Organizer Best Practices: Photographing your event!

As community organizers and leaders, one of the few things we sometimes overlook is using photography to promote our meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. groups.

A group photo of the meetup is often one of the best ways to personalize your WordPress meetup.com group page. It is also a great way to drive interaction on social media channels towards making  more people aware of your meetup group.

Here are ten things to keep in mind to get photos of your local WordPress meetup in a safe, friendly and welcoming manner.

1. You don’t need fancy equipment – using a cell phone camera works great for taking photos of your events.
2. Make a mental list of the photos you want to take before hand.
   For example:
   – photo of the speaker against the slides
   – photos of volunteers and regular attendees
   – a group photo of all the attendees
   – a photo of a sponsor eg: venue owner / manager, etc.
3. Be early to the event so you can get a good idea of where the best lighting is so to that you can set up any camera equipment (if you have it). Even if you are using a phone to take photos, it’s great to arrive early and find a good seat or vantage point.
4. Once you are early, try to take some practice photos to assess how bright it is and how well the photos are coming out.
5. Use the flash (this is true for rooms which might not have great lighting), although many of the newer camera phone models work quite well without flash.
6. At the same time, don’t overuse the flash! The event is about WordPress users and a speaker and photography activity shouldn’t be a distraction.
7. Don’t take close up photos unless people are okay with it. Remind them if you do take photos that they will be shared publicly.
8. Never take photos of people while they are eating food.
9. Show photos to people before you publish them as a basic courtesy.
10. Always announce where you will upload these photos – ideally this should be on your meetup.com group photo albums. For example: https://www.meetup.com/WordPress-Madrid/photos/
    it’d be a recommendation to create one folder per event.

Sharing photos of your event

Invest time in sharing a couple of photos of your meetup events on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,… and any other social media. It is a great resource for reaching out to new people who might be using WordPress, but who might not know about meetupsMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. in their local neighborhood.

Sharing photos gives insight into how the group functions and what the venue looks like, which is very helpful for any potential attendees for the next event.

Photography also allows your event to be transparent about attendance, the venue and people who are participating. At the very least, a potential visitor knows that the event actually takes place and a sense for the atmosphere.

A consistent habit of capturing your meetup with photos helps your local community become more visible to the larger community and this helps when you apply for a WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more.. Photos from your event can also be used as a good way to encourage sponsorship of your events from potential sponsors.

Please share your tips!