You will have noticed that internal events are both more frequent and more important than they used to be: conventions, seminars, new-year addresses, leaving parties, staff celebrations. Each is an opportunity for communications, HR and event teams to strengthen the bond between colleagues and their sense of belonging. Celebrating good results and announcing new ambitions are both ways of bringing individuals together within a company culture.
These events are also an opportunity to build an employer brand that carries beyond the walls of the organisation.
Organising these internal gatherings well, and originally — they are media in their own right — is what makes for successful, positive communication and a unifying dynamic across teams.
The advantages of a good photo activity
Photocalls, image walls, photo booths, selfie stations. It is no accident that photo activities are everywhere at internal events: a reflection of the people there, an ego boost when the subject is flattered, or an occasion for laughter when they are not. Photographs have fascinated us since they were invented.
Photographs bring people together
Photographs are spontaneous, and they catalyse encounters by pushing guests and attendees to be photographed together. At conventions, seminars and similar events, a group photograph is far more fitting than a portrait. Your guests know this.
A photo activity, which favours the logic of the selfie and therefore complete ownership of the image, pushes people to find at least one other person in the room, known to them or not, to be photographed with. Useful for building and strengthening bonds. By giving your guests the power to take the picture, you let them go further than a photographer could: each selfie carries a personal note, in the choice of pose as much as in the choice of who to pose with, and above all a natural attitude.
They get people talking
You are seated at an event your company is running, a guest shows a photograph on their phone to the person next to them, and that person laughs. Who has never asked to see the picture?
That reaction — who does not enjoy laughing and feeling part of a group? — loosens tongues and encourages conversation. Once again, photographs are the raw material that lets people start talking.
And they last
The title says it. A photograph is a medium made to last, Snapchat aside. It is now a reflex across the whole working population, because every major app we use for hours a day involves photographs. After the event, they are the occasion to recall the good moments spent together, the people met, and to remind colleagues how well the evening went.
Clear benefits for the company
Beyond establishing trust and breaking the ice between guests, a photo activity brings real benefits to your company, in communication terms and in financial ones.
Employees as advocates for your employer brand
Once the party is over, if guests leave with a printed photograph, or keep the pictures on their phone through a digital photo activity, they become a channel for your employer brand and carry an invaluable message: your company is a good place to work.
By showing the photographs, they transmit your company’s character to people outside it, and create a latent interest in your company among them. Your employer brand and your appeal as an employer both improve through the most effective channel there is: word of mouth between people who know each other.
Photographs as a keepsake for teams
To be well thought of, and to produce a sense of wellbeing at the mere mention of your name: that is the ultimate challenge for a company. What better to leave your colleagues than a visual memory?
They will remember the evening all the better, and will keep at least one striking moment of your event firmly in mind.
Straightforward, and good value
For some companies the practical and financial argument lands. Digital activities — setting aside booths, which are often expensive and complicated to install — are extremely simple and often far more productive in terms of the volume of content generated. The return on investment is favourable.