We Deployed a Digital Passport at the II International Meeting of Clinical Research Experts — Here's What Happened
TL;DR: TuNodo Passport was deployed at a real medical symposium (CIMO IPS, ~361 registrants, in-person + virtual). Reception exceeded expectations: physicians, nurses, and psychologists who had never seen anything like it described it as "innovative," "user-friendly," and "the most remarkable thing about the event." The bugs were real and specific: QR codes that couldn't be scanned from a projected screen, emails landing in spam, and unclear onboarding for virtual attendees. This is the honest debrief.
Want an experience like this at your next event? Let's talk.
The Context
On May 23, 2026, the Centro de Investigación Médica Ortíz (CIMO IPS) hosted the II International Meeting of Clinical Research Experts: a medical and academic symposium bringing together hospitals, medical societies, and regional health programs. It took place at the Auditorio Los Ocobos of the Universidad del Tolima (Carrera 5 con Calle 10) in Ibagué, in a hybrid in-person and virtual format, with speakers, sponsors, and ~361 registrants.
TuNodo Passport ran in production at this scale for the first time.
The digital passport is a personalized web page for each attendee that replaces the physical badge: it displays the attendee's profile, activity QR codes, the event schedule, a sponsor section, and a downloadable attendance certificate. Speaker and attendee profiles — with bios, photos, and social links — powered networking: anyone could see who else was at the event and who was worth connecting with. Attendees received it by email and WhatsApp upon registration; speakers had more complete profiles.
The researcher's passport: profile, schedule, activity QR codes, and certificate — all on a single page. Tap to enlarge.
End-to-end check-in control. The flow started before the event: with pre-registration — powered by TuNodo Forms — each attendee signed up and automatically received their access code (QR) and digital passport. On the day of the symposium, the logistics team used a scanner built directly into the TuNodo app to read that QR and mark entry: real-time access control, attendance tracking, and full traceability — no manual queues, no paper lists.
The attendee flow: sign in with email and find your events — no app to install. Tap an image to enlarge it.
The interactive demo of the experience is available at eventos.tunodo.net/passport — sign in with a test email, for example chris@soychristian.com.
What Worked
We made over 50 post-event follow-up calls and collected feedback from both in-person and virtual attendees. The interview process was effective and unobtrusive — it took no more than 5 minutes per person. We're grateful to the speakers and attendees who took the time to share their thoughts. The numbers aren't the most important part — the words are:
"The most remarkable thing about the event was the passport they used."
— Physician, Universidad del Tolima
"Really great. I had never seen anything like it — very interesting."
— Physician attending the symposium
"Innovative, user-friendly, and educational. I loved being able to view the speaker and sponsor profiles."
— Psychologist, Universidad Antonio Nariño (UAN)
A speaker's profile inside the passport: bio, photo, and social links to spark networking among attendees. Tap to enlarge.
Several attendees confirmed they had no issues with the passport or the codes throughout the event — which for an MVP in production is the best validation possible: it goes unnoticed.
The 4-digit manual code fallback worked in every case where the QR failed. That design decision saved the experience at several stations.
What Didn't Work
Four real bugs, in order of frequency:
1. QR not scannable from the projected screen (most reported)
The QR projected on the passport screen had very low resolution when scanned from a distance. Four different people reported it independently. The 4-digit code was the rescue — but it shouldn't have to be.
2. Email / WhatsApp delivery
Some attendees never received their passport: the email landed in spam, or the WhatsApp message didn't come through. For those cases we had another fallback: the person managing check-in would look up the attendee by their phone number or ID number used during registration, instead of scanning a QR they didn't have handy. This let us avoid paper-based manual registration entirely.
3. Unclear onboarding
It was never explained what to do with each type of QR (sponsors vs. talks vs. activities). Some attendees simply didn't use that feature "out of confusion or not understanding what it was for."
4. Weak virtual experience
The passport was designed for in-person attendees. Virtual attendees had a degraded experience: fewer features, fewer incentives to engage.
At TuNodo, we treat feedback from the clients and users of the systems we build as our most valuable input for improvement: every report is logged and addressed so that the user experience keeps getting better. These points have been reported internally and are already fixed.
The Next Step
The case is documented. The product works. Try it yourself: the interactive demo is at eventos.tunodo.net/passport — sign in with a test email, for example chris@soychristian.com.
Want the full picture? All of TuNodo's solutions — the passport and more — are gathered in the interactive brochure, with everything in one place.
If you organize events, here's what TuNodo Passport adds to yours: frictionless registration and check-in (every registrant automatically receives their QR code, and your team marks entry by scanning it from the app), a modern and memorable experience for attendees, powered networking (participant profiles visible to all), an automatic attendance certificate, sponsor visibility, an always-accessible schedule, and zero physical badge logistics.
Do you organize academic, medical, or corporate events? Get in touch and I'll show you what it would look like at your next one.