Event WiFi with a policy for delegates, exhibitors and staff
A conference centre runs its own staff network alongside thousands of delegates, exhibitor stands and production crews that change from one event to the next. Shield blocks phishing, malware and C2 callbacks at the lookup on all of them. Each event network gets its own policy by SSID or VLAN, scheduled to match the show, with nothing to install on visitor devices.
- Staff
- Guest
- IoT
Staff, guest and IoT devices, nothing to install
What is at stake
A new crowd on the network each week
Thousands of unknown devices
Delegates join with phones and laptops nobody has checked, and an infected one starts calling home the moment it connects.Exhibitor stands and kit
Exhibitors plug in demo screens, card readers and lead scanners on networks set up the night before.Your own back office
Registration desks, catering tills and building management systems share the venue network with the crowd.
How Shield fits
Policies that change with the event
- Delegate WiFiThreat defence, family-safe categories and Safe Search, with ad blocking to keep a full hall fast.
- Exhibitor networksThreat-first policy on each stand's VLAN, with allow lists for the demo platforms they need.
- Production and AVStreaming and broadcast crews get a lighter policy on their own SSID, scheduled for event days.
- Venue staffThreat defence first on staff and back-office networks, with rules by Entra ID group.
See everything Shield stopsConference centres WiFi on Purple Access
Blocked at the lookup
- Command-and-control callback
- Phishing domain
- Malware domain
- Newly flagged domain
Proof
Faster WiFi for a full hall
- 500%
- faster page loads with ads and trackers blocked, by Purple's own measurement
- 44%
- less data used on the event uplink, by Purple's own measurement
- 10 days
- earlier warning of new malicious domains than standard blocklists
- Friendly WiFistandard met for family-safe filtering on public networks
FAQ
Questions we hear from teams like yours
Can we change policy for each event?
Yes. Policy is set per SSID, VLAN and venue, and it can run by time of day and day of week. You can schedule a stricter policy for a schools event and a lighter one for a technology show, from one dashboard.
Do delegates need to install anything?
No. Shield runs on the venue network by pointing the router, firewall or DHCP at it. Delegates and exhibitors connect as normal, and a block page carrying your branding explains anything that is stopped.
Will it slow the network when the hall is full?
Usually the opposite. Blocking ads and trackers at the lookup cuts up to 62% of DNS queries and up to 44% of data used, in Purple's own measurements, which frees capacity when thousands of devices connect at once.
Can exhibitors reach the platforms they need for demos?
Yes. Each exhibitor network can carry its own allow list, so a stand demoing a streaming or gaming platform reaches it while threat blocking stays on. Your team adds entries centrally, without a trip to the stand.
What if Shield has an outage mid-event?
Shield runs on a dual anycast DNS network, so if one node or network fails, the next one answers. It fails closed, so an outage never leaves a network unfiltered. There is no appliance on site to fail during a show, because the venue network points straight at Shield.
Other industries
Corporate offices
Threat defence at the lookup for HQ, branches and staff networks, with Entra ID group policy and SIEM logs.Financial services
Threat defence for branches, trading floors and remote advisers, with evidence for FCA, DORA and PCI DSS.Manufacturing
Ransomware and C2 blocked at the lookup on OT, IoT and office networks, with each device visible by internal IP.
Decide what your network reaches, free for 30 days
Tell us which networks and sites you run and who is on them. We map a policy to each one: staff, guests, students, residents and IoT. Then point one network at Shield and see what it stops for 30 days, before you pay anything. Running change control? We plan a pilot on one site with your team instead. No hardware to install.
- We map your networksA Purple expert maps your networks, your venues and the people on each, and answers your questions on bypass, outages, data handling and integrations.
- You get a policy for each oneStaff, guests, students, residents, IoT and paid tiers, each with the policy it needs.
- You prove it, then get your tailored quote30 days free on one network, or a pilot on one site planned with your team, then Shield priced standalone or as an add-on to your Access plan.
Your policy map
Tell us your networks. We map a policy to each one.
A Purple expert comes back with a policy for every network and group you run, from the team that has run content filtering since 2012 and runs WiFi for 80,000+ venues in 90 countries.