A single event produces more material than most teams ever publish: speakers, guests, the room, the details and the moments in between. Without a plan, it ends up in a folder nobody has time to sort, and the best moments go out a week late or not at all. With a plan, one day can feed your channels for weeks. This guide covers how to plan, capture, approve and publish social media content from one event.
Plan before the event
Start with what each channel is for. The same event can serve different objectives in different places, and the content should follow the objective rather than the other way round.
- Vertical short-form video: reach people who were not there, with energy, movement and personality.
- Feed posts: record the substance, such as announcements, speakers, partners and key moments, in a form that stays on your profile.
- Stories: give an informal, live view of the day, with behind-the-scenes moments and reminders for people on their way.
- Your website: hold the lasting record, including the highlights film, photo galleries and full speaker sessions, where search engines and future visitors will find it.
Choose the formats
Then decide the formats. Most events can yield several of these:
- Short vertical clips of the atmosphere and the key moments.
- Speaker clips, each making one point, subtitled and ready for the weeks after.
- Photo sets that run from arrivals to the closing moments.
- Quote graphics that set a speaker’s line over a photograph from the day.
- Short guest reactions, filmed with permission.
- A highlights film, plus full session recordings for your website.
Build a content list
List every piece you want, with its format, length, language, deadline and owner. Share the list with your production team well before the day, so the crew knows what to capture and the editors know what to deliver. Our guide on what to agree with your production team before the day covers the wider coverage brief.
For each item, the list should answer six questions.
- What is it, and which channel is it for?
- What format and aspect ratio does it need?
- Is it in Arabic, English or both?
- When must it go out: before the event, on the day, or later?
- Who approves it?
- Which shots does it depend on?
Prepare as much as you can before the day. Design title cards and subtitle styles in both languages, draft captions for the posts you can predict, choose music you have the rights to use on every channel you plan, and collect the correct names and titles of speakers and partners. Each of these saves minutes when minutes matter.
Shoot for every screen
Know the aspect ratios
Each channel favours a different shape. Deciding which you need before the day saves awkward cropping later.
- 9:16 vertical for short-form video and stories, filling a phone held upright.
- 1:1 square or 4:5 portrait for feed posts, which take up more of the screen than a horizontal image.
- 16:9 horizontal for your website, presentations and screens at future events, and for the highlights film.
Frame for vertical and horizontal
You can film horizontally and crop later, or film vertically from the start. Cropping a horizontal frame to vertical keeps only a narrow slice from the middle, so a camera operator who knows the footage will be cropped keeps the subject near the centre, leaves headroom and keeps important action away from the edges. Where vertical content matters most, a dedicated vertical camera, or a content creator filming on a stabilised phone, usually gives better results than cropping.
Remember the safe areas. On a phone, vertical video shares the screen with buttons, captions and account names along the top, the bottom and one side. Keep faces, text and logos clear of those zones, and check every edit on a phone before it goes out.
Sound matters as much as the picture. For speaker clips, ask the venue’s sound team for a direct feed from the mixing desk, because a camera microphone at the back of the hall records the room rather than the speaker.
Content on the day
Same-day content is about timing. A good clip published within hours reaches people while the event is still being talked about. The same clip a week later is an archive.
- Before doors open: a teaser of the set, the stage and the details, to build anticipation.
- Arrivals and atmosphere: short clips and photos in the first hour, while guests are arriving and sharing their own.
- Key moments: the opening, an announcement, a signing or a performance, edited and published within hours.
- End of the day: a short vertical recap that shows the shape of the day.
Ask the photographer to send a small first selection during the event rather than everything at the end, so same-day posts use proper photographs instead of screenshots.
One approver on site
Speed depends on sign-off. Name one person on site who can approve content, with a backup for when they are busy. Agree in advance what they can approve alone, such as atmosphere clips and photos, and what must go to someone else, such as anything showing senior guests or announcing news. Give the editor a quiet corner and a reliable connection, share files through one folder, and keep approval to a simple reply rather than a chain of comments. Agree, too, who decides how quickly a published post is corrected or removed if something is wrong.
Captions and subtitles in Arabic and English
Most organisations in Qatar need both languages, and many people watch without sound. Plan for both from the start.
- Separate posts or combined captions. Separate Arabic and English posts read more naturally and let each language lead. A combined caption keeps everything in one place but grows long; if you combine, keep each language short and in its own paragraph.
- Subtitles on every video. Burn them into the video or add them as a caption file, so the message lands with the sound off. Two languages on screen at once crowd the frame, so consider separate versions.
- Right-to-left layout. Check that Arabic in graphics and subtitles reads correctly, with letters joined and punctuation in the right place.
- Review by fluent speakers. Have each language checked by someone fluent in it before publishing, especially names and titles.
After the event: highlights and repurposing
The highlights film
Aim to publish the highlights film within days, while guests, speakers and partners still want to share it. Agree its length, music, languages and versions in advance: a horizontal version for your website and screens, and a shorter vertical cut. Keep it short enough to watch to the end on a phone, open with the strongest moment rather than arrival shots, and end with what comes next, such as the date of the next edition or where to watch the full sessions.
Photo carousels and speaker clips
A carousel of well-chosen photos, in order, tells the story of the day in a single post. Speaker clips are often the most useful material in the weeks that follow: short, self-contained moments with subtitles, each making one point. Choose moments that make sense without context, start each clip on the point rather than the build-up, and show the speaker’s name and title on screen in both languages. Check that speakers are happy for clips to be published, and credit them as agreed.
A publishing calendar
Spread the material across the weeks after the event rather than publishing it all at once.
- In the first few days: the highlights film, a photo carousel and a thank-you post to guests and partners.
- Over the following weeks: speaker clips, one or two a week, and behind-the-scenes material.
- Later: a look back ahead of the next edition, or clips reused to announce your next event.
Keep one shared calendar that shows each piece, its channel, language and date, and who will publish it.
Consent and sensitivities
Guests have not agreed to become content. Tell them clearly that filming and photography will take place, at registration and on signage, and give them an easy way to opt out, such as a lanyard in a different colour. Ask before featuring anyone individually, and respect guests who prefer not to appear in public posts, including families and women who may not wish to be photographed. Take particular care with children, avoid filming prayer areas, and confirm that speakers and performers have agreed to their sessions being published.
Measure what the content achieved
Judge each channel against the objective you set for it. For short-form video, look at reach and how much of each clip people watched. For feed posts, look at saves, shares and comments. For your website, look at visits to the highlights film and where people went next. Then connect the results to the event’s wider goals, such as registrations for the next edition or enquiries from new contacts. Note what you learn for next time: which formats worked, which moments people shared, and what you wish you had filmed. Our article on what to measure after an event covers how to report it.
Social content works best when it is planned with the event rather than after it, which is why it sits alongside event coverage and our other multimedia services. If you would like help planning content for your next event, ARZO’s team is happy to talk it through. Request a proposal with your event date and the channels you use.
