Seven Ways to Make Your Special Event
www.mikehaywardphotography.com
All event planners want to make their special event really memorable. From the selection of the event venue and parking, to the decorations motif, to the catering, to the entertainment, to the table settings and centerpieces, the list goes on and on.
But, after the golden coach has changed back into a pumpkin, after the world has spun into another new and certainly less exciting day, what’s left of memories other than cleaning up a giant mess and thanking your lucky stars that it’s all over… until next year?
Memories, like the take-home gifts, the silent auction prizes, the all-expenses-paid trip to
Let’s examine how photographs are truly an add-on benefit to your event:
1. Think the publicity grind for this year’s event is over? Sorry… There’s still a little more to be done. Now is the time to send snappy VIP event photos (with catchy captions) to the newspapers in the communities they represent. The VIPs will thank you for your thoughtfulness. Better yet, they will remember and be there for you next year... because you’ve also sent the same photo to them!
2. Don’t forget to thank others who helped make your event a success: Give them a beautiful photograph that commemorates their involvement. From the assistant's assistant to the heads of your organization – remind them all about how they helped. You don’t need an expensive frame – an inexpensive colored paper frame will do. Remember: it’s your thoughtfulness that counts.
3. Thank the service and product donors with an event photograph that prominently displays their involvement (and logo). Your thoughtfulness will be appreciated and remembered.
4. For your attendees – the people who really make any event successful – offer a photographic memory of the moment they’ll always want to remember: Walking the red carpet alongside the colorful logo step-and- repeat wall, standing side-by-side, shaking hands, and schmoozing with the VIP of their dreams. Don’t have a "celebrity" in attendance? Make a classic, shiny Rolls Royce the photographic partner! Can’t find a colorful four-wheel classic? Someone you know has a memorable movie prop that just happens to be available. Use your imagination !
5. Nothing adds special glitz and glamour to an event like the bright pop of a camera flash! That camera flash tells everyone this will be a day to be remembered !
And you shouldn’t forget the future importance of photographs from this year’s event!
6. Next year’s event needs more than words in the press releases you send out. Your most exciting photographs from last year’s event will be worth a thousand words in terms of publicity!
7. Don’t forget that review of the past is a very important part of planning the future. Spending an hour or so reviewing archival photographs of last year’s event will spark important memories of what worked, what didn’t work, and all those long-ago so-very-important thoughts that so strangely evaporated over time.
So there you have it: Seven very important ways that good photographic images can not only help make this year’s event more special, but can also help to make next year’s event even better!
501(c) event planners, I have learned, have many questions regarding how this "free photographer" thing works. I have also learned that it is best when they (and I) make an agreement for what is essentially a service exchange, a quid pro quo.
Simply put, the agreement is that I (the Photographer) provide the organization (the Client) with photographic event coverage and license to the organization certain rights for its use of the images. In return, the organization promises to help bring viewers (event attendees) to my web site (publicity) where they can both see and download images of themselves at the event. These downloads are typically free and without charge. In some cases, where the images might be unique and exceptional, a different split-fee arrangement can be arranged - but, always, the agreement provides equal benefit for both parties.
I would be pleased to provide you with a copy of this agreement for your consideration. Simply contact me and request that it be sent to you.
Mike Hayward Special Event Photography
(818) 707-3922
WWW.MikeHaywardPhotography.Com
mikehaywardphotography@yahoo.com
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