Excellent event video planning guide from Entrepreneur.
We all know it’s critical to have video. It’s important to consider the video captured during your event a key part of the whole show, as it is the stuff that will be whipped up into future content marketing gold and live on in the minds of your audience for the next year or more.
We’ll dig into different types of video content you can produce in future articles. And live video at events? That’s a cutting edge can of worms we’ll open next week. Right now, we’ll focus on how to get started with your video production crew.
1. Pre-production: Review and strategize your approach.
Your video crew will arguably be the most creative people on your team during the event. Not only do they have an eye for beauty, but they’re incredible storytellers. It’s also likely that they’ve shot other events and have insights that can help differentiate your content and make it stronger than competitors or others in the field.
A couple weeks out, set up a call between your social media and marketing team and your video crew. Brief the crew on overall purpose of your event: who will be there, what you want your content to do and who the intended audience is. Don’t be afraid to lean on them and dish out some creative freedom too.
Here’s a list to guide you through that call.
- Depending on the duration of the event, schedule a 20 to 60-minute call, and review the details. Good initial points to cover are: who the point-person for the video crew during the event will be, the run of show, the floor plan, speakers, VIPs and where the crew can store their gear.
- Discuss your video goals. From the planner side, give the crew your initial thoughts and ideas.
- Allow the crew to openly give input on your ideas. This could be instant, or it could take a day, or two but this is where the true value of your crew can come to light. Don’t take critiques of your video-based ideas personally. This is their area of expertise, so get the most out of what you’re paying for.
- Ask the crew if they’ve produced videos at conferences within your space or events that are similar. Then ask them what worked, what didn’t and how to make this the most effective shoot possible.
- If you plan on capturing speakers, connect the crew with the venue’s A/V department.
- Discuss the protocol call for image releases. Do you have a standard release? Do they? Will a sign at the check-in counter saying “Filming Happening” suffice?
Related: 5 Tips for Selecting the Ideal Music for Your Marketing Video
2. Capturing effective content during the event
Video carries more weight in search engines than any other form of content. And people like it. Like, really like it. By 2017, 79 percent of consumer internet traffic will be driven by video. This is a content marketers dream — and one you should be lucidly living through.
In today’s online world search engine marketing (SEM) rules, so play the content game in it’s favor. The more content you release on a consistent basis, the better. Doing so not only makes you look like a thought leader but helps your search results crawl up past your competitors.
If you’re hosting a conference, it’s likely you’re attracting subsets of people with particular specialities or interests. Consider how you can pull five to 10 event attendees aside for a two-minute interview and create a “micro video series” using their answers. For example, if you’re with a Chamber of Commerce, consider asking attendees “What is your best ice-breaker for networking events?” Or “Talk about growing a business in [whatever city you’re located].”.
You’ll need B-roll to aid the interviews. If you want to rock your production out, send the crew photos of important people to capture in advance. Let them know where VIPs will likely be mingling and what areas will be ideal to get general attendees cheersing, laughing and shaking hands (in front of sponsor branding, of course). If the crew is seasoned, cover your bases — and don’t micromanage them, for real.
3. Managing post-production work flow
Assign a specific person to be the liaison between you and your video production crew. There’s nothing worse sending an email to eight people, getting feedback from six, making the changes and then getting a final piece of feedback after you’ve made the changes.
In advance, send your crew the following:
- A .PNG or .EPS file of your logo and / or other graphics you want to be featured
- Your brand identity kit. This should include specific color codes, fonts and any other style elements that define your brand image
- Names, titles, affiliations of interviewees
- Your brand story, what you stand for and your mission statement
The original post of this also has a video discussion worth watching.
