The SOMOS DER story, event by event

Manchester City had just won everything, and the trophies from that historic season went on tour. Beyond 90, a UK agency, designed the experience and chose us to deliver it in Buenos Aires. We were their operating partner in Argentina: the team, the suppliers, the build, the fan journey, the press and the logistics across the 8 days.

The original trophies are not props, and they were displayed under a security protocol set by the club’s headquarters in Manchester, which we followed to the letter. More than 2,000 fans came through to get their photo with them. It was the job that turned DER from a side gig into a real business: we started taking it seriously and we haven’t stopped since.

That same year we ran accreditation for Wave Conference, one of the most important artificial intelligence events in the country. It was one of the first big tests for the access partnership: pre-registration connected to Eventbrite, a dynamic QR code per person so nobody could duplicate it, and a dashboard showing the occupancy of each space in real time.

More than 5,000 attendees got in with no physical credential and no queue at the door. The same organiser called us again later for Campus Party, and in access control that is worth more than any number.

Every year Shell brings together the owners of its service stations. For the 2024 edition, Venue Brand Experience brought us in for the core of the entry process: we built and ran the page where each of the 1,500 guests entered their details and photo, and then we validated and cleaned the whole database so nothing was missing on the day.

That database fed the event’s facial recognition system, which the technology provider operated: entry in a couple of seconds, with no physical credential. On the day we were at the door with our team to sort out any missing data.

We ran access control for both editions of the Leyendas de México festival at Tecnópolis, with 25,000 attendees across the two. Each person got in with a unique QR code validated in real time, and the scanning stations went where the flow needed them, not where it was convenient.

The whole operation was coordinated from a control centre: a central post that could see every entry point and sent people wherever a queue was building. The support team sorted out any issue at the door within minutes.

At Tecnópolis we also worked the Anuel AA shows, four dates between 2024 and 2025 with 60,000 fans in total. It was a dual operation: the tide of people on foot on one side and the cars coming in on the other, each with its own setup. At Parque Roca we added support and vehicle control.

Ticket validation had an offline backup, so if the network went down, entry kept going. VIP and press had their own accreditation and their own rules, kept apart from general entry.

For Myke Towers’ show on his La Pantera Negra tour we set up 12 validation points running at once for more than 6,000 attendees. Before the date, people were told about a staggered entry so they wouldn’t all reach the door at the same time.

During the show we watched entry live and moved staff around depending on how people were coming in, working directly with Tecnópolis security.

Campus Party 2024 at the Parque de Innovación was the first of three. Each attendee verified their email before the event and came in with a different QR code depending on the type of participant, through several points in parallel and with backup so no door ever stalled.

Besides counting how many people came in, we tracked where they were: a dashboard showed live entry to the Immersive Dome, the classroom domes and the Startup Fair. In 2025 they called us again for the Entre Ríos edition and for the TecWeek edition at BA Ferial. Across the three, 20,000 people came through.

For Grupo Mirgor’s end-of-year parties we ran access control at four events of up to 1,000 people each, adapted to each venue.

Together with La Mirona we also built a live raffle platform: each guest joined by QR from their phone and the draws were shown on the giant screens, in Mirgor’s brand identity.

A school football tournament for a school in the northern suburbs, produced end to end. We set up the categories and the match schedule so there was no dead time, and we brought in sound, signage and all the logistics.

What made it different was that we went out and found the brands: we brought in and activated Hilton Pilar, Pascual Toso, Go Seven and Goalty, each with its own activation on the pitch, plus live raffles and photo and video coverage for the school and the sponsors.

With Mind Market we moved into festival catering. The festival isn’t ours: our part was the food area at Buenos Aires Trap, with 15 stalls between food trucks and fixed stands for a festival of 120,000 people over two days.

We picked the suppliers to cover every taste, designed the layout so that grabbing food didn’t mean missing the show and supervised both days, with a waste system planned for that scale from day one.

At Expo Autos, a car and motorsport show at the CeNARD, we did the catering end to end on our own for the first time: we chose the 5 food trucks, placed them on the grounds and ran the area on the floor.

We also handled the things nobody sees that keep everything above board: municipal permits, insurance and food safety.

Our second catering job with Mind Market was in Patagonia. The festival belongs to the city of General Roca: we took care of its food area, setting up the space, selecting and coordinating the stalls and running the operation on site, with local produce and apple-based products.

