Professional Speaker Photography 101

Watch This Episode of MwahTV About Professional Speaker Photography

To be super duper crystal clear.

Professional Speaker Photography, Headshots, and Brand Photography are hugely different.

As a professional speaker, you need a Brand Photo (or set of photos) showing you in your different settings as a personal brand. 

A headshot (or Branded Photo session) is shot at a studio or in a location that encapsulates all of the things that make you a brilliant speaker and professional person.

You use this on your profiles and everywhere you should have a great headshot or profile image.

Professional Speaker Photography is used in your reel and where you talk about how you are a great speaker and where you give the information any event host needs to know before they book you to appear at their event on stage. 

These are photographs of you commanding a lot of different types of stages on your own or sharing a panel with other speakers at an event.  You use these to document your appearances and show why you command the fee you do to appear.

Prep According To Your Speaking Photography Agenda

When I work with professional speakers, it’s very unlikely that I’m also being hired by the host of the event.  This means that I can dedicate ALL of my attention to the speaker (and their agenda).

This involves some pre-event prep before we get into professional speaker photography. 

I learn from you if you have any key moments in your talk, and I get a clear understanding of how you want to use your appearance at this event in your wider speaker career.

This helps me form a shot list that is specific to you.

Maybe your current speaker reel is filled with wide angles, and actually, this time around you really need some much better close-ups and you want me to get a good crop of the event name behind you (cos this one is a prestigious talk in your career).  

Do You Have a Speaking Gig on Your Schedule?

If you're interested in getting me to cover your next Speaking gig in line with your strategy behind agreeing to this next appearance. Let's do it!

My Bespoke Service encapsulates all of the subtle nuances of your next talk. So come and take a look at how it works here.

Time To Get Into Your Flow With Professional Speaker Photography

Maybe you have a nice smooth and steady pace to your talk.  You meander slowly around the stage.  But you tend to blink slowly.  This has resulted in you having a LOT of event shots with your eyes not fully open.

Or perhaps you are frenetic on the stage.  You make wild Mick Jagger movements as you gesticulate, and you have ended up with a bunch of photos of you pulling weird faces in odd positions.  

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At Your Performance Pace

When I’m creating professional speaker photography just for you, I can get in sync with your particular pace. 

This means I can concentrate and catch you at your best on stage. 

A lot of the time an event photographer has a lot of different priorities in their booking brief.  They are working for the event host directly. 

They may not have the chance to stick around for the full length of your talk because they also need to scoot to the other side of the building to catch the fire eaters setting up.  

Things To Use In Your De-Brief On Professional Speaker Photography

  • Your precise call to action.
  • That slide you have where you're asking people to get onto your list. You can use it all over social media.
  • That bit where you plan to get someone up on stage.
  • A queue of people waiting for a selfie after your talk is finished.
  • People’s reactions to you setting off that indoor firework.
  • A scale of the room shot that involves me climbing up to the rafters (in silence) halfway through your talk before the fireworks.

What You May Not Know About Event Photography

Budget is King!  If hosting an event and doing it all yourself, or working with an intermediary event planner, their biggest priority in event photography is BUDGET! 

This means cutting corners in every single way possible, and it’s this that takes away from you having the undivided attention of an event photographer.

Fancy A Chat & Cocktail Together?

If you'd like to have a chat with me on this when it comes to your business, then why not book yourself in for a FREE no-obligation Cyber Cocktail?

It's B.Y.O. and I do my very best to agree on 3 clear and manageable actions to take forward on your own or with more of my help.

To find out how it works and pick out your time, click here.

Timestamps for this Episode of #MwahTV

00:00 Episode Begins

01:58 Where the Brand Photo Goes (of your face)

04:02 Review your existing Speaker Shots

05:34 Why Speaker Photography from an Event Photographer is a MASSIVE gamble

06:24 Briefing Tip 1

06:42 Briefing Tip 2

06:53 Briefing Tip 3

07:13 Briefing Tip 4

07:32 Briefing Tip 5

08:05 The gamble with Event Photography

Is your Strategy Clear?

If the Speaking gig you're thinking about whilst reading this was a surprise request out of the blue then I want to challenge you about your wider Branding Strategy.

Let's check to see if you are not making this classic BIg mistake in your brand-building efforts.

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