For Blueprint, we built two connected networking experiences: an interactive matching quiz that recommends relevant people to meet, and NFC networking cards that let attendees instantly view profiles and keep track of event connections.
Lining up for 30 minutes to speak with someone you do not know just for the chance at an opportunity, fumbling with your phone to find someone's LinkedIn, and then trying to remember everyone after the event makes these events exhausting.
We combined NFC technology with a mobile interface to facilitate meaningful networking, build community, and foster connections at UBC's largest tech conference.
In our research with students and survey respondents, attendees consistently described how difficult it is to navigate the overwhelming atmosphere while having quality conversations. Remembering who they have talked to and where to find them later is a major pain point.
How might we reduce the friction of networking and foster more meaningful connection between attendees and networking delegates?
Partner Q&A panel at BluePrint 2025
NFC technology presented the right fit for our product requirements while adding an x-factor that got people talking. Each attendee nametag came with a UBC NFC card inside, and tapping your phone to someone's badge gave instant access to a custom profile with their LinkedIn, company, intentions, and fun facts.
We ingested event signup data into backend services that generated these profiles automatically, then mapped each NFC card to a custom profile URL for each attendee.
Connections persist between two people throughout the event, defined as everyone who visits your profile and everyone whose profile you have visited. This gave attendees a running list of everyone they met at the event.
We also added a Algolia-powered networking recommender in the companion app to help attendees discover high-relevance people to meet next.
High-level flow: executive tools write or map a card to a profile ID, attendees tap at kiosks or profiles, and each tap resolves through APIs that read/write profile + interaction state in near real time.
Tech stack: Next.js companion + kiosk interfaces, AWS Lambda endpoints for card/profile operations, DynamoDB for profile and interaction persistence, with analytics/monitoring hooks for event-day reliability.
High-level architecture for the UBC NFC networking cards system
High-level flow: attendee profile and event context are indexed, a top-k candidate set is retrieved on query, and results are ranked to return high-intent matches directly in the companion app.
Tech stack: Algolia for fast retrieval/ranking, backend services for indexing + orchestration, and Next.js surfaces to present recommendations with low-latency interactions.
High-level architecture for the Algolia networking recommender