We separated fast food, gourmet and tastings so people could move around without crowding, kept every stall on top of its food safety protocols and, since we have our own visual production, designed the content for the stalls’ LED screens and covered the area with photography.

The Abel Pintos tour proved we could hold the same standard for months: 30 dates, 30,000 people, 6 shows in Patagonia, 20 in Buenos Aires City and 4 in Mar del Plata.

In each city we put together and trained a local team on our protocol, with remote dashboards to follow entry date by date and technical support at every show. At the end of each one we delivered its own attendance report: 30 wrap-ups, not one generic report.

Another tour, with venues that had nothing in common: Dante Gebel’s PresiDante show crossed the country from Chaco to Ushuaia in 13 shows and 6 cities, with more than 16,000 attendees.

We adapted the same protocol to theatres, sports halls, hotels and casinos, working with the local teams in each city so the operation didn’t depend on distance. Every show had its own live monitoring and its own report.

La Mona Jiménez’s cuarteto show in San Francisco, Córdoba: 8,000 people in a single high-demand night. We travelled with our own team and devices so we didn’t depend on anyone at the destination.

QR codes with flow control so the queue never got out of hand, full offline backup in case connectivity dropped and a live dashboard with entries, capacity and every scanning point throughout the show.

Theatre is a different challenge: the house opens, fills up in no time and the curtain goes up on time. At the Teatro Presidente Alvear we ran access control for all 7 performances of Las Mujeres de Lorca, with more than 800 seats per show and more than 6,000 spectators over nine days.

The same protocol at every performance, coordinated with the theatre, and an attendance report for each one.

A very different crowd: kids with their families. At the Teatro Tronador in Mar del Plata we ran access control for 4 shows of La Granja de Zenón, with 980 seats per show and almost 4,000 spectators.

Entry was designed for families with young children, putting safety and speed first, and coordinated with the theatre show by show.

That year we learned to operate remotely, and FILGUA was the biggest example. We ran access control for the 22nd Guatemala International Book Fair without setting foot in Guatemala: we configured the system, hired and trained the local team and followed every day live from Buenos Aires.

It was 13 days in a row and 90,000 visitors. We measured entries per gate, peak times and occupancy in real time, and at the close we delivered the full report with the visitor flow and the lessons for the next edition.

Also in Guatemala, the Chicago Legacy concert, the tribute to the band Chicago: 800 people, with tickets sold through Linkearte.

We set up the unique QR system and loaded the database from Buenos Aires, trained the local staff remotely and supervised them during the show, working around the time difference and the conditions at the venue, with backup connectivity.

In Bolivia we did several events the same way. The first on this list is Il Divo in their By Candlelight format: more than 3,000 attendees across four sections (Divo, Super VIP, VIP and General), each with its own access rules.

We set up the four ticket types from Buenos Aires, with the database loaded through Linkearte, coordinated priority entry for the Divo and Super VIP sections and tracked occupancy section by section.

A stadium turned into a concert hall for 4,500 people. We adapted access control to the gates, sections and flows of a sports venue, with unique QR codes and fast validation so nothing backed up.

Setup, ticket loading and monitoring, all from Buenos Aires, with backup connectivity in case the stadium network failed.

Flor Bertotti’s show in Bolivia had 1,500 attendees, mostly kids with their families. We adjusted the protocol so families with young children, pushchairs and large groups could get in without friction.

We ran it entirely from Buenos Aires, with unique QR codes, a real-time dashboard, the tickets sold through Linkearte integrated into the system and backup connectivity.

The comeback concert of Yalo Cuéllar, a big name in Bolivian folk music, in an intimate format inside a hotel. We adjusted validation to the spaces at the Gran Hotel Cochabamba and controlled capacity in real time throughout the concert.

The venue rules, the Linkearte ticket database and the monitoring were all set up from Buenos Aires and coordinated with the hotel team.

“245 Años de Oruro: Pasión y Sentimiento” was a day of cultural celebration with live music and performances, produced by Sich Producciones and sold through Linkearte.

We ran access control remotely, with unique QR codes and real-time control of the venue’s capacity, adjusting the operation together with the production team.

What we learned abroad we also used at home. We ran the Luck Ra festival at the Polideportivo in Mar del Plata, with 5,000 people, from Buenos Aires: we configured the system, loaded the database and validated entry with unique QR codes.

At the venue we had staff hired in Mar del Plata, coordinated by us, with a live attendance and occupancy dashboard and a report with recommendations at the close.

