The 2-Minute 'Event Wrap Video' Is Dead. Time to Try Something New.

Events are often optimal opportunities to capture video content. Whether it’s a two-hour networking event, two-day summit or two-week accelerator program, events are occasions when like-minded people within a particular target audience get together.

However, many enterprises aren’t making the most out of event video marketing. They’re sticking to dated production practices and not capturing content that informs their audience -- and search engines -- that they’re a leader in their field or craft.

“I want a two-minute event recap video that shows people shaking hands, laughing, networking in front of sponsor signage that features interviews with x, y and z.” -- something video producers often hear from clients.

So, ponder this: What will someone who wasn’t at the event learn from watching this video? What will they take away from two minutes of watching people graze over the event saying, “It was an incredible experience! I loved it all!”?

Time check: The clock is running out on the standard two-minute event video and turning it’s hand on what I like to call “micro video content”.

When a video editor is working within constraint of a two-minute event wrap video, they’re forced to cut or leave out a significant amount of the content captured on site. As a producer, this pains me -- overlooking incredible pieces of advice, knowledge or information to meet the high-level, “this was so fun, hoo-rah, hooray” deliverable.

Take, for example, an interview with a founder of a design firm. In the case of the “traditional” event wrap video, the featured sound bite would be something like, “the food was so great, I met so many people!” as opposed to a solid piece of advice about design.

It’s time to consider using events to produce meaningful micro video campaigns that align with sales and marketing goals. And when I say campaign, I mean a series of videos that will be consistently released over the course of a quarter, six months, one year or beyond. Not only will this approach help position your organization as a thought leader but also optimize your search engine results.

How will this play out? Let’s create a scenario. Say you’re a financial planning firm that wants to generate inbound leads and drive traffic to an ebook produced for startups. During a seminar or event, identify 12 people -- clients or not -- and pose this question to them: “What is one piece of financial advice you wish someone gave you within the first year of starting your business?” Take these 12 interviews, chop them into a 12-part video series and release one per month for the next year.

The above scenario can be applied in multiple directions -- “advice for women in technology," “why Chicago is a great startup city," “the best hack I learned for Ruby on Rails” -- catch my drift?

So, be it a three-day summit or after-work networking hour, here are tips for redefining the video production strategy of your next event.

Determine your direction: In advance, decide the focus of your micro video series. Is it advice? Best practices? Something quirky like: what I wish I knew when I was 20? While capturing testimonials is important for your business, this isn’t what we’re doing here -- the purpose of this content is to demonstrate thought leadership that isn’t a gale-wind sales force.
Set up a power interview station: Set up an area on site as an interview station that’s easily accessible for attendees. Tape an “X” on the floor, have your interviewee stand on top of it, fire off the question(s), and they’ll be in and out in no time.
Brief your interviewees in advance: Before the event, identify people you believe can speak well to the topic of your campaign. Send them the question beforehand so they have time to prepare a thoughtful and succinct response.
Organize each series in a YouTube playlist: Package your video series together and upload it to a YouTube Playlist. Make the title and description as keyword-rich as possible. And a side tip -- consider transcribing each interview and pasting it into the description of the video for SEO.
Release consistently: When you release videos consistently and frequently (i.e. upload one video every Tuesday at 12 p.m. EST and Saturday at 10 a.m. EST), the YouTube algorithm recognizes that you’re serious about your channel and bumps it up in search results.
Don’t forget the call to action: Click the link below to get the Startup Financial Planning Roadmap. Tell people what you want them to do - it’s simple.

There is a lot you have to deal with when planning an event -- KPI’s, ensuring attendee satisfaction, making sure nothing lights on fire, etc. After the lights go out and the curtain drops, what matters is return on investment. One incredible return for your investment is a video marketing campaign that demonstrates thought leadership, pumps up your search results and entertains your audience.