I survived covering my first event as a blogger!
I actually enjoyed it and it reminded me of my days when I worked for a newspaper and would accompany the photographer on a shoot.
I’m thankful for good friend Mr. Ken Jones who taught me you move around until you get the shot you want. That advice came in handy during this event.
If you’ve never covered an event as a blogger, I highly recommend it. You get to expose your audience to something new and you expose new people to your brand. It’s a win-win.
There are a few things you’ll need to pull off live blogging for an event. Internet access/WIFI is a given.
Here are the things I found most useful.
The Selfie Stick and a Phone Tripod
These are a God-send. While everyone else was clamoring for a good shot, I simply extended my selfie stick and got great shots. Not to mention your shots will have a different perspective than everyone else thus making your images stand out. My selfie-stick came with a separate bluetooth remote but some have them built into the handle, which is brilliant. When I upgrade, this will definitely be a requirement. I had to buy a replacement remote because it didn’t survive the abyss called the bottom of my purse.
If you’re vending at an event and have a table, you can set up your phone tripod and capture great video and still images.
Two Smart Phones or One Smart Phone and a Smart Tablet
I was a vendor at a conference and two smart phones or at least a “smart” tablet would have been desirable. When I had a credit card sale, I had to dismantle my phone from the selfie stick and plug in my credit card reader. So either two smart phones or a smart tablet easily remedies the problem. I have an older tablet and it doesn’t play with my PayPal credit card reader at all. So again, if you’re vending, have two phones or current tablet.
Lens/Screen Cleaner
There’s nothing worse than unintentional fuzzy photos. Chances are you’ll be handling your phone a lot so you’ll want to make sure the lens is clean (front and back). Use your shirt and you could end up scratching the surface. So make sure to pack screen/lens cleaner so your images stay sharp throughout the event.
Batteries/Chargers/Memory Cards/Extension Cords
Batteries and memory cards always give out at the worse possible times. I was shooting a fashion show when I got the message that my memory card was full and my cell phone was charging. Ugh! So make sure you have multiple batteries and memory cards. Don’t forget to pack your chargers and bring your own extension card. You’ll be a favorite among the vendors and you’ll make lots of new friends.
Hootsuite (or something like it)
You’ll want to microblog to Twitter or Instagram so it helps if you have a service that allows you to fire off a post to all of them at once. Hootsuite is one such service and there are lots of more. These really do help make live blogging easier!
So that’s my take on blogging from the road. These gadgets along with sensible shoes for running around all day make the process that much easier.
Happy blogging.
Featured Image: photo credit: Shows are More Fun When You Watch Through a Tiny Screen via photopin (license)