Event Highlight Video: A Productions Case Study

The Situation

The 2014 Primary Immune Deficiency Diseases North American Conference in Baltimore, Maryland would bring together over 400 physicians and researchers discussing the care of patients with immunologic and inflammatory disorders through workshops, lectures, poster sessions and panel discussions. Several months before the event, the client approached IMS to discuss a need to increase awareness, visibility, attendance and sponsorship. IMS had worked with the client for Event Staging services at previous events in Miami and Chicago.

Client Needs

After an in-depth needs analysis discussion with the client, a plan was developed to have a videographer capture session snippets, networking interaction and other b-roll from the 3 days of the event to turn into a promotional video highlighting the key aspects of the conference to entice sponsors and attendees for the 2015 event. The video would be hosted in the client’s webpage as well as YouTube and social media channels.

The IMS Solution

The IMS Productions Department put together a custom package for the client which included: an onsite videographer for the three and a half days of event, necessary gear to capture video and audio from every area of the event including the general session rooms, breakout sessions, hallways, eating areas and poster session halls as well as post-production editing and review time. From the client side, a point-of-contact was designated for the videographer to report to each morning as well as to review footage with throughout the day and get pointers on what sessions were critical to capture, certain speakers to include or other events that would be interesting.

As the event progressed, it was determined that some specific interviews with senior leadership could be useful for the project and these were handled easily by the onsite videographer. Upon the conclusion of the event, the footage was returned to IMS where the Productions Team reviewed and logged the footage, pulled background music examples and created the first rough draft of the cut. IMS Productions utilized their standard Online Project Management Portal to allow the client to access real-time updates, upload logos and other content, select music options and provide feedback on drafts. Feedback was critical as certain venue, branding and sponsor images needed to be removed from the initial draft.

During the editing process, the client requested an “outtakes” or “blooper” reel to be created to provided insight into the lighter side of the event proceedings. This was not part of the initial scope of the project but was easily accomplished using existing footage and fit into the allotted editing time and budget.

The Result

This project was a successful collaboration between the vision and needs of the client with the artistic and creative direction of IMS. The final product was a great promotional asset for the organization, the outtakes provided comic relief and the interviews with leadership now reside on the clients website. The Online Project Management Portal served as a critical information and communication tool between client and the Productions Team. Other critical elements were the use of our Needs Analysis Template and Standard Processes between Sales, Project Management, onsite staff and editing Team.