"Here is my card"

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gnfb

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#175677 8-Jul-2015 09:34

I have been out of the conferences sales meetings blah blah for some years now. So the need to exchange a business card is a rare occurrence. Usually someone says "oh give me your email address and I will get back to you " etc etc

Quick sidebar am I the only one who hates people who have an email like "'george231.xanethe.company@some.domain.com" ?

Anyway has the digital transfer of business details been decided yet? or is there still a thousand variants? some work on IOS and not on android , some vice versa.

has the QR code won? and whatever happened to the what was it? v card?

I would be interested in what you use.

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

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#1339092 8-Jul-2015 09:36

You could always use NFC. Over the last year I received a couple of NFC-enabled business cards and it's easy to setup a digital business card on a NFC-enabled smartphone to transfer to another NFC-enabled smartphone.

DrCheese

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#1339124 8-Jul-2015 10:18

I now scan business cards at conferences using the Evernote app on my iPhone, then surreptitiously thrown the card away. I really like the idea of QR codes, but very few people use them.

DrCheese

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#1339125 8-Jul-2015 10:21

I see there is still a need for a physical business card. A card still works for everyone you give it to, it allows for the use of company branding etc to be displayed. Also there's no need for technology and there's no issues with incompatible technology. As well as this, I don't need the contact details of everyone I meet cluttering up the contacts in my phone.

I see the smart way is to have a QR code on your card, and/or perhaps an NFC tag embedded in the card. That way when anyone who gets your card and wants your details in their contacts can scan the details if and when they want to.

Now to a hobby horse of mine (slight thread drift).

I think QR codes are a great way to transfer contact details and provide links to websites etc. The only problem is up till now many people using them don't know how to use QR codes in a manner that best suits QR codes.

There's two main problems

The code is either too small, contains too much information, (the picture is too busy) or is poorly contrasted. All of these make it hard for the QR reader to read the code making it a poor experience for the user.

The other problem is that with many QR codes containing URL info, the link does not go to a mobile friendly website, once again making it a poor experience for the user. By the very nature of QR codes they are almost exclusively accessed from a mobile device. Having them link to a non mobile friendly website is just madness. Part of the problem here is QR have been seen by some marketing people as a cool thing to use (I agree they are cool) but they haven't really thought the whole process through to ensure a good experience.

These are two reason why I think QR codes haven't had the uptake they deserve.

I still see a bright future for QR codes or something similar. The beauty of them is they are cheap to produce plus you can also track their usage to see how effective their placement has been.

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wasabi2k

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#1339126 8-Jul-2015 10:26

Business Cards are easy and quick and ALWAYS work. Even if they are read once to grab an email address then thrown away.

NFC/phones etc can work, but there are way too many moving parts that can go wrong (even basic stuff like no battery) and the time taken to get out phone, unlock etc is usually longer than "here is my card".

If you are outside of IT/Tech then the phone thing is even less likely to work.

Geektastic

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#1339131 8-Jul-2015 10:40

I prefer a decent business card.

Avoid cheap mass market print houses - handing over bad design printed on flimsy stock makes you look as cheap as a shiny suit, a non Apple mobile (

) and bad shoes.

I use the excellent CamCard to shoot cards given to me. It quickly runs OCR on them and adds them to my Contacts.

Fo0L

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#1339167 8-Jul-2015 11:30

Geektastic:

I use the excellent CamCard to shoot cards given to me. It quickly runs OCR on them and adds them to my Contacts.

Interestingly, the iOS CamCard app is free today via the App of the Day app... just downloaded it to check it out, worked nicely enough. :)

Wade

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#1339175 8-Jul-2015 11:46

Fo0L:
Geektastic:

I use the excellent CamCard to shoot cards given to me. It quickly runs OCR on them and adds them to my Contacts.

Interestingly, the iOS CamCard app is free today via the App of the Day app... just downloaded it to check it out, worked nicely enough. :)

Camcard is a brilliant app, i have been using it for a few years, it started out fairly hit and miss but these days it is scary how well it can decipher business cards

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#1339205 8-Jul-2015 12:20

@KnightNZ

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#1339322 8-Jul-2015 15:53

stevenz:

I had my graphics lady use some kind of UV reactive ink in the printing so that one word of the logo is glossy and the other matt (as well as being different colours). Looks good and cost very little extra.

Watermarking card would be tricky...!

I do miss the days when Hardcastle would bring my visitor's cards to me in the library on a silver tray whilst the visitor awaited my society in the small Drawing Room...life is so pedestrian these days.

mattwnz

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#1339345 8-Jul-2015 16:25

I always keep NFC off, and it likely saves battery life. The few times I use NFC, it would be a bit of a hassle to turn it on, just to get someones electronic business card. An actual business card is far superior, and looks professional, as long as it isn't one of those cheap/free ones.

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#1339381 8-Jul-2015 17:13

I still use cards and at any meetings I always get handed cards by sales people etc.

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matisyahu

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#1339502 8-Jul-2015 19:42

gnfb: I have been out of the conferences sales meetings blah blah for some years now. So the need to exchange a business card is a rare occurrence. Usually someone says "oh give me your email address and I will get back to you " etc etc

Quick sidebar am I the only one who hates people who have an email like "'george231.xanethe.company@some.domain.com" ?

Anyway has the digital transfer of business details been decided yet? or is there still a thousand variants? some work on IOS and not on android , some vice versa.

has the QR code won? and whatever happened to the what was it? v card?

I would be interested in what you use.

The only thing worse than that email address you used is an example is one that is plain awkward like chunkyluver@nippleclamps.com and they're expecting to be taken seriously. Seen so many of them on CV's - so many really bad ones.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

gnfb

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#1339528 8-Jul-2015 20:10

I was just thinking a good rule of thumb may be to look to the Japanese to see how they are handling the whole business card issue. LOl Do you remember when we wll were given lessons as to how to accept and give business cards when we all started working together!

Ok being factious and rude...I was just imagining two Japaneses exchanging details by NFC ..sorry

Is an English Man living in New Zealand. Not a writer, an Observer he says. Graham is a seasoned 'traveler" with his sometimes arrogant, but honest opinion on life. He loves the Internet!.

I have two shops online allshop.nz patchpinflag.nz
Email Me

Technofreak

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#1339529 8-Jul-2015 20:12

The only thing worse than that email address you used is an example is one that is plain awkward like chunkyluver@nippleclamps.com and they're expecting to be taken seriously. Seen so many of them on CV's - so many really bad ones.

At least you get a laugh I guess.

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jarledb

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#1339539 8-Jul-2015 20:47

Geektastic: I prefer a decent business card.
Avoid cheap mass market print houses - handing over bad design printed on flimsy stock makes you look as cheap as a shiny suit, a non Apple mobile () and bad shoes.

I have been very happy with Moo.com for business cards. They have some really good templates if you want to do it on your own, and also accept print ready files if you had a designer make your card. Have been having good experience with their support department, as well as with the quality of the paper and print they deliver.

I use the excellent CamCard to shoot cards given to me. It quickly runs OCR on them and adds them to my Contacts.

Thats a good tip. Have downloaded it now and will be trying it at first chance :)

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