The name tag makes meeting easier while telling almost nothing about how someone arrived there.

A label solves the first ten seconds and nothing after that. A name and a role let two strangers begin without fumbling, but they say nothing about the route someone took to be standing in that room, what it cost, or what they actually care about. The convenience is real, and the risk is that you accept the summary as the person and stop asking.

At the next event where everyone is labelled, ask one person how they came to do what they do. It is a better question than what they do, and it usually turns a badge back into a human being.