The digital, interactive badge nTAG, which earned top honors in EIBTM's 2003 Worldwide Watch (see 2004 winners, left), has been named a preferred supplier by one of the country's leading independent meeting planning companies, Cleveland-based Conferon.

Launched in April 2003 by Boston- and New York — based nTag Interactive (www.ntag.com), the badges “talk” with other badges via infrared sensors and communicate over a wireless network with a central server. This allows meeting organizers to track session attendance and provides lead capture for exhibitors; the unit can also be used as a polling device. For attendees, the system can facilitate networking: When attendees approach one another, the badges' sensors exchange data and find areas of mutual interest between the attendees, which are displayed on the badges' LCD screens.

Conferon is promoting the badges to its clients and has used them at its own meetings.