Shot lists are usually a part of the corporate brief you will get depending on the type of event you covering and an essential part of your understanding especially when starting out as a professional event photographer.

Even if the client does not include one, every photographer with some level of experience will bring the right skills for shooting every business event successfully and will generally supply the client with a wide range of shots including of course all speakers, networking, audience, signage, venue and general interaction as well as any ‘formal’ shots of the high level business leaders in attendance. Being observant and ‘close to the action’ will lead to you capturing these moments whether you have a brief or not – think of it as your job to get the shots the clients don’t know they need.

Sponsors are generally a big part of any corporate or business event so make it a point of capturing their input, signage and important personel in attendance.

The same goes for the organising team, staff and key people who are your clients for the event. Even though they are often very busy make a point of capturing them formally and informally going about their duties.

So in a nutshell make it a rule of thumb to capture:

• Venue (before and during event), layout, presentation, lighting, trade show booths.
• Sponsor shots and important people – think of this as rewarding the marketing team.
• Attendees are the reason for you being there, capture a wide variety of candid and posed shots that capture the essence of the event.
• Special guests and Vip’s will usually be in attendance even if not immediately obvious. Enlist the help of the marketing team in understanding who to focus your attention on and keep a look out for sponsor or client event branding and use it in your backgrounds.
• Speakers are undeniably the high point of the event and a variety of shots will be highly beneficial to your client.
• Some events will award winners so be prepared to be close to the action, these shots are highly regarded and important for internal use and marketing.
• Networking is a huge part of every corporate and government event so make sure to capture the interaction as much as possible in both informal and posed shots and are valuable for future event promotion.
• Big and small details, unique to the event, branding, programs, giveaways, table decoration and gift bags. Often valued by the client in promoting the success of their event to sponsors and management.