Emma McQueen helps women thrive.

She does this with skill, knowledge, experience, humour, passion and incredible support.

She’s one of those women whose energy you feel the moment they walk into a room.  And the results for women that work with her are tangible.

When you work as a coach as Emma does, it’s so important to show people through your images what it feels like to work with you.  To capture your personality, your energy, and other qualities you have so people can see what it’s like to be in a room with you.

Capturing those factors will make people remember you and want to work with you.

Having a photographer capture you in-action at an event is one of the best ways you can do this (with the added benefit of creating some FOMO for your next event when you share them online!).

Emma recently asked me to capture this for her at one of her Thriving Women events, where Allison Rothmund also gave a wonderful presentation on Resilience in the Workplace.

There’s some advice I share with clients to make sure we can get the most out of their event photography and capture the best images possible.  Using Emma’s event as an example I thought I’d share some of this advice.

So here we go – my 5 top tips for event photography:

1 – USE A GREAT VENUE

If possible, make sure you book a photographer when you are in a venue that you know will not only photograph well but also suits your brand – it will add to your images enormously.  Emma’s event was held at Highline Melbourne, a stunning event space that’s also home of the Australian Style Institute.  It looked amazing photographed from any angle and perfectly suited Emma’s brand which is modern and feminine.

2 – LOOK YOUR BEST

If you book a photographer for your event then treat it like a proper shoot – if time permits have your hair and makeup done professionally beforehand (or wear more than normal), think about what you’re going to wear, and if you have specific shots you want captured make a list and give it to your photographer.

3 – USE IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY

Use the opportunity with your photographer to grab some extra shots that are on your wish-list (time and location permitting).  For example you could ask someone to stay back for an extra 10 mins to capture you working one-on-one with clients, or you may want to grab some branding portraits around the venue.

4 – GET YOUR AUDIENCE ON BOARD

Let your attendees know ahead of time that a photographer will be at your event.  If people will be dressing up for your event then this may not be so important, but for more casual events people will appreciate some notice.  In my experience no one usually minds if there’s a photographer at an event, but people are happier to appear in photos if told in advance – that way they can make sure they wear something nice and put some makeup on if it makes them feel better.

5 – DON’T FORGET THE DETAILS

Whether it’s flowers on the table, gift bags, workbooks or decorations, make sure everything looks incredible and is on-brand.  It will make your event even more memorable, and detail images are great collateral to add to your content library.

Okay so I was only going to list five but I can’t finish without these two important bonus tips….

BONUS TIP ONE:

To add variety to your images, change your outfit half way through.

BONUS TIP TWO:

Once your event kicks off – relax and do your thing!  The best shots are the most natural ones, so just be yourself and whatever your personality is, let your photographer capture it.

So that’s my 5 top tips!  (Actually 7 but who’s counting…)

What do you think?  Do you have any other tips to add?  Do you hold events and if so, do you book a photographer and do you leverage your images afterwards?

Event images are a great way to keep your brand imagery fresh and can be used in so many ways – on your website, across socials, to promote your next events (create some FOMO!), and sharing them online will keep people talking about your event for days or weeks afterwards (let your audience do your marketing for you.)

Event images are priceless.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if event photography is something you need to add to your content library, get in touch and let’s chat.