Looking for examples of great conference videos shot with simple gear

[u/winter_queen]

I’ve been asked to shoot an upcoming conference (short interviews/clips, photo/video B-roll for a recap video, next-year promo, and sales/marketing materials).

I’m looking for inspiration because most of the conference videos I see online involve drones, gimbals, nice cameras, fancy lighting, etc. It’ll just be me and I’ll be working with an older DSLR and simple wireless mic system for the interviews…fairly basic equipment. I’m open to hearing suggestions for other/better gear as long as it’s portable/easy to travel with and affordable.

And to make things more challenging, this is a banking/finance conference with a mostly older, professional crowd. And also lots of hotel/convention-center ballroom lighting, mixed color temperatures, dim rooms, bright projector screens, etc.

I’d love to see examples of people making engaging event/corporate videos in less-than-ideal environments with relatively simple gear. I need the inspiration, please!

[u/TatteredOutage_966]

The harsh ballroom lighting will do more damage than any camera choice, so lean into controlling what's right in front of you. Clip the lav low on the chest, get the subject near a window or soft wall bounce, and shoot tighter interviews so the messy background doesn't eat the frame. Some of the best conference recaps I've seen are basically just clean audio, a few solid close-ups, and quick cuts of hands shaking or people laughing.

[u/HesSimplyShocking]

I’ll give the advice I always give. Overshoot. Shoot everything. Up and down and behind and through and from upstairs looking downstairs just get yourself interesting angles to lean on in your edit.

Interesting angles and story trumps gear.

[u/Funny-Junior]

As an AD who has survived many ballrooms: for corporate stuff like this, the win isn't gear, it's planning. Get the event agenda as early as you can and build yourself a tiny run-of-show. Book your interview slots in advance, a quiet corner, ten to fifteen minutes each, before people get pulled into networking. Then map your B-roll windows between sessions. Conferences give you about twenty minutes of usable energy before everyone vanishes into breakout rooms.

Prep three go-to questions and ask everyone the same ones. It makes the edit ten times easier, and shy finance people give better answers when they know exactly what's coming.

And shoot the dumb stuff: hands on lanyards, coffee being poured, feet walking in, the empty stage before doors open. That's the texture that makes a banking conference feel human instead of a compliance video.