Given how much there is to do in the run-up to a big industry conference or trade show, content planning can fall by the wayside, but that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on juicy social media and blog content.
So here are some easy, no-planning content generation ideas just using your phone.
Take photos
There is always plenty to capture. You can post to social media on the hoof or collate for a slideshow or carousel. Think of themes, people, atmosphere, fun stuff – a picture can paint a thousand words.
Create a short, meaningful caption, and you are ready to post.
Don’t forget to mix it up a bit to keep people interested – six similar-looking photos of panel discussions will have people quickly scrolling on.
A stand-out picture can also enhance a text post on LinkedIn and help stop the scroll. Think differently, such as this panel selfie from fellow comms freelancer Eimear Strong.
Daily diary or end-of-the-week summing up
Write about the tone and atmosphere of the show. Were people upbeat? What were most people talking about? What did you hear that was particularly interesting?
What did you get up to? Who did you see?
Jot down reminders on your phone as you go. The additional benefit of this is it means you just have to flesh out and tidy up your notes to create a post.
Conference panel appearances
Maybe someone on your team is taking part in a panel, you have a client on one, or you are organising a panel.
Regardless, capture the conversation by recording it on your phone. Sit where you can clearly hear, usually near a speaker.
Afterwards, run the audio through a transcript app (see what I use below), and voila—you have thousands of words of potential content to draw from in the following weeks.
Think LinkedIn posts, blogs, articles or even a white paper…
Video content idea #1
Similar to photos, don’t forget vertical videos for social media, including LinkedIn.
Record little clips that tell a story/present a theme/show the atmosphere.
Do a simple edit on your phone or edit together when you’ve got a bit more time. Some editing software lets you record a voice-over once you’ve put the images together (don’t forget subtitles for accessibility)
Here’s the video I made from a day at the property show UKREiiF last year. See below for the tools I use.
Video content idea # 2
Record a piece to camera (video diary style) or record vox pops with people you meet/see. (Here’s a great vox pop example from fellow comms freelancer Ayo Abbas.)
Again, you can do a quick edit on your phone or splice together afterwards.
For better sound quality at a noisy show, buy a cheap pair of Bluetooth mics. They are small and easy to carry around.
The tech I use for content creation
iPhone inbuilt apps: Photo, video, notes and audio recorder. Other apps/software: Otter.ai (£) for transcripts, Veed.io (£) for easy video editing, splicing clips, voice-over, adding music, subtitles etc.
There are plenty of other apps/software you can use.
I’ve heard good things about InShot for video editing. Descript can be good for quickly creating short clips from longer videos with dialogue – it generates a transcript, and you just highlight the soundbite you want to use.
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