's consent. Organisers often sell it as an option at AED 500 to 1,500 per exhibitor.
How long until we are ready?
Allow eight to twelve weeks for a medium application, plus one test event. Start at least four months before your biggest show.
Let's scope your project. We start from your largest event to define registration, badges and exhibitor sales, with go-live before your next show. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
