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Building Lanes for Onsite Badge Printing

How to build lanes for your onsite badge printing equipment.

Tracey Straub avatar
Written by Tracey Straub
Updated over 2 weeks ago

This article is for Event Organizers

To successfully use Expo Pass for onsite badge printing, your Router, iPads, and Printers must be connected and assigned to "Lanes."


This guide walks you through two ways to build your Lanes and assign printers and badge templates — either through the Lane Configuration Portal or directly from your iPad Kiosk.

Follow these steps using a single iPad to configure all lanes for your event.


Option 1: Set Up Lanes Using the Expo Pass Lane Configuration Portal

Step 1: Create Your Lane

  1. Log into your event at Expo Pass.

  2. Navigate to Event Settings ➜ Lane Configuration.

  3. Click the blue [Create Lane] button.

  4. Name your new Lane (keep it simple, like "Lane 1").

  5. Your lane will appear as an option and now you will need to assign a printer to it as well as assign badges to it.

Step 2: Add a Printer to the Lane

There are hundreds of Expo Pass printer options to search for to add to your lane, but first you will need to determine what printer you are setting up.

  1. Locate the printer number on the white sticker on the back with the Expo Pass logo on it (e.g., “P-193.1”).

  2. Search for the printer by number.

  3. Select it, then click the [Add Printer] button.

Step 3: Add a Badge(s) to the Lane

If you have created multiple badges (same artwork but different Print layers) you will want to add each badge to each lane.

  1. Click the carrot (˅) next to the IP address in your Lane listing.

2. An [Add Badge] prompt will appear. Use the dropdown to select the badge(s) for that Lane.

3. Once the badge is selected, click [Add Badge].

✅ You’ve now completed Lane setup through the Expo Pass portal!


Option 2: Set Up Lanes Onsite Using an iPad

This is often used during onsite setup with all hardware powered and network-connected.

Short Video Tutorial


Step 1: Prepare Your Devices

  1. Plug in and turn on your Router first, then iPads, and Printers.

  2. Ensure they are all connected to the same Wi-Fi network (e.g., "ExpoPass").

  3. Log into your event on the iPad with you Event User credentials

    • Ensure it has the appropriate check-in permissions.

Once you ENTER the event, you’ll land in the Admin Toolkit.

Step 2: Access Badge Print Settings

  1. Tap Badge Print Settings (printer icon).

  2. If any lanes already exist, swipe left on their name to delete if needed.

From this point there are 2 tasks to complete:

  • Map Printers to your Lane(s).

  • Add Your Badge Shell(s) to Printers.

Step 3: Create Lanes and Assign Printers

  1. Tap the + icon to add a new Lane.

  2. Name your Lane (e.g., "Lane 1", "Lane 2", etc.).

3. Tap the new Lane you created, and a screen will pop up with all available printers.

4. Click on the printer with the labeled number (and IP Address) that you want associated to this new Lane.

  • 📌 Tip: The last 6 digits of the printer numbers (IP Address) can be found on the Expo Pass sticker located on the back of your printer (right next to where you plug in the power cord).

🖨️ Printer Status Icons:

  • ✅ Green check = online and connected

  • ❌ Grey X = offline / not connected

Important: All Printers currently connected to the same network should become available as options. If you do not see any available printers, click the back arrow in the top left, and try this search process again.

💡 Tip: Take note of which Printer is designated for each lane by noting the IP Address and put a post-it note on the underside of the printer. This way you’ll remember later when it comes to mapping iPads to Lanes too, and laying out your equipment in your Registration Area .

Once you have selected the printer, you should see the following display. This means it's time to move on to Selecting your Badge Template.

Step 4: Assign Badge Templates

  1. Click Select Badge Template for your printer.

  2. Choose from the list of available templates.

    • You can assign multiple templates to one printer (as long as they share the same badge artwork).

    • Creating Badge Templates is done in the Badge Manager - Forming and Assigning Badges

  3. Click Add, then Done when finished.

✅ Your Lanes are now built and ready to use!


Final Step: Set iPad Kiosk Settings

Don’t forget to configure each iPad to:

  • Select the correct Lane

  • Enable Badge Printing mode


Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Not connecting devices to the same Wi-Fi:
    Printers and iPads must be on the same network to sync properly.

  • Incorrect badge templates:
    All templates assigned to a printer must share the same base artwork.

  • Missing lane labels onsite:
    If you don’t label printers/lane pairings, setup takes longer and gets confusing fast.

  • Forgetting to delete old lanes:
    Clear any old lane data before building new ones to avoid duplication issues.

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