Highlight the Highlights

Everyone has gathered for the final general session. They are waiting to hear where next year’s event will be, what the theme is, or who the keynote speaker will be. The room is buzzing with excitement as attendees are sharing with each other the experiences they have had from the past few days while they attended your multi-day convention. There is a combination of excitement, exhaustion, anticipation, and sadness as the event is coming to an end. Cue the lights, cue the music, cue the CEO…

At the end of the event before the attendees go home, do you highlight for them the highlights of the experience they just had? Do you consolidate the event in a way that reminds them of the feelings, emotions, learnings, nuggets, tidbits, and visuals that they walked through? Something that summarizes what you want them to walk away with that leaves them with a desire to implement what they have learned? With a yearning to come back again next year? With something that will sustain them until they meet again?

Our organization invites a very talented videographer on-site to assemble a highlight video with moments from the event that encapsulates the experience in pictures, video, soundbites, and stills. People get to see themselves walking the halls, watch a time-lapsed setup of the event, hear keynote sound bites, and other pivotal moments that remind them of the sum of the whole. Moments that will ideally stick with them as they depart.

It takes a team of people recording personal reactions to what they see, man-on-the-street interviews, and candid moments. From set-up to check-in, from breakouts to late-night meet-ups, from standing in lines to hallway conversations. It also requires on-site editing. The video team must have a keen eye and be willing to work into the 11th hour to create a product that brings as much of the event alive as possible for as many people as possible.

The payoff is totally worth it. Watching the attendees, speakers, exhibitors, convention workers, and staff all mesmerized by this one feature in the final session, this one uniting video…there are no words to express the pride and satisfaction we feel as hosts of the conference when we see people appreciate the recap of their experience unfold.

Do you show a highlight video at the end of your event or a few weeks later? I’d love to learn from your experience. Please email me!

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