Lots of heads

Event organisers want to see lots of attendees in their photographs; a busy crowd makes a good impression. If you take a few shots from the back or halfway through the room of the round table session with the backs of lots of attendee heads you give the impression that the event is busier than it actually is. This can help the organiser improve attendance for future events.

How many photos should I take?

I usually take about 1,500+ photographs on a full day, or two day conference, and choose the best 300 to use. This might sound like a lot, but if you take too few photos you cannot turn back time to fix the shots that you missed. Usually I follow the program booklet and take a lot of photos of keynote speakers, round table speakers and attendees, during their presentations, but also in relaxed, casual poses and while they are networking. I find that I get a lot of positive feedback from attendees on photos when people are in a relaxed and casual pose.

Anything else?

Yes, try to position your camera to include the sponsor logos and signage from the conference organiser. This is very important for the sponsors as well as the organisers. Event organisers can use these photographs to highlight their event and show important sponsors attending their event. I also take some photos of the tables and food setup, and even take photographs of the building as well as the city the event is being held in. Photographs of the city can be used in the headings of their photo albums that they eventually use on their website or via social media.

After the conference

After the conference it is of the utmost importance that you get the photographs to the event organiser as quickly as possible. A lot of event organisers, especially in these modern times of social media, need to post their photos yesterday. So it usually ends up being a long day.

I have no event photography pictures on my websites out of respect for the privacy of the people -in lots of cases high profile people- who attend the conferences.

Some of my work can be found via Webright, linked to the conference organisers websites. You can also send me an email for example galleries, but these links will only be sent to genuine conference organisers.

Stephen Cassidy