Turning a Conference Into a Year of Content

Here's something we think more organizations should consider when planning a conference: What happens to all that knowledge when the conference is over?

Think about it. You may have hundreds or even thousands of people in the room. You've brought together respected speakers, panelists, industry experts and leaders who aren't normally all in the same place. They're sharing ideas, telling stories and having conversations directly connected to your organization's mission.

That's a pretty valuable resource to let disappear when everyone goes home.

When Leaders for Louisiana brought QuickFlip Media in to capture their conference in Lake Charles, the opportunity wasn't simply to record what happened.

It was to turn those conversations into a library of content they could keep using long after the conference was over.

Capturing a Full Day of Content

The Leaders for Louisiana conference was a three-day event held at L'Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles with more than hundreds of attendees.

QuickFlip Media covered the second day, starting with four breakout rooms running at the same time. Each room hosted three sessions, giving us 12 sessions to capture in the first part of the day alone.

Later, we moved into the main ballroom to capture the keynote, fireside chat and other presentations.

With four rooms operating simultaneously and hundreds of people filling the main ballroom, this required more than simply setting up cameras.

Each space had to be treated differently.

Some sessions featured individual presenters with slides. Others were panel discussions with four or five speakers. In the ballroom, space was limited and traditional camera positions would have blocked audience sightlines.

Our crew adjusted camera positions, lenses and equipment based on what worked best in each space.

That's a big part of conference production. You have to know how to read the room.

Good Conference Video Starts With Good Audio

Video was only half of the equation.

Another production company was handling sound for the conference, so we coordinated with their team to receive clean audio feeds through XLR connections in each room.

This is something we always encourage conference planners to think about ahead of time.

If one company is handling sound and another is recording video, make sure those teams know how they are connecting before the event starts.

A great-looking video isn't very useful if you can't clearly hear what was said.

One Event Becomes a Content Library

This is where the real value of recording the conference begins.

Leaders for Louisiana now has video and audio from panel discussions, presentations, a keynote and a fireside chat that can be used in a variety of ways.

Full sessions can become YouTube videos or podcast episodes. Individual moments can become social media clips. Videos can be embedded on their website.

The audio can also be transcribed, opening up even more possibilities.

Those transcripts can help identify key quotes and topics, create session recaps, develop blog articles and pull insights from conversations months after the event took place.

Instead of trying to schedule all of these leaders for separate interviews throughout the year, the organization was able to capture those voices while everyone was already together.

That's a lot of potential content from one day of production.

Make the Conference Keep Working

Organizations put a lot of time and money into bringing the right people together for a conference.

When those people are already in the room, don't miss the opportunity to capture what they have to say.

With some planning and the right production approach, a conference can become much more than a one-time event.

It can become a content library your organization uses all year long.