Have you ever looked at your event footage and thought to yourself, how could I make this look more impressive? Because let's face it, perception matters. Whether it's for your social media posts or for a sizzle reel or for repurposing behind a paywall, you want it to look good, right? Well, if that is you, then you are in the right place because today we're gonna talk about repurposing event footage, but more specifically, what you need to do before
before your event even starts to make sure that the stuff that you shoot is good enough to look at and use later because gosh knows it's an investment to shoot an event and we don't want that footage to go to waste. Am I right? Maybe we do need to go live because if we don't I might not get this thing done.
Okay, last time, missed it. Have you ever looked at your event footage and thought, how could I make this look more impressive? Because let's face it, perception matters. Whether it's for your social media posts or for sizzle reels or repurposing behind a paywall, you want it to look good, right? And if that's you, then you are in the right place. Today, we're gonna talk about repurposing event footage.
but more specifically what you need to do before your event even starts to make sure that the stuff that you shoot is good enough to use later. Because gosh knows it is an investment to shoot an event and we don't want that shoot that we just invested in to go to waste. Am I right? Here's the thing. I watch y'all on social media like a hawk.
I also buy the courses, I attend the events, I watch the virtual events. I'm like Santa, he knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake. I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music lately. And the thing is I see stuff that's not good. And I also hear the stories of the CEOs not wanting to use the footage that they've got. And...
Sarah Fejfar (03:26.25)
That's what inspired me to do this episode for you because I don't want you to be in that position and it's preventable. Right? You know we always talk about how you can prevent problems before their problems. This is one of those things. This is one of those times. So why is this so important? And what are you going to do with it or what could you do with it?
I'm guessing I don't have to tell you, but as a little refresher, you could take your event footage and put it behind a paywall and sell the recordings. You could take your event footage and make a sizzle reel out of it and sell it at your event. You could make a speaker sizzle reel and a speaker intro video so that you have stronger assets to go sell yourself to bigger stages. You could create clips for social media.
content so that you're off that hamster wheel of creating fresh content all the time. You could take your event footage and create all sorts of social content to create FOMO in real time. That's one of my favorites, etc, etc. You get it. I'm guessing that you already have ideas of how you would use event footage if it was impressive. I remember one of my kiddos,
third birthdays, I couldn't afford a professional photographer, but I did have the wherewithal to know that my photos would not be photos that I would want to look at again, a decade or two decades and be wildly impressed, but that I was going to put on an impressive birthday party. And so I invited a friend who had a great camera and asked them to take pictures and we got some...
beautiful assets to look back on and I'm so thankful and then as the years went on we started hiring a professional photographer and they got even better and I'm even more impressed and willing to share those photos and I share this because I think the same thing will happen with your events. The more...
Sarah Fejfar (05:50.654)
impressed you feel inside, the more that you're going to release that fear and share it with the world. And we need you to share it because then you can impact more people, right? So good looking stuff is a good thing to have. So gather those ideas of what you would use your footage for if you had that great looking footage, whether it's photography or videography.
combination of the both. And.
I want you to do some even deeper work. I know you already have like three things you could probably jot down right now while you and I are hanging out here that you would do with that footage. But let's take it a step further. Let's do a visualization of what you're going to do with your footage. What are your goals?
because when you envision your footage goals before the event, you can do an even better job of painting the picture of what you want to your team and vendors so that they can go make it happen for you. So, I'm thinking that a really good idea would be for you to capture
stuff that you see. And it could be while you're watching Netflix, or it could be while you're scrolling social, or it could be inside of a course that you're binging. But I want you to, or maybe it's even at an event and it's a look, but I want you to create almost kind of like a mood board of sorts, but also
Sarah Fejfar (07:50.326)
like a shot list. Do you remember back to when you were planning your wedding and you had this intricate list of a hundred different photos that you wanted your photographer to take of the big day? And then maybe you're like me and those photos have never come off the flash drive and gone off to the wall. That's another story for another day. But that level of minutiae level detail, that excitement that you had for planning.
like such a detailed shot list for your photographer. Or is it, this is just me. I don't know if everyone does that or it's just me because I'm being a retentive. But I had that like a hundred shot list. And I imagine that other people do too. And perhaps if you're listening to this podcast, you are attentive to details just like me and that you love them and think they're important.
And so maybe you do, you can't imagine what it's like to have a shot list like that. Well, think of that level of detail as you're going into your event. And I know now you're like maybe years or decades past your wedding and you don't have time like that anymore to obsess or stuff like that. But that level of vision of what you want is important because. Like the team can't.
do what you want on a fly. And I know we've done an episode on this so I won't belabor the point but
There are things that will need to happen weeks and maybe even months in advance of your event in order to accomplish certain goals. Let me give you an example. If you want a cinematic look, maybe you want more angles or maybe you want a 360-degree shot or maybe you want overhead shots or long sweeping moves.
