With the onset of social media and the prevalence of the camera-embedded smartphone, everyone’s an influencer, which means that you can’t escape user-generated content. There are 55.5 million smartphone owners in the UK: that’s 87% of all adults. Those cameras are everywhere, and so are the posts to Instagram. 

As a professional photographer, whether you’re attending a wedding or a corporate event, you can be sure that a whole host of attendees will be taking their own photographs of the event at the same time. But what are the pros and cons of this user-generated content? Could it be beneficial to professional photographers to have so much user-generated content from an event? Let’s decide: 

Pro: An Excellent Marketing Strategy

From the point of view of the event host and the marketeer, user-generated content is an excellent tool. It captures the fun of the event from the attendee's perspective, invoking positive emotions, instilling social proof, and creating a social media buzz around the event. The more unique users that share their user-generated content of your event, the bigger the buzz surrounding it and the greater the likelihood of it trending. From a marketeer's point of view then, user-generated content is a dream come true. 

Con: Do Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth?  

From a professional photographer's perspective, this enthusiasm is likely to be a little more tempered. It can be hard to get the shot you want when you have event attendees taking their own photos and creating their own content at the same time. This can be particularly difficult for wedding photographers that have a set list of images they need to secure, but they can’t get the shot because of the sea of other cameras (and camera phones) in the way.  

Pro: Platforms to share photos are a Great Way to Capture Intimate Moments and a New Perspective 

Even the very best photographer can’t be everywhere. If you’re busy capturing photos of the bride and groom with their families, then who is getting those shots of the groomsmen taking shots? User-generated content is a great way to get a new perspective on events. Even the most formal corporate events have moments of fun and joviality that the event organiser is going to want to see! This is one of the main benefits of user-generated content: it ensures that the event is caught on camera from every angle! 

Con: Too Much Can Be Shared 

Many private event hosts (such as a bride and groom) are reluctant to allow their guests to share their own user-generated content from the event, preferring to control which images are released and when. They don’t want to create a social media buzz around their wedding. And they don’t want their colleagues to see those photos of Auntie Beryl falling over after she’s had one too many! One way to avoid this, whilst still enabling guests to take their own photos, is to have an EventsAlbum for the event. This is a QR code-generated album that allows guests to easily and simply share their photos with the event host. That way, the host can see all those great photos, but the rest of the world doesn’t have to. 

User-generated content can be massively beneficial for corporate and public events: It creates a social buzz that can increase brand awareness, ticket sales, and overall event enthusiasm. And the content can raise a smile no matter the event: what bride and groom don’t want to see their flower girls and page boys sneaking a cake under the table? Whilst user-generated content is almost always a good thing, it is the way it is shared and distributed that often needs greater control. As a photographer, finding a way to implement this control could result in happier customers, which means great reviews and more business.

Event management technology can help to improve events for both event planners and their attendees. Planning large corporate events can be incredibly demanding, but with the right technological tools, you can ensure that every event is successful. Not sure which event technology solutions are right for you? Here are four simple ways that you can use technology to improve your corporate events:

1. Projection Mapping 

Projection mapping is an innovative augmented reality technology that is used to create backdrops and screening that will create movement and excitement in even the most workaday event venue. Use of projection mapping is incredibly on trend right now, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it is a much more affordable way to create a huge visual impact in your venue when compared to traditional design and setting tools. You can cover the whole room in your corporate branding without having to involve a wide range of different vendors. What’s more, because it is a relatively new technology, projection mapping can help your event to create a buzz on social media. Attendees will be keen to share their photos and video of the mapping, creating a powerful organic marketing tool for your event. 

2. Harness the Power of QR Code Photo Albums

Giving your event a dedicated QR code is a great way to harness technology for the convenience of your guests. EventsAlbum is an online album where your guests can easily share all their photos from your event. Your guests can simply scan the dedicated event QR code and then upload images when they wish. Sharing images across your corporate events in this way is a great way to boost employee morale, promote your events and your business to other potential employees or even investors, and establish a great corporate culture. This is a fun and convenient use of technology that is easy to implement, and that your employees are likely to appreciate. 

3. Hosting Hybrid Events 

During the coronavirus pandemic, necessity forced many corporate events online. Whilst event planners and employees alike are pleased to see ‘real’ events return, what this has shown is that technology can be used to incorporate digital elements into your events. The benefit of this is that you can reach a bigger audience: remote employees that were unable to attend the event, for example, can still be involved. Those people who enjoy your event remotely this year will be more likely to attend in person next year, helping you to increase your event attendance too. A final benefit of this approach, of course, is that streaming an event can be an incredibly affordable option, significantly reducing your cost per attendee.

4. Automated/Digital Surveys

Finally, technology can be used to help event planners to automate many of their processes. 89% of businesses using event technology save roughly 200 hours per year. Automated and digital survey technology is a great example of this. Automated surveys, as the name suggests, automatically collect data from your attendees on your behalf. This is a great way to gather feedback from your attendees about your events, without having to put in the man hours yourself. They are time and cost effective and provide wide geographical access, enabling you to quickly reach out to attendees all around the world. 

