Live events present one of the best opportunities for brands today to produce a wide range of video content. Video blog posts and highlight reels are great vehicles for showcasing your presence at an event and what that means in terms of your place/role in whatever industry you’re targeting. Also, if you have customers in attendance, you have the opportunity to film client testimonials and case studies while you’re all in the same place at the same time.
The Key
In order to get the most out of any event when it comes to video content, here’s the key: time management! Trust me, it’s more important and complex than most companies realize, so keep reading for your own sake.
Start early. I’m talking about months in advance. Work up a list of people/brands you know will be attending, and a second list of people who might be going. Now identify the people on those lists who you want to get on camera and put together a plan of action to convince these people to give you some of their time.
Schedules get filled up so quickly that you want to make sure you’re on their calendar as early as possible. That means evaluating the relationship you have (or don’t have) with each person, what type of content you want to produce with them (30-second testimonial, 3-minute case study, etc.) and come up with your pitch. Once you have that nailed down, reach out ASAP so that you’ve secured time with them before other things eat up every last minute of their schedule.
As you lock down each block in your calendar, remember to leave yourself some lead time. If you have a multi-cam interview with someone scheduled for noon, you need to leave enough time between meetings for you to get where you need to be and set up all of your gear (camera, lights, audio, etc.) so that you’re ready to start shooting at noon. It’s critical that you don’t forget about the time needed to get set up when putting together your schedule. If you do, you’ll likely have your interview subject standing around waiting for you to get ready, which annoys them and eats into the time you have for the actual interview.
When it comes to live event video production, if you’re on time, you’re late. So ALWAYS try to be early.
As the event nears, check back in and confirm the timeslots you have with each person so they’re fresh in everyone’s minds. With live events, it all comes down to scheduling and time management, so use whatever system is most efficient for you, meaning Outlook, Google Calendar, even an old school physical day-planner if that’s what works best for you.
Just start your planning and scheduling early. Map out the shoot locations and gear packages early. Get to your shoot locations and set up early. Are you noticing a trend? Start early! In fact, start now!
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