Can’t I just ask a friend to photograph my event? Throughout the years, we have heard this sentece at least a thousand times, and the answer for us is always a big NONO (Double and all with capital letters!). Don’t get us wrong… We know that sometimes the budget for an event can be a bit tight, and that might lead to cut the unnecessary expenses, but Photography should never be considered as such. Whether you’re introducing a new product at a trade show, a keynote speaker at a conference, or simply doing a year end party or awards show, event photography is a key element when it comes to show your potential clients or customers the values and culture of your company. If you are still debating on this matter, here are eight reasons why you should always consider hiring an event photographer for your event.

Holiday Party at The Field Museum in Chicago

Think FORWARD!
Photos can help you increase awareness and drive attendance even before the event has started. You read that right! When you post photos from past events that show the overall experience of your guests, you help your prospect clients understand what they might miss if they don’t attend. Better yet, you get them excited about what’s coming! . Definitely, there’s a great potential when using professional photos to promote your event, especially if you consider that up to 30% of those that attended will come back for more.
It’s all about the VISUAL aspect
High-quality photographs will give people some serious FOMO. It’s one thing for an attendee to brag about their experience to their co-workers and friends, but people retain information better when there are photos included. When information is paired with an image, people are 65% more likely to retain that information three days later, compared to 10% when there is no image. So what are you waiting for? Time to schedule those social media posts!
Microcontent
We all know that promoting your business on social media is not an easy task, especially when it comes to figuring out what to post. Photographs from an event can generate tons of microcontent to use on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms. For example, you could combine a photo of a speaker with a quote from their speech… This combo is very easy to share on social media, and it will resonate not only with the attendees but also with the people that weren’t able to make it.
Happy Sponsors
Having your photographer focus on your sponsor’s booth, product or contest at the event will give them the exposure they crave! It will give the sponsors an incentive to be involved in future events, and lead to bigger budgets for your next events as well.
Professional VS Amateur
Don’t let Jason in Sales fool you into letting him photograph the event! Getting the lighting right, covering every detail, or catching your guests’ spontaneus reactions is not an easy task. You need to have someone who is able to handle all of that in a professional way. Let’s be honest, wouldn’t you prefer to enjoy the night, rather than worry about what the amateur guy is doing?
Let us reiterate
A Photographer can never be replaced. They act as though no one else has a camera, and have no issues on jumping in front of everyone to get the shot of the keynote speaker, or industry influencer shaking hands with attendees, or Jason doing the worm on the dance floor after he’s had a few cocktails. When you hire a professional you can stay assured that your event will live in the minds of people for years to come, because the photographs will be a TRUE reflection of it.
Let’s expand on lighting
Not all event spaces are created equal. There have been many times where we kept asking ourselves why the building maintenance (sometimes AV) guy doesn’t use the same temperature light bulbs. Yes, light has a color temperature called Kelvin (sorry if this brings back bad memories of high school Chemistry class), and when you have multiple light bulbs at different temperatures it can cause people’s face to look green on one side and cheeto on the other. Even window light mixed with ambient light causes problems. This is the kind of issues that only professionals know how to tackle.
An experience to SHARE
The networking continues after the event. We’ve had multiple companies post photos to LinkedIn, which is the number one website in regards to establishing and maintaining your companies relationships. About 34% of event attendees said they would make a post about an enjoyable experience on their social media pages. If you think about it, that’s FREE advertisement for your company!

8 Reasons Why You Need Your Event Photographed