Technology is now easier and more available than ever to use in an event. If you’d like to look into using technology to further enhance your event, EventsAlbum can give you a simple method of QR codes to utilise and harness guest photography into one event without having to do a load of work yourself. Sign up today and we’ll help managing your event that bit easier.

It’s your Wedding day, of course you want to capture as many memories as possible. Not just the ones taken by your professional photographer but the candid photos of you and your guests. You are naturally racking your brains for ideas of how to capture these images, so we have put together a few ideas below

Hire a Caricaturist

We’ve all seen the funny pictures, and everyone has wondered what they would look like if drawn by a caricaturist. A caricaturist is someone who can have fun with the guests and turn the captured moments into an event in itself, providing entertainment as well as giving you those unforgettable images. There are many options when it comes to hiring a caricaturist, prices range from around £140 to £960 depending on the quality of drawing and the type of picture you are looking for. The downside is of course these are of individual people rather than candid moments, however it depends what you are aiming to get from your day.

Polaroid Cameras

Another idea is to scatter polaroid cameras around your event. This way, the guests can pick them up and take photos, immediately having the printed image in their hand to perhaps stick up on a board you have prepared. Whilst some may think of this as a prohibitively expensive idea, some people already own polaroid cameras and others might be open to lending them. If you do need to buy from scratch, polaroid cameras start from around £40. The downside to the cheaper options is photo quality and the fact they are single print, there will be no digital copy of the photo taken to use at another time. Still, it is cheaper than a photo booth!

Photo Station

This is a fairly new concept to weddings, due to the recent ready availability of tablets, however it is a nice idea if you are happy to have your device out in the open for all to use. It is as simple as putting your tablet on a stand (roughly £24) and leaving instructions and maybe even props, for your guests to use it to take photos. Then, at the end of the night, you have all of your photos in one place to easily view and store. This is what I would call, the 21^st Century photobooth!

Disposable Cameras as Wedding Favours

Back to a classic now, pre technology, and that is disposable cameras. Can’t think of what to do for Wedding Favours? This idea kills two birds with one stone as you have your favours and a way to capture those candid photos. You can either buy the ready made favours for £10 - £15 each, or if you’re feeling creative, go down the DIY route with packs of 6 disposable cameras costing around £40 and a trip to Hobbycraft! Of course, the downside to this is photo quality and lack of digital copy, similar to the polaroid option. There is also the option of the infamous thumb in the corner of the picture. Again, it depends on your aim for your candid photos.

Designated candid photographer

Do you have a teen attending the Wedding who needs something to keep them entertained rather than being asked about school and told how much they have grown? Give them a mobile phone if they don’t already have one and ask them to snap away. Of course, with this option, you do run the risk of a million selfies!

Custom SnapChat filter

Snapchat – not just an app for the young! You can create a custom filter for your guests to use, called a Geofilter. This is a location specific filter, that guests can add to photos or videos that they take at your event. For £4 you will get around 8 hours usage, starting at 22,000 square feet, however if you would like a larger area for your event then £30 will get you 81,000 square feet and 25 hours use. This does, however, limit you to that one platform and your photos can't be transferred to another storage device.  Still pretty cool though!

Create your own hashtag

If your Wedding is full of people who are young or at least ‘down with the kids’, chances are, most of them will use or know about Instagram. By creating your own hashtag, for example #jenanddavesweddingcolchester, and putting it up on signs around your venue, all people need to do is upload their photos to Instagram with your hashtag. If you want to view your photos, simply log on to Instagram, search for your hashtag and voila! Important to note with this option, that Instagram do reduce the quality of the photos when uploaded. So if you are looking for photos that can be printed after the event, this might not be the choice for you.

Online photo sharing QR code

Of course, no blog would be complete without a little bit of self promotion, so why not avoid the fuss and preparation and use EventsAlbum for your guests photos. Simply set up your event, create a QR code and have it around your venue/on tables for guests to use. All they have to do is scan the QR code and upload photos to the website. No need to set up an account or download an app. Your photos are then securely held in one place for you to use at your leisure. There is no compromise on quality as we do not resize the image and we offer the option of a live scrolling gallery, so your guests can view the photos as they are uploaded. All of this, for just £30. So, what are you waiting for? The sign up button is just at the top of the page 😊

Whether you’re planning a wedding, a stag do, or a birthday party, life events are the perfect places to capture photos, and memories, of those you love. Sharing other people’s images is a great way to see your event through their eyes, experience any moments you missed, and relive the details all over again. 

But how do you get to see these images? Surely we’ve moved on from sharing a few grainy snaps with our friends via email? Luckily, we have! Here are some of the best ways to swap and share photos from any event: 

Use a Photo Sharing App

Photo sharing apps such as Dropbox or google photos are incredibly popular and a great way to share event images after an event. A photo-sharing service is an efficient way to save and organise your images without using up space on your own computers. Many of these apps will also include editing software so that you can manipulate the images to best suit your needs. 

