Cecilia Amaka Ekeng is a Communications & PR Associate at The Ventures Park. When she’s not in the office, she creates image and video content for events/organizations, helping them build a bank of footage they can use to sell their vision.
Are you planning an event, or in a Media team for an upcoming event/conference, and need a basic guide to know what to capture to tell a great story?
When it comes to events, its always best to capture as much as possible so that a lot of content can be derived from the entire process of an event – that is, beginning to end. When I capture at events, I think long-term. I want to capture content that can be used 10 years into the future, because I like to believe visions are long term. I like the idea of legacy. I love the thought of footage possibly being compiled into a documentary.
The things I write below are not 100% compulsory, but ideally, for events, this is guide will help you get valuable content with a high reuse value. Please also note that these ideas are primarily for video content, but can also apply to images.
a. Pre-Event Content
- Have the Founder/Host/Convener do an interview sharing the vision for the event being held and explaining the ‘why?’
- Create behind the scenes content of volunteer and team meetings. If there are event volunteers, this helps to show the volunteer culture, in order to convince future potential volunteers to sign up. Shots of smiling faces and laughter can help fan the flames of FOMO.
- Interview volunteers and team members and encourage them to share stories behind volunteering. This also would help convince future potential volunteers to join. It also can show people how important the event is, because people don’t just volunteer for any and everything. Something has to compel them to sign up their time, energy and resources.
- You can interview guest speakers to ask them why they chose to accept the invitation to speak at the event, to convince people to sign up and register.
b. Pre-Event Content (Event Day)
- Set up a time-lapse video: This helps to see everything come together from nothing to what the attendees will see on the day. This footage can also come in handy in the future, perhaps for anniversary throwback videos, reflecting on the journey so far. A time-lapse is the best format for this, as it speeds up everything.
- Create red carpet content (if any): Capture arrivals of hosts, attendees and special guests. Interview attendees and ask them their expectations of the event.
- You should also have group shots of each volunteer team with their tools, waving hello.
c. Event Content (Event Day)
- Hall Filling Time-lapse: You can capture a time-lapse of the hall gradually getting filled up with people. The more.
- Guest Speaker Arrivals: Get as many shots as possible and make every guest look like a big deal.
- Stage Activities: Whether singular speakers or panel sessions, capture it in long and short format. Short clips come in handy for quotes and can build up a content bank to promote the event, long after the event has ended. Long form content can be used for YouTube, Ebooks, articles and other forms of content that will be valuable. The possibilities are endless but it’s best to capture all you can.
- Audience Activities: Are there networking sessions? Capture people connecting. Are there games and icebreakers? Capture people heartily participating. These moments are vital for getting the online audience to feel connected to the overall experience.
- Interviews: You can interview attendees and ask them about their experience so far in the middle of the conference, if there is a break time.
- Volunteers: Interview volunteers before and after the event to share their experience. Capture the volunteers as they are working, this footage can be used in subsequent editions of the event for call for volunteers.
d. Post-Event Content
- Attendee Interviews: Interview attendees, asking them to rate their experience, share one thing they learnt, or share what their favourite aspect of the event was. Bonus points if the person is a repeat attendee that comes every year – it shows credibility and value.
- Volunteers: A group video of volunteers chanting the name of the event and the year. Interview volunteers after the event to share their experience. It mustn’t be every single volunteer, but get 3-5 energetic individuals from various departments e.g. registration, media, protocol, etc.