Argentina’s most important gathering of independent video game developers: 1,500 attendees over two days and more than 20 games.

Online pre-registration split by attendee type from the moment of sign-up, 5 control points with our own equipment and staff, and different permissions for developers, press and the general public.

A high-level executive gathering with more than 300 international business leaders from technology, energy, trade, innovation and real estate. We produced personalised credentials with a unique QR code and online pre-accreditation so people with packed schedules could arrive and walk straight in.

Entry was coordinated with the official security teams present at the meeting, with special protocols for an event of that profile.

Synerfy was taking part in the IASP LATAM 2025 regional meeting and needed its presence captured to a professional standard. We coordinated photo coverage of its stand, the presentations, the demos and its team networking with leaders of science and technology parks.

We edited and delivered the material in high resolution, ready for their LinkedIn, their website and their sales presentations.

We went back to the Golden Center, where it all began, for Sandro Meléndez’s “Ventas Salvajes”: 2,200 people in an auditorium format.

We coordinated several entrances at once to avoid congestion, with on-site accreditation, real-time occupancy monitoring and an attendance report at the close.

A small event, 300 people, handled as rigorously as a mass one: a unique, non-transferable QR code per attendee, duplicate detection, mobile scanners at every point and a real-time dashboard.

We ran it on site with our own team, working directly with the organisers.

And then came a big consulting job. The Argentine Weightlifting Federation wanted to bring the IWF-sanctioned U-17 World Championship to Buenos Aires and, before committing, needed to know whether it was viable. We spent 6 months on it: a budget with real quotes, flights for delegations from more than 50 countries, hotels, internal transport, streaming, a three-tier sponsorship proposal and the paperwork with the national Sports Undersecretariat (Subsecretaría de Deportes).

With everything on the table, the investment wasn’t there: the Federation had no way to fund it and Buenos Aires lost the hosting rights. We tell it anyway because it’s the job that best shows what consulting is for: knowing, with real numbers, whether an event can be done before spending money on it.

The carnival isn’t ours: our part was the access logistics, planned for 4 days of 1,200 people a day. Two went ahead; the others were cancelled for reasons outside DER’s control.

We ran both days from Buenos Aires, with unique QR codes and a real-time dashboard to control each day’s capacity.

The longest reach yet for our remote operation: access control for the Brainrots series in five Spanish cities, with between 1,000 and 1,200 people per show and around 11,000 attendees in total.

We set up and monitored all 10 shows from Buenos Aires, with a live dashboard for each venue, the same protocol everywhere and coordination with each venue to handle local issues from a distance.

DiDi was arriving in the provinces and needed every launch to go equally well in very different cities. Under the framework agreement with Backyard Group we delivered three corporate events, in Bariloche, Formosa and Catamarca, with full production at each destination.

Suppliers, venues, transport and build were sorted out city by city, so the DiDi team only had to think about their brand. Three places with opposite logistics and the same bar in all three.

A gin festival with free tastings at every stand, Argentine and international distilleries and live music. We supplied and coordinated all the staff: access control and box office with age checks, bartenders at the bars, the team that kept the glasses clean and circulating, and the build and strike crews.

We were there from the build, days before, and all the staff worked on the same radio channel, with one person in charge who could see the whole event. When the festival closed, that same team broke everything down and loaded the trucks that very night.

More than 100 high-end cars in the car park of the Casino de Puerto Madero, with clubs such as the Ferrari Club Argentino and the Mustang Club of Argentina and a drift show. We were there from the build (barriers, the circuit with its tyre wall, generators and fire extinguishers) to the strike at night.

During the day we coordinated the access control and box office team, the promo staff welcoming the public at the arch and the VIP area staff, with a single person in charge of all staff and communication with the organisers.

The Misión Productiva initiative put business leaders, union leaders, academics and government officials in the same room. We handled around 300 accreditations, with a thermal label showing name and category stuck onto each credential the organiser had printed, all ready before the doors opened.

Three categories (Guest, Speaker and Press) that could be told apart at a glance, and a desk sized for the opening rush, because at a one-day congress almost everyone arrives in the same window.

For Amazon Web Services events, the agency OWS asked us to produce the merchandise: 60 vacuum flasks with the brand engraved (not printed), 30 delivered in Buenos Aires and 30 in Santiago, Chile, with the same model and the same finish on both sides of the Andes.