There are some drawbacks to using photo-sharing apps for event photos, however. Because these apps work best when you are uploading a large number of images, they are often best used after an event to share photos, rather than used whilst an event is still taking place. This means that some attendees might forget to share their images, or it seems like way too much effort after the event. These apps also might not be the best option for events involving elderly family members, such as weddings, as individuals in this group are often frustrated by apps and find them difficult to use. Furthermore, if everyone is uploading photos to one place, this could create quite a bit of administrative work to manage. 

Use a Hashtag

If you’re celebrating a special occasion with many people who love sharing photos on social media, then giving your event its own hashtag is a great way to keep the photos in one place. #lucysbirthdaybash or #thesmithwedding, for example, will immediately bring all your photos together. An event hashtag can help generate rich conversations among attendees, helping them to bond: this is particularly useful for groups that didn’t know each other before the event. It is also cheap and easy to implement. 

But it is worth pointing out that your hashtag will be visible to other social media users, so you might want to be cautious about sharing personal images. Remember that anything you share online will be visible to potential employers, as well as your friends and family members.

Have an Event Specific QR Code Photo Album

The final option is to create an event-specific QR code via EventsAlbum. This is a handy tool that will allow everyone attending an event to simply scan the event-specific QR code (which you can put on your invitations, tickets, or on posters around the event) and then upload their photos. They won’t need to sign up or download an app, making it one of the easiest and most convenient ways to share event photos. 

After the event you can download the full high-resolution photos your guests uploaded, meaning that the quality of the images you receive is never compromised. This often isn’t the case with social media images, which can be shrunk to fit the platform.
They say a picture paints a thousand words, and images capture moments that will last a lifetime. So, no matter how you choose to share your event photos, make sure you have a plan in place to keep as many of them as possible. You won’t want to forget any of the details of your special event! At EventsAlbum, we offer a single event photo management solution from £30 which will guarantee to have your special events user-generated photography totally in control and captured. Check out a demo to see how it works. 

For the modern couple, using Quick Response (QR) codes is a great way to streamline communication with guests. But did you know that a well-placed QR code could also help to make your guests lives easier too? Here are five different ways that you can incorporate QR codes into your wedding day and use these to save your wedding guests hassle:

Add a QR Code to Your Seating Plan 

If you’ve spent hours agonising over your seating plan, making sure auntie Janet isn’t sat next to uncle John, and that the single bridesmaids are next to the eligible bachelors, then you want everyone to find the right chair with ease. Adding a QR code to your seating plan will allow your guests to carry a copy with them, and you can even use it to add brief bios of everyone on each table, making awkward introductions a thing of the past. 

Include QR Codes in Your Wedding Invitations 

Adding a QR code is a great way to simplify your wedding invitations, minimising the amount of physical, written information that you need to send your guests. You can focus on style over substance with your physical invitations, choosing a theme that best suits your day and including the most basic information such as the date, time and venue of your ceremony. Then add a QR code and let it do all the work for you! Your overall invitation will look clean and uncluttered as a result. This should also save some costs with printing invitations, and is much more environmentally friendly. 

Using QR codes for Wedding Pictures

Your wedding day is one you’ll never want to forget, so collecting wedding photos from guests is a great way to capture as many moments from your special day as possible. A problem many brides and grooms face is where can I have wedding guests upload photos? EventsAlbum allows couples to gather photos taken by their guests through the use of QR codes. Photo sharing for wedding ceremonies and receptions has never been easier! Collecting wedding photos from guests simply involves your guests scanning the QR code and then uploading the photo they want to share. Because they don’t have to download an app or input their personal details, your guests are much more likely to share their favourite photos with you. Even if there is a professional photographer at the wedding, individuals still capture lots of great photos of the bride and groom, so this is a great way to get visibility and create a digital photo album.

Keep People Talking at the Table 

If you’re worried that conversation won’t flow at the dinner table, or that people won’t have anything to do in the lull between courses, then simply add a QR code to your table numbers. This is sure to give your guests something to talk about! From fun activities and quizzes to a photo timeline of your relationship, link your QR code to something that will break the ice and add an extra, unforgettable element to your big day. If you don’t want to create a new code then this is also a good place to start collecting wedding photos from guests: don’t forget to ask them to strike a pose! 

Connect to Your Wedding Registry

Finally, asking for wedding gifts can feel crass and uncomfortable for many couples, so why not let a QR code do the hard work for you? Adding a code to your wedding website or wedding invitations that links directly to your gift list is a subtle and more understated way of presenting it with a modern flair. You can also have this update as things are ticked off the list so it always remains live. 

Using QR codes is a great way to add a modern twist to any wedding. Don’t forget to include information on how your guests (particularly elderly guests) can easily download a QR scanner, and remember to blend the QR code into your designs so that it doesn’t look too formal or official. Many QR codes are scannable by simply utilising your smartphone camera, so everyone should be able to manage. You’ll enjoy a convenient, technologically advanced and more environmentally friendly wedding in no time.

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