It’s one thing to say you had a successful event and another thing to prove it to your audience. Are you stopping to think “Am I capturing strong marketing material?” in the middle of your busy event? Chances are probably low, right?

Having strong documentation at your events can help provide a compelling argument for your audience when you begin to promote your next function. Check out these three tools you need to implement the next time you go to properly capture your next event

Photography
Come on, we have to list it: It’s the most 101 way to document your event! Clearly the most traditional method, using photos as a form of candid documentation is a win-win due to easy camera phone access and the frequency of attendees and industry professionals taking photos at almost any event! To start, we recommend a two-step process when determining your photography game-plan.

First, make sure that you have someone (a coworker, a member, or even a volunteer) whose job it is to specifically take professional photos. While your photographer doesn’t have to be a “professional” so-to-speak, you’re going to want someone who is willing to put in the work before, during, and after the event to provide you some high quality results. 

Next, you’ll want to provide one unified hashtag that your attendees can reference when posting personal photos to their social media accounts! This friendly hashtag reminder to your attendees via their registration email (or listed on event signage) will allow for you to easily segment the photos your attendees post into varying marketing categories. You will thank yourself later when you don’t have to sift through all of your photos to find some distinct photo type.

Video
Who doesn’t love a good highlight reel? We personally think there is no better proof of a good event than the “living” documentation of audio and video. While this method will probably be more expensive than the cost of photography, the overall footage captured from your event will be more substantial with some authentic sound and movement.

You can organize this method a variety of ways, but we advise to try having a combination of the following coverage in order to provide a bird’s-eye view of your event:

  • Attendee testimonials
  • Speeches from event speakers
  • Walking through each networking break to see the hustle and bustle
  • Capturing the variety of vendors available

Attendee Surveys
There is something powerful (and intimidating) about going straight to the source to learn more about your attendee’s perspective. While some attendees may have a more limited scope about the full details of your event, sending out a survey will allow for you to see what was noticed and overlooked on a general level. While it’s often said that surveys are sometimes seen as a poor use of staff resources, we believe that these surveys can reveal some eye-opening details that you can’t capture in a photograph or on video.

Also, surveys allow for your attendees to be anonymous (if they or you wish) and provide an outlet for complete honesty. Think of it like a way to check-in on the ground floor with your attendees. Otherwise, you may not realize a fatal flaw that could reduce your attendance for the next event. However, we do urge you to take these forms of criticism with a grain of salt, as it can be too easy to be critical when there are no real “consequences.”

Focusing on these methods will allow for you to observe your strengths and pain points when it comes to capturing the essence of your event. This knowledge will be crucial for you to improve your marketing efforts for future events, so try not to waste this opportunity! One last remark: Don’t forget to get signed releases from your attendees if you want to use any collected information for your marketing campaigns! The last thing you want is the perfect video testimonial and no authorization to use it.

Have you started looking into using an online registration system and found you’re running into dozens of different systems that all sound the same? If so, you’re not alone. Check out our guide below to find out the five questions you need to ask to land on the perfect online registration system for your next event!

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