The event as a studio content day

I treat every event as a studio day. The talent is there, the audience is there, the proof is there, and someone else has paid for the room. So I plan it content first. A videographer follows the talent from the moment they arrive. We film the queue, the keynote, a whiteboard wall where the whole room writes one number, a hot seat that reads like a pod, and a testimonial room where we walk people through the Epiphany Bridge. Then the clips become carousels, fake tweets and LinkedIn posts, the keynote goes out as a long form, and the best of it runs as ads. Done well, three days can give you a year of content, and in person still closes better than anything online.

How do I use it?

1. A week out, write the station list for the event: queue, stage, whiteboard wall, hot seat, testimonial room, with the format each one feeds.
2. Book a videographer to follow the talent all day, D-Rock style, with licence to stop them and say: say that again to camera.
3. Kit the stage with one or two static cameras and one roaming for faces and hands, and put a second mic on the talent.
4. Put white paper and a permanent marker on every seat, and write the one question the room will answer with a number.
5. At the doors, film the queue: what brought you here, what do you want to leave with.
6. Film the keynote whole, take a selfie video from the stage, and ask the room questions from the stage.
7. Run the whiteboard exercise: everyone writes their number, then line them up low to high and film down the line.
8. On a multi day event, move the stage questions to a hot seat on day two: one guest opposite, cameras tight, so it reads as a pod.
9. In the breaks, pull people out one at a time and take them through the Epiphany Bridge: where they were, how it felt, what changed, where they are now.
10. Collect every testimonial even when it can never run as an ad, and put them on a proof page and in the monthly email.
11. After the event, cut clips first, then turn the winners into carousels, fake tweets and LinkedIn posts.
12. Package the keynote like a YouTube video, title and thumbnail first, and post it as the long form for that month.
13. Approve the partnership ad requests from everyone who tagged the event, and give the room footage to whoever runs the ads.
14. Score the event on the room as well as the reels: 20% of the room on a booked call is the bar.

In his words

You’re getting paid to film content.

Tom Sharman, 2026