The problem
Event crews run on group chats never built for operations.
- 1
Requests scroll away
“Need water at Gate 3” is buried under forty messages within minutes.
- 2
Five people report one problem
The same empty dispenser arrives as five messages, and two volunteers go.
- 3
Nobody knows who’s on it
“Someone handling this?” goes unanswered, so organizers chase by phone.
- 4
Attendees never hear back
The person who reported it has no idea anything happened.
How it works
One issue, four states, everyone can see it.
- 01
Anyone reports
Attendees scan a poster. Volunteers type in the crew chat. No app, no account.
- 02
Duplicates merge
Reports of the same issue in the same place join one live card: “3 reports”.
- 03
One person owns it
“I’ll take it” flips the card on every crew phone. Exactly one claim wins.
- 04
Everyone hears back
Each reporter is told who is on it, then that it’s fixed. Once.
The closed loop
The person who reported it is part of the loop.
Most tools stop when a volunteer marks something done. Baton tells every person who reported the issue that someone is on it, and again when it’s fixed. One update per state, never a flood.
- Reported
- Owned
- Fixed
- Reporters told
Who it’s for
Three views, each built for the device that person holds.
Organizers
Laptop or tablet
- Live command centre: what needs an owner, longest wait, who is overloaded
- Assign, reassign and message the owner from the incident
- Impact report after the event
Volunteers
Their own phone, no app
- Join with a QR code and a name
- Claim with one tap and see your tasks
- Crew chat where requests become cards
Attendees
Any phone camera
- Scan a poster at the location
- Pick what’s wrong, add a detail
- See “on it”, then “fixed”, with no account
Features
Small, deliberate tools for the moments that go wrong.
Chat that becomes work
Type “need 2 chairs at Hall B” in the crew chat and the message itself becomes claimable. Transparent rules, no guesswork, one tap to undo.
Duplicate merging
Same place, same kind of problem, within minutes: merged. Medical and safety reports are only suggested, never merged silently.
Race-proof ownership
Ten volunteers can tap at once. Exactly one wins, and everyone else sees who did.
Assign and reassign
Leads hand a request to a specific person, who gets a private alert inside the crew chat.
Direct messages
Message the owner from the incident itself. One-to-one, and no phone numbers shared.
Escalation, by name
Unclaimed for too long? The zone lead is alerted, then the event leads. Urgent issues escalate sooner.
Full incident history
Every report, merge, claim, reassignment and fix, with who and when, on one timeline.
Impact report
Time to owner, time to fix and hot spots by zone, built only from what really happened.
Real-time by Nexconn
The chat message is the incident.
Live state on the message
Each incident is a Nexconn group message. Its status, owner and report count live in message metadata, so a claim updates the same card on every phone.
Private where it should be
Assignment alerts are targeted group messages only the assignee receives. Organizer ↔ volunteer conversations use Nexconn direct channels.
The database decides
Claims are settled in Postgres first, then projected to Nexconn in the background, with a repair loop that re-syncs anything that didn’t arrive.
Compared with a group chat
Keep the chat. Add ownership.
| What a crew needs | Group chat | Baton |
|---|---|---|
| Works for volunteers with no app or account | ||
| Requests stay visible until someone owns them | ||
| Duplicate reports collapse into one task | ||
| Everyone sees who is handling what, live | ||
| The person who reported it is told when it’s fixed | ||
| Unowned requests escalate to a named lead | ||
| Times to respond and fix, per zone |
Setup
Ready before your first volunteer arrives.
- 1
Create the event
Name it and list your locations: gates, halls, help desks.
- 2
Print the posters
One QR poster per location for attendees, one crew QR for volunteers.
- 3
Run the day
Keep the command centre open. Requests arrive, get owners, get fixed.
Privacy and reliability
Built for a crowded venue with patchy signal.
No attendee identity
No name, phone or email is collected from attendees.
Secrets stay server-side
Messaging credentials never reach the browser; each person gets their own token.
Reconnects on its own
Phones re-read the true state on reconnect, so nothing is lost if a tab sleeps.
Simulated data is labelled
Demo activity is marked and never counted in impact numbers.
FAQ
Questions organizers ask first.
Do volunteers or attendees need to install anything?
No. Volunteers join from a QR code or link and type their name. Attendees scan a poster and report anonymously. Everything runs in the phone’s browser.
Does it replace our WhatsApp group?
It replaces the part a group chat is bad at: tracking requests. Many crews keep their social group and run operations in Baton, which has a real crew chat of its own.
What counts as a duplicate?
A report in the same zone and category as an open incident from the last few minutes. Reports that only look similar are suggested for a merge, never merged silently, and medical or safety reports are never merged automatically.
What happens if the internet drops?
Every claim and status change is saved on our server first. Phones resync when they reconnect, and a background job repairs anything that didn’t reach the live chat.
What do you keep about attendees?
Nothing that identifies them: no name, phone or email. A report is tied to an anonymous browser session so we can tell that person when it’s fixed.
What does it cost?
Baton is free while we pilot it with real events. If you run an event in the next few weeks, we’d like to help you set it up.
See the whole loop in two minutes.
Report a problem as an attendee, claim it as a volunteer, and watch the organizer’s command centre update live.