ShutterLife

Tips, Tricks and the Adventures of being a PhotoBooth Host

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To Feed or Not to Feed

Here’s a fun topic that is often overlooked. Your a hiring a company, should you really request a vendor meal for their employee?

Here are __ questions to consider before you overlook the employee.

1. How long is your party?  If you have a 5 hour party, and a vendor is working the entire time, when do they get their break? They really don’t if your party is jumpin!

2. How long is the employee really working? For our photobooth company we arrive to our office 3 hours before the party starts to get equipment and travel to the venue. We arrive at least 2 hours prior to the event for set-up. After the event it usually takes 45min- hour to break-down. Then, make the drive back to the office. Add these 4 hours to the length of the party and you’re looking at a 8-12 hour shift, not just the time of your reception.

3. Who else is getting fed? Planners accidentally make this mistake alot. They round up every other vendor (photographers, videographers, DJ, etc) and all eat provided vendor meals. This is a great way to make the vendor who’s left out to have a bitter taste in their mouth towards the planner/company. No one likes to be left out!

At my company we never expect to get fed at an event However, when we do it makes a huge difference. Would you rather scarf down a pb sandwich or a cooked meal? A full host is a happy host; and happy hosts make happy guests.

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Ice the guests

So, in my other post was about how to get guests loosened up to better ensure you’ll get more photos. But what about for the photo-haters who just wanna have a photobooth but don’t actually want anyone to actually use it?

Here are 5 Ways to better ensure guests don’t use your photobooth.

Out of Sight- Out of Mind. If the booth is in a corner away from the party, or in another room/patio completely, your guests will probably forget it’s there. This is great if you want to ask people after the party how their photos turned out and watch their faces get all sad that they missed/forgot about it.

Jam-Pack the night. Fill your timeline down to the minute! Have it brimming with activities for your guests. Such as eating, watching formalities such as first dances, speeches, long awards etc etc. With so much happening and your guests confined to their seats when will they get a chance to be silly with photos? They’ll have to get a quick one in on the way back from the bathroom, those sneaky photo-lovers.

Let Kids Run Wild. Parents clock off and let your kids run free. Not a parent? Then be sure to encourage the kids to be wild and keep passing them cake. This way when the kids get all sugared up they’ll accidentally (or purposefully) cut the line, clog the line by being in it so much, or do a 20 minute photo session and walk off with a fat stack photostrips where you can only see their foreheads. The best part? The really young ones love to yank photos out that aren’t finished printing and ruin them. This could be be a lose-win situation. Lose: lots of kid photos. Win: few of those other photo-lovers will make it through the kid infested line.

Hidden in plain sight.This is more of a way to keep photo-lovers from using your photobooth at trade-shows and corporate events. The booth is very prominent and everyone see’s it, but who knows what it is? Or, they know what it is but don’t know how much it is (free!). So, since they figure nothing is free in Vegas they keep on moseying on AND NEVER check out your product. Sure, you could have made a sign saying “Photobooth sponsored by “My Company” and its Free”, but no, you’re a smart photo-hater. You hate photos more then hot leads.

Don’t hire the best- settle for dirt cheap. Prefect! Sure, there’s a chance you’ll have no problems. You want a Rolls Royce of cuz you’re fancy, but only wanna pay for a lemon. Your a photo-hater so why not get a possible lemon booth? Lock in such a low cost the company must be running in the red. This way you probably get a poor quality photo prints, maybe have some technical issues, and if your really lucky they won’t show up for the party at all.

Take that photo-lovers!

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Limber those guests

I’ve worked in the events industry in Las Vegas for over four years. From booties to fights to Darth Vader and his Storm Troopers there sure have been a lot of wonky experiences. How do you facilitate an environment that promotes your guests to have fun and take plenty of photos?

Here are 5 easy steps to (help) loosen them up.

 BOOZE. Now, this seems like a no-brainier. But think about it, after 5 hours of open bar, and guests who drink liquor like water, even you may reconsider if you really want to see what happened in the booth. The longer the bar is open (and free) the less clothes end up being in photos. (eek). Not advised for guests under 21.

Location, Location, Location. Have your Photobooth close to the bar and restrooms. This helps capture a maximum amount of guests. Wanna drink? Oh look a photobooth! Wanna pee? Oh look a photobooth? Want another drink? Oh look a photobooth! It’s a glorious cycle.

DJ TURN IT UP. A quality DJ/MC is a fantastic way to keep prompting guests to use a booth. They’ll know when guests need a break from dancing and set the tone for a fun photo-filled-evening.  However, A DJ who makes an announcement for guests to use the booth and then plays a group dance (so no one leaves the dancefloor) isn’t interested in making sure guests get photos. Talk to your DJ beforehand.

Pre-Pump your guests. Tell them before that there will be a photobooth. This creates a buzz and usually gets a line going as soon as the door opens to the party. Everyone, except photo-haters, love to get their photos taken!

Jump in feet first. No need to actually jump. But you, or the guest/s of honor, need to have fun too! At weddings you can tell where the bride and groom are because there’s always a swarm of people around them. So utilize that influence of being the queen bee of the hive and get a photo (or 20!). Your guests will gravitate after you and join in!

Party on!

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Viva Las Vegas!

As a photobooth host, my job is pretty fun. As a photobooth host in Las Vegas my job is always excting! Let me lay out some groundwork for you. I don’t work for one of those old sit-in style booths you’ll find at a mall, NOR one of the “companies” who are bring ran out of someones garage. You’ll never find our company on Groupon, or Livingsocial, or any other site like that. We use open honest pricing. In no way is this blog to promote ShutterBooth photobooths. These experiences are my own while working here.