We added 510 die-cut AWS Startups stickers in five designs, with the vector sheet set up for the printer and the cut line on a separate layer. OWS managed the client relationship and we took care of production and delivery.

Elkis18 brought an activation for Livelo and Banco do Brasil Estilo to Bariloche, together with Banco Patagonia, during the ski lessons at Cerro Catedral. Over four Saturdays we ran the activation at the base of the mountain: a photographer in the snow, the brands’ frame applied on the spot and each group leaving with its private gallery on their phones, via QR, before heading back to the slopes.

It all ran on a web app of our own, built to be operated from an iPad out in the open without depending on the mountain’s connection. We served 21 groups and more than 100 framed photos, and after each Saturday the agency received the day’s report.

ArPa, the contemporary art fair born in São Paulo, held its first international edition in Buenos Aires, in the house designed by Alejandro Bustillo that now belongs to the Fondo Nacional de las Artes: 20 galleries from Argentina and Brazil, two preview days for collectors and three open to the public. The fair hired us for all of its access, and it was PASE’s debut at a real event.

Registration lived on ArPa’s website, under its brand, and the pass arrived by email in Spanish, Portuguese or English. Each gallery had a QR code for its guests with a cap on entries, we produced more than 130 photo credentials and we rehearsed the door the day before. Over five days 3,229 people came in, and the fair’s team followed entries live from a dashboard.

The Dominican Republic was the guest of honour country at FIT, the International Tourism Trade Fair of Latin America, with a 400 m² stand. Its tourism office trusted us with the food production: getting its cuisine tasted in Buenos Aires across the four days of the fair.

Cooking wasn’t allowed on the stand, so our cooks prepared everything in an off-site kitchen and we brought it over each day to serve at the right temperature. We found the Argentine equivalent of every ingredient that doesn’t exist here, starting with Dominican longaniza sausage, and served more than 7,000 tasting portions so that the last day had the same as the first.

The show belongs to Cazzu, who chose her home province for her first stadium show, with some 20,000 people. Our part was the card stunt Brahma used to welcome her from the stands: “BIENVENIDA A CASA, JEFA.” (Welcome home, boss), visible from the stage.

We designed the stunt on the grid of an unnumbered 200-seat stand: 220 cards printed in Jujuy, each with its row and seat on the back. Eight local staff and a coordinator placed them one by one and stayed in the section for the whole show, because it went up during a single song, “La Cueva”, on a radio cue. A DER producer travelled from Buenos Aires to coordinate everything.

Databricks, the data and artificial intelligence company, brought together clients, partners and guests at the Hotel Libertador. The Argentine agency Audere hired us for accreditation, and the whole entry ran on PASE: scan the QR code or search the name, and the credential came straight out of a thermal printer with name, job title and company.

PASE assigned the lanyard colour automatically by guest type, walk-up registrations were added without stopping the queue and three promo staff worked the desk. Out of 500 registered, 326 people came in, 216 of them in the peak hour, and that same night the agency had the complete spreadsheet.

The Principality of Asturias chose us for the fifth edition of the World Congress of Asturian Communities (Congreso Mundial de Asturianía), the first held outside Asturias, with around 100 delegates from 35 Asturian centres in the Americas and Europe and a closing assembly that debated and voted on the conclusions.

We handled the technical production for both days (sound and conference system, LED screen, lighting, stage and room technicians), the streaming of the open sessions, the host with a script for each block and the accreditation of the delegates on PASE. All under a single DER coordination.

We worked with Audere again the following week, for Sophos, the cybersecurity company. Its partner workshop took place in two rooms at the Hilton: in each one we set up full sound with a sound engineer, a projector bright enough to read with the room lights on and a 3 × 2 metre screen, all installed and tested the day before.

At night, at Irondriver, we provided sound and lighting for 35 people. By day at the Hilton and by night in Palermo, the agency dealt with one person in charge of the whole technical side.

The Festival is organised by INCAA, Argentina’s national film institute; we handled accreditation and access for its official launch at the Palacio Libertad, where the 150 films of the 41st edition were announced. We set up three QR invitation circuits: the cocktail with prior confirmation, the concert with direct entry and a public page for everyone else and the press.

The invitations went out with the Festival’s artwork exactly as supplied, we printed the VIP and Press credentials and we controlled entry in sequence, first the cocktail in the Salón de los Escudos and then the Auditorio Nacional. The next day the organisers had the wrap-up report, taken straight from PASE.