A poorly designed check-in area can have a pretty disastrous effect on your association’s event experience. But knowing what slows down the line can help you take steps to  things keep moving smoothly.

In a new post on the Event Manager Blog, Celeste Kaufman of zkipster offers tips for keeping check-in problems to a minimum. For example: Have a strategy for unexpected attendees who aren’t on your registration list, and use mobile devices and apps to speed the process. And be aware of the tricks “crashers” might use to get in.

“If you’re using a paper list, keep it close and don’t let anyone look at it, even if it seems like they’re just trying to help you find their name,” Kaufman writes. “Train your check-in staff to ask how to spell the attendee’s name to help them find it before just showing the list to let a guest point it out. If you’re using an app, get a privacy screen for your device to make it more difficult to see.”

Hit the Event Manager Blog to see more of Kaufman’s tips.

Ethical Resolution of the Day

American Nurses Association Year of #Ethics commences. http://t.co/ITkV74Ozkc #assnchat #pcma

— Joan Eisenstodt/she/her/they (@JoanEisenstodt) January 8, 2015

We all know that ethics matter. But can be hard to consistently keep ethics front and center with your members.

It might be a good reason to look at how the American Nurses Association is tackling the issue. ANA has designated 2015 its “Year of Ethics,” which kicked off earlier this week with—you guessed it—an update to the association’s ethics code.

“The public places its faith in nurses to practice ethically. A patient’s health, autonomy, and even life or death can be affected by a nurse’s decisions and actions,” ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano said in a news release. “ANA believes it’s important that all nurses practice at the highest ethical level, and therefore, we will be offering a full range of activities to inform and support nurses to achieve that goal in a stressful and ever-changing healthcare environment.”

Not a bad new year’s resolution. (ht @JoanEisenstodt)

Other good reads

Make MLK Day “a day on, not a day off”: The VolunteerMatch blog offers insights on how the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. can encourage volunteerism at your organization.

Two-factor authentication can be immensely useful to protect accounts from hacking. If you’re traveling abroad, though, you might run into issues. Gizmodo has some tips on how to keep your accounts secure and accessible even when you’re thousands of miles from home.

Keep your magazine’s production schedule manageable: WriteCommunications’ Kim Howard, CAE, offers tips on building out your production schedule.

(iStock/Thinkstock)