It’s important to know how the images we’re shooting will be used, so we can understand what they need to contain.
Most of the images we shoot are used purely for marketing and promotion of the event, but some of our clients put them in a gallery, so the community of event attendees can see themselves in action.
Especially since COVID, every event organiser has needed to emphasise that their event attendees are part of a “community” of people, for whom the event is a focal point. Some organisers will have an actual online community of attendees, some will simply organise their attendees around a topic-specific website of related content to which the community subscribes.
This is to increase the perceived value of the event, but also to give year-round access to the attendees (who are now a community) both for themselves and for potential sponsors and advertisers. (This is at least partly a hedge against a future pandemic, when the event industry will once again dissapear overnight.)
Conference promotion, sponsor and exhibitor promotion.
Marketing materials (which these are) and thereby marketing campaigns are broken down into 2 categories: Confprom and Spexprom. Spex is short for Sponsorship and Exhibition, and Spex marketing or Spexprom is the name given to those marketing efforts that are geared towards encouraging sponsors and exhibitors to sign up to the event.
Confprom is the name given to materials and efforts that go towards encouraging paying delegates to sign up to attend the conference.
The spexprom campaign generally starts earlier that the confprom campaign, as sponsorship revenue often underwrites the initial cost of the event. (Venues require hefty deposits!)
What do sponsors want?
A sponsorship package usually consists of a speaking slot in the conference agenda, some branding on the event signage and marketing materials, (brochure) and an exhibition stand (or more likely floorspace to put their own stand) If the event is large and over-subscribed in spex terms, you may well see sponsor branding on things as diverse as lanyards, floor signage, menus and even toilets.
All this gives them exposure to the market they are trying to sell into. Especially prized are speaking slots and the provision to put on workshops – these offer the chance to demonstrate thought leadership (IKR) in the sector and position themselves as important solution providers in the space.
What can I do about this?
Sponsor presentations and workshops are an absolute priority to shoot stills of, as are any examples of sponsor branding around the venue.
As with exhibitors, ideally we should be capturing a shot of every single sponsor stand with one of their staff actively engaged with a prospect.
Onsite you will find one or more Sponsorship Managers from the organiser, treat them and their priorities as important.
What do exhibitors want?
To meet as many prospects as possible and drag them back to their stand where they can discuss the problems the prospect has, and how their product or service can solve those problems. They then want to get their contact details and arrange a follow up conversation for a later date.
Sponsors also want to do this obviously, but sponsors spend more money, and enjoy greater opportunites around branding and thought leadership as a result.
What can I do about this?
Try and get a shot of every exhibitor stand with one of their staff actively engaged with a prospect, especially demonstrating their product or collecting contact details in some way.
NB:
It is often the case that the person who booked the stand, who actually took the decision to give the organiser part of their marketing budget, will not be onsite themselves, and will be relying on the impressions of the event given to them by their onsite colleagues. Good photographs of these colleagues actively engaging with prospects help make the case for the exhibitor or sponsor rebooking for next years event.
What do delegates want?
Delegates want to learn about new business opportunities, common problems and the latest thinking on how to solve them and meet industry colleagues, both old and new. They want the re-assurance that their problems are also being experienced by their peers.That’s what they’ll tell you. What they won’t necessarily tell you is they are probably also hunting for their next job, and that they want to have a good time!
What can I do about this?
Make the event look well-attended, but hide the resulting queues, Apart from the one at rego but more of that later. Shots of hugs, handshakes, anything experiential (games, giveaways, VR terminals, casinos, bars) Shots of people meeting people, but not necessarily being pitched at the time.
NB: There is also vizprom
You can probably work out what that is, and it only applies when there is a large (probably) free to attend exhibition alongside the conference element.
