Hiring a Professional Videographer for Your Event vs. Having an Employee Walk Around with a Cellphone

I may be biased here, because, you know – it’s my profession. But there is a massive difference when we’re considering hiring a professional videographer for your event vs. having an employee walk around with a cellphone.

I used to work with an event space in Niagara, and we did a lot of projects together. I accidentally became their go to guy. We did work together for 3 years, and we had a lot of fun projects.

At some point in time, my contact at this space moved away from her position for 6 months or so. We did another project together after she was gone, but after that communication naturally fizzled out.

Now, after we stopped working together, they didn’t even hire a new videographer. And I mean, I don’t demand loyalty from folks that I’m working with – it’s just an unspoken agreement between people sometimes.

And in this case, I honestly would have understood if when my contact left, another individual took her place and brought in their own creative to make videos. But that wasn’t the case at all.

Instead, to save on their precious budget, they did it internally. I would keep an eye on their socials after we stopped working together, and they basically had one of their marketing kids run around with a cellphone and grab random clips of nothingness.

Then they would make these clips into Instagram Reels, and there you have it.

Now, this all great – and it certainly has its place. But what happens when quality footage needs to be used in the future? What happens when they need to promote something on a wide screen? Are they going to just throw a shaky vertical video up there and hope it lands?

I feel as though when it comes to event videography, if it calls for it and if the budget allows – organizers should always hire a team of professionals. Filmmaking is what we do.

By having a team from the internal marketing squad run around with a cellphone – you’re pulling them away from what they’re supposed to be working on, and the end result is rushed and won’t stand the test of time.

When you hire a team of professionals for your event, we’re coming in and documenting the happenings to the best of our abilities. We’re time stamping everything that happens, and then the footage can be used and reused for years to come.

Marketing efforts aside, these event videos become time stamps of the things that your organization does each and every year.

So, when you’re considering whether to hire a professional or just throw a cellphone in some kids’ hand and have them run around with it – think about the level of quality you’d like your organization to be portrayed to the public with, and think about whether or not the kids’ cellphone footage will stand the test of time.

These events are only going to happen once – and again, I may be biased, but doesn’t it just make sense to at least consider hiring a professional to document it properly?

To Your Success,

Jay Ashcroft

Ashcroft Media Co.