Sarah Fejfar (09:56.042)
would need to rent a jib and or a drone and hire the labor needed to run it and plan how that's going to fit into the space diagram for the room. Do you see like where I'm going with this or let's say lighting that's huge.
the right lighting can make or break the footage. And you may need, based on your vision, to bring in a professional lighting designer, not just take kind of the run of the mill lighting that comes with the space that you're in, but bring in additional lights. Imagine the first time you shot your...
your course or set up your studio for better lighting on Zoom or recording your video podcast. And you had to mess with the lights. Well, that same, but like on steroids happens at events and can, like you can, there's, there's basic lighting that makes it so the people in the room can see you. And then there's next level lighting that makes it so that it looks
when you take this footage and you go put it on Instagram, it looks good. And it looks like it's Netflix quality clips on the socials. So stuff like the type of equipment, like lighting or jibs or the number of video cameras or the number of people. Maybe it's someone.
following you around while you're backstage and you're getting ready and you're talking with people or you're walking through the hallways and you're shaking hands and holding babies like that kind of stuff requires a lot of pre-planning and it's not planning you have to do the only thing you have to do is get clear on your vision for what you're going to use this stuff for and be super clear on
Sarah Fejfar (12:07.374)
communicating that vision to your team or vendors, and then they'll go make it happen. But if they don't know what it is and how important it is to you, then they can't figure out all these things. Other things that they have to figure out are stuff like the background. I think you might remember, we talked about this in a little bit more detail back in the episode with Adam Coleman, and it was all about how...
he adjusts the height of the logo that's center stage behind the presenter so that it's actually kind of low if you're thinking in the context of the room, the ballroom and the audience that's looking at it. But when you look at that on in footage that's on socials later, it looks real good because it's kind of right.
in a line of sight behind the speaker so you can get that branding of the event and the speaker and it's not cut off because it's too high or something. So stuff like the background and framing also big things to take into consideration and stuff that would because that's part of the scenic would need to happen way in advance. And I love
intentionality like this because it allows you to really double dip and maximize your time because why do you something so amazing like put on an event with hours and hours and hours of mic drop moments and gems of wisdom and then not pick all that up and go put it somewhere else so that you can bring even more people into the room next time or impact even more lives from afar it
It's a huge opportunity. So.
Sarah Fejfar (14:07.146)
So after you've kind of made sure that your vision is clear and you've communicated, then you can be out and not worry about it until after the event when you just review the footage and some draft outputs and decide, is this what you want? If not, then just simply take it as a learning. I'll be at an expensive one likely and then wash, rinse and repeat. But I...
It's almost like I'm glad I just made a Freudian slip and slip and said it was expensive. It's an investment, right? And we do have to frame it that way. And I know we've, I just did an episode for you on why is this such an expensive sport? And this is one of those pieces that, yeah, it just, it feels expensive, but expertise.
that we're investing in, the equipment that we're investing in, the time that we're investing in, it's huge. So it's worth it, especially if you've already mapped out the vision of where this is all going to go. So yeah, that's kind of the last step is to review it, refine, learn, and try again. Because obviously...
People make movies every day that look absolutely beautiful. So you can too. And it's just a matter of like, yeah, that's kind of like the look I'm going for. And these are kind of the things that I wanna use that look in. And so go make that happen, please.
I wish I'd had that foresight when I was hiring my wedding photographer. And gosh, how long was it? It's a while ago now. Like I lost time. It's more than 15 years and it's less than 20. And I wish I knew that photographers had portfolios that you could review and assess that style of photography was your thing so that you got the
Sarah Fejfar (16:29.414)
style. So I got the style of wedding photos that I wanted. I'm definitely more of a candid casual kind of person than a formal posed kind of person. I really love storytelling in photography and videography. And I think that style. Yeah.
translates really well into the direct response marketing, social media space. And if I could give you one tip in all of this, it would be to...
Sarah Fejfar (17:13.634)
think about the story arc or hire somebody who would think about the story arc for you so that they're capturing
Sarah Fejfar (17:29.166)
footage in a way that could be stitched together into a story later. I think that's key. Okay, I will get off my repurposing soapbox now, but know that everything that we just talked about is really all the stuff that happens before the event. There's nothing for you to worry about in the moment. As long as you've just...
painted the picture ahead of time. Not a Brene Brown thing. I feel like she writes about that in Atlas of the Heart. That book is so good, by the way, of how important painting the picture is. Yeah, okay.
I hope this was helpful. It really is as simple as taking a beat to tap into what you really, really want, making sure your team knows what it is and how important it is to you, and then stepping out until it's all done, and then taking stock and learning, iterating.
debrief as a team. Nobody knows what's going on in your head but you. Let them know, let them in. I think I've been reading a lot of personal development books lately. Oh yes, okay. Thank you for hanging out with me today. I appreciate it. I value your time and attention. I wish you an absolutely outstanding rest of the week. Take care.
