One of the biggest challenges of virtual events is engaging your audience. It’s far too easy for them to become passive and bored, especially if they are just watching live stream after live stream.
If you want your virtual event to stand out, you need to find ways to turn your passive audience into active participants. After all, any good event (whether online or offline) should be a 2-way interaction.
That’s where a virtual photo booth can help.
How Virtual Photo Booths Work
What is a virtual photo booth, anyway?
Because this is such a new concept, it needs some explaining.
We’re all familiar with physical photo booths. They have practically become a standard requirement for offline events, and for good reason.
They are a fantastic social activity, to bring groups of people together.
They give your guests souvenirs of your event, whether as digital photos or physical prints.
They create excitement and FOMO for your event, when your guests share their photos online.
A virtual photo booth can do exactly the same things for you, just online.
It’s an application that works in any browser, on any device. All you need to do is click on a link to start it—you don’t have to download any software to run it.
If you’re using your phone or tablet, it starts your front camera. If you’re using your laptop, it starts your webcam.
You can take a photo or video with augmented reality (AR) filters—and add frames and stickers to make it really pop.
What’s more, you can embed it on any website with just a single line of code. It’s just like embedding a YouTube video.
In fact, we’ve embedded a virtual photo booth right below. Just click on the Start button to try it!
Now that you understand how a virtual photo booth works, let’s talk about how it can help with your online event.
Reason #1: Work With Augmented Reality (AR) Filters
You want your virtual event to stand out, with different activities and experiences seamlessly integrated into your website or event platform.
There’s no better way to create a memorable experience, than with an augmented reality (AR) experience.
Our virtual photo booth is the first of its kind—allowing your audience to try on different AR filters with just a swipe and tap. Think of it as an Instagram or TikTok camera, but embedded right inside your event platform.
You can work with our standard packs of AR filters, or create your own custom AR filters with our team of 3D artists and developers.
Reason #2: Create a Unique and Branded Experience
The great thing about our virtual photo booth is that you can customise every aspect of it, so that it’s perfectly on-brand.
Change the start screen, text and background image—and embed it so that it blends in perfectly with your event website.
Design your own frames and stickers, so that the photos are mini-advertisements for your event.
You can even design your own virtual backgrounds, which your audience can use to replace their actual backgrounds. It’s like CGI magic, without the need for a green screen.
There are so many options you can customise to make it feel like a custom-built experience just for your online event.
Reason #3: Live Games and Activities
When we go from offline events to virtual events, we lose a lot of the engagement and interactivity. As event planners, we have to find ways to recapture some of that.
A virtual photo booth is a fun activity that your audience can participate in.
It doesn’t even matter if you’re camera shy, because you’re doing it in the safety of your home—so you can feel free to really goof off.
What’s more, you can turn it into a group activity by hosting a photo game.
Get your emcee to give instructions, such as taking a photo with your pet or balancing a book on your head.
You can stream everyone’s photos and videos in real-time—with our live gallery, contest or mosaic. Your audience can see what their friends are doing and one-up them with their own shots.
With the live contest, you can arrange to send prizes to the winners—a wonderful way to give them a physical reminder of your event. If you’re planning a virtual product launch, use the new product as prizes. Your audience will be thrilled to receive your latest and greatest product in their mailbox.
Reason #4: Generate FOMO
Remember checking out your social media feed and spotting an event you really wanted to attend?
Maybe it’s an awesome festival, concert or conference—and you felt real frustration if you could not be there.
That’s the power of FOMO (fear of missing out) at work, and it’s one of the most powerful marketing tactics that event planners can use.
This happened naturally at live, offline events. Attendees would share photos of the venue and create a positive loop of FOMO for you.
Your challenge is replicating that for online events.
That’s why creating a photo opportunity with a virtual photo booth is so urgent.
It may be fun and games for your audience. But behind the scenes, it’s a crucial piece of your marketing strategy.
Brand the photos with your custom visuals, and incentivise your audience to share the photos for you.
That’s how you get them to generate FOMO for your virtual event, for free.
Reason #5: Produce a Beautiful Mosaic
A mosaic is a meaningful way to show the solidarity and diversity of your people.
It’s a great way to mark the significance of your virtual event, and send a message that you’re all in this together—both to your audience and the rest of the world.
A virtual photo booth makes it incredibly easy to get the photos you need for your mosaic.
Just share the link to the virtual photo booth, or embed it right inside your website.
Send a couple of reminders to your audience to take a photo during your live stream. By the end of your event, you will get all the photos arranged in a beautiful mosaic—no additional work required.
It’s zero hassle.
Conclusion
A virtual photo booth is the perfect way to add interactivity into your virtual event.
But it can be so much more than just a photo booth.
Think of ways you can integrate it into meaningful and memorable experiences.
To recap, you can:
- Provide a memorable experience with augmented reality (AR) filters.
- Create a unique and branded virtual photo booth, which you can add seamlessly into your platform of choice.
- Get your audience to participate in live games and activities, like a photo contest.
- Use it to generate FOMO, a powerful tactic to get people excited about your event.
- Use the photos to create a memorable and meaningful mosaic.
What other ideas can you come up with? The ball’s in your court.
