In short
To keep the memory of an association event, think about three things:
- Let everyone photograph their side of the day, not just “the photographer”: the volunteers must appear too.
- Make it free, simple and account-free: your members do not all have the same phone, or the same age.
- Have someone decide what is shown and kept, especially when children are present or people do not wish to appear.
This guide goes through the kinds of event (fete, village party, gala, annual meeting), compares the ways of doing it, EventSlide included, and is useful even if you do not use my tool.
Which options suit an association?
I build EventSlide. It is in the table, and it is not the right solution for everyone.
| Option | What suits an association | What may get in the way |
|---|---|---|
| A group chat or a social network group | Free, already there, everyone knows it | People have to be signed up; photos shrunk and lost; the photos stay in a service whose rules you do not control |
| A shared online album | One place, often free up to a certain size | Account or app depending on the tool; no projection; you look after the event |
| A volunteer photographer | Lovely photos, real coverage of the event | One person fewer at the party, and a bottleneck: everything goes through them |
| A live photo wall (EventSlide) | Everyone’s photos, shown during the event, with no app or account for participants; free, by invitation; open source | A screen, a laptop, a network; someone to approve; no invoice or support, and no guarantee of availability |
If your association has someone comfortable with computers, EventSlide is also open-source software (AGPL-3.0) that you can install yourself: the photos then stay with you.
Fete, village party, gala, annual meeting: what changes
The fete and the village party
This is the most photographed and the most scattered day: several stalls, children running about, parents looking elsewhere, people arriving and leaving.
- A QR code in several places. The entrance, the refreshments, each stall. A5 or A4 posters, which the app prepares, with the QR code and, if you like, the association’s logo in the centre.
- A screen near the refreshments. It is where people stop: they look for themselves on the wall, and send a photo of the next table.
- Outdoors, the light. A projector cannot be seen in broad daylight: a television in the shade or a projector under a closed tent works better. Plan the power too (an extension lead, or a permitted generator) and the network (a phone’s hotspot may be enough for the wall’s laptop).
- No screen? Then the QR code only gathers the photos. For that, a shared album or a group chat is fine too.
The gala or the dinner dance
It is an evening like any other, and everything in the guide Showing guests’ photos on a screen at the party applies: screen, plugging in, laptop sleep, network, test. Mosaic or collage for a very full wall; 15-second videos for the dance floor; a photo challenge between two dances.
The annual meeting
Less festive, but a chance to show the year gone by. The room often already has a screen or a projector, which makes plugging in simpler. Start the wall at the welcome desk: members send a photo of an activity from the year as they arrive, and the wall shows it over coffee. The written guestbook lets people leave a thank-you note for the volunteers, during the meeting and for up to seven days afterwards.
A keepsake for the volunteers
Volunteers are the people we have the fewest photos of, and the ones who need them most: for the newsletter, for the association’s page, to remember why we do all this.
- A dedicated prompt. “A photo of a volunteer hard at work” (or “a happy volunteer”) makes people want to photograph them. With EventSlide, these prompts are missions that the host writes and that guests see as a checklist. More mission ideas are ready to copy.
- A photo challenge to liven up a quiet moment. With EventSlide, you can launch a challenge of 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes, from one of your missions, a suggested idea or free text: a countdown on the wall and on every phone.
- A word for the team. A welcome message and the association’s logo greet participants on their phone. They can then leave a short note (500 characters, three per person), which you approve like a photo.
- A memories counter. If you turn it on, the wall shows “17 memories shared” at the top of the screen: you watch the party fill up, without naming anyone.
- A photo book as a PDF. After the event, in one click, with one or four photos per page: a way to thank the volunteers other than by message.
Children, image rights, trust
An association often photographs children and people who did not sign up for a photo session. A few common-sense precautions, which do not replace legal advice:
- Warn people in advance. One line on the invitation or the poster: “photos will be taken and shown during the event”.
- Keep moderation on. With EventSlide, manual approval is the default without a template; the Birthday and Party templates publish without approval, so check the Moderation setting. For a fete, keep approval on. Name two people to approve from their phones, taking turns: they are invited by email (the invitation is valid for seven days) and create an account, whereas “no app or account” applies to participants only. Invite them a few days beforehand.
- Participants are told before their first photo what happens to it: who sees it, whether it goes through moderation first, how long it is kept, and how to have it removed. A guest can also erase everything they sent themselves.
- Location data is removed from every photo on arrival: where someone is standing does not travel with it.
- Choose the retention period. It is set in the event’s settings; decide it before the event, not after.
If a parent asks for a photo to be removed, a moderator can take it off the wall. Say so on the poster: it reassures more than a long set of rules.
What to prepare, in practice
- A screen and a laptop showing the wall in full screen, plugged into the mains, sleep switched off. The guide Showing guests’ photos on a screen at the party goes through all of this.
- A connection. With the hosted service, the wall depends on the venue’s network. If the network is weak, uploads wait on the phones and go out by themselves, and the wall keeps showing the photos it has already received.
- Printed QR codes. A6 table cards (four to a sheet) for a gala, A5 or A4 posters for a fete, to print from the browser. The guide QR code to share party photos explains size and position.
- A setting to check. Check the Moderation setting before the event: the Birthday and Party templates publish without approval.
- A “photo welcome” volunteer. They show those who hesitate how it is done: scan, pick a photo, send, the first name is optional. A few seconds are enough, and they will show someone else in turn.
- Several languages. The app speaks French, English, Spanish, German and Italian: useful if your members do not all speak the same one.
After the event: finding and sharing
- A shared gallery. With EventSlide, a link to send through the newsletter or the association’s group: everyone downloads their photos at full resolution, without location data. The link expires on the date you choose (from 1 to 90 days, 30 by default), can ask for a password, and you can switch it off at any time.
- Your album. A full-resolution ZIP, including the photos you did not publish.
- Favourites and a video montage. For the newsletter or the next meeting: mark your favourite photos, download them, or ask for a video montage from at least three published favourites.
- Statistics. Uploads over time, number of guests, top contributors: enough to know what worked, without tracking the guests.
The page photo wall for an association follows the day from the volunteers’ arrival to the next day. To grasp the idea in three steps: How it works.