It goes without saying that we all are looking for ways to make our jobs easier. And in a world that is becoming more and more demanding for content and data, it has become almost impossible to keep up with marketing an event properly.

This is why many meeting planners have turned to crowdsourcing content to supplement their own marketing efforts. From images to testimonials, turning to your attendees for this additional content not only helps you reach a larger audience, but it can also tell you a lot about why people come to your event and what they do there.

Sounds like a win-win situation, right? There’s one problem: Finding quality content that you want to share can be almost impossible, especially when it comes to images. Out-of-focus and over-exposed are usually the norm, and the gorgeous shots you would love to use are few and far between.

Luckily, there are a few things you can do to ensure you have more usable images than most.

Hashtag

Create a quality hashtag that is unique to your event and publicize it heavily. A hashtag allows you to easily curate images across networks. So instead of looking up individual attendees to see what they are posting, you can do simple searches on everything from Twitter to Instagram to Facebook to see what they are capturing from your event. And then share (after asking permission) as it is appropriate for your event.

Ambassadors

Sometimes it can be as simple as just creating a bandwagon effect. Find a number of your biggest supporters and challenge them to take a number of photos for you. You may even want to go as far as assigning each ambassador a certain network to make sure you have coverage across several, instead of just one. But be sure that your ambassadors have a level of comfort on the network they are assigned before sending them off. Seeing these images will likely encourage other attendees to do the same, and it will once again alert attendees of your hashtag.

Competition

There is nothing better than a friendly competition. This was once again proven to us recently by a local event called #CincyMuseumSelfie. Local museums, such as the Cincinnati Art Museum and Cincinnati Museum Center, competed for a day to see who could take the most selfies at their respective locations. It created a large amount of images that each museum can now use for their own marketing efforts. Make your own competition just as fun by creating teams. The teams will result in some healthy peer pressure that will give you more images to choose from. And you may even want to go so far as asking for specific images (perhaps a scavenger hunt) to really make sure your needs are fulfilled.

Photography Class

If you want really high quality images, take the time to teach your attendees. In an increasingly digital world, being able to take a great photo is becoming more and more important. Bring someone in prior to the event that can show attendees how to do it on a smartphone. Their excitement for their newly learned skill will then likely become a need to practice right away. And guess what practicing equals for you? That’s right. You will get more images from your event for future use.