Yesterday I photographed a press event / photo op / reception in Toronto. It had bad lighting, bad staging and bad media flaks. It was run by the Prime Minister’s Office.
For “security reasons,” the media had to be searched both by police and by sniffer dog. The audience? They just walked in.
There were lots of rules for the media: where to stand, where not to go, what not to shoot. Reporters weren’t allowed to ask any questions nor interview anyone. The audience? They could do anything they wanted.
The audience was standing and the three political VIPs (Canadian Prime Minister and two European Union presidents) were seated on a low stage. This meant that when the three were seated, (far enough apart to prevent a group picture), they could barely be seen by the photographers and TV cameras who were on a riser at the back of the room:
The plus-300-member audience consisted of federal politicians, senators, European dignitaries and senior business people. It’s safe to say that everyone was an adult.
What happened when each of the three VIPs got up to speak or they posed together? Dozens of cell phones were waved overhead as audience members snapped cell phone photos and video. I bet you thought only teenagers at concerts did this. Of course, the photographers and TV cameras at the back of the room were frequently blocked by the cell phone wavers.
At the end of the event, a rather strange gift, (a large replica of a Franklin expedition ship that sunk 169 years ago), was presented to the two European leaders. A doomed ship from a lost expedition in which everyone died always makes for an appropriate gift when launching a new trade venture.
Pop quiz: Is it better to do a presentation at the front and centre of the stage where the spotlights are aimed, or, at the back corner of the stage in near darkness where few people can see it? You get one guess what they did.
Even the four people who sang the anthems were only half lit because they were partly on stage and partly off stage.
How much photo coverage of this event was in the following day’s newspapers? None.
Here’s the deal when doing a photo op: bad pictures => no coverage.
Good pictures don’t happen by accident. If you’re hoping to get some news coverage of your corporate event then you need to plan any photo op with an eye towards the visual value and the news value. Both are important.
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Fun Fact #1: The Prime Minister travelled from Toronto’s airport to a downtown hotel during Friday afternoon rush hour in just 20 minutes, according to a photographer in the motorcade. Another photographer, driving on his own, took two hours to travel the same route.
Fun Fact #2: It turns out that this unnecessary Toronto event was a last-minute show intended to boost the Prime Minister’s profile. (Note that even the linked news article doesn’t use a picture from the Toronto event.)
