A now-classic expression about photography says that color prints for free on the web so you should make as much use of it as possible. This holds especially true for your event registration website. Events are social, exciting and colorful, and photography is an excellent medium through which to express these ideas. Effective use of photography can make an average registration form a great one.
The broadest and most relevant source of imagery for your event website is photos taken at past events. Although commonly unpolished, nothing captures the essence of what your conference, seminar or trade show is about better than the photo record from previous occurrences. These pictures help to convey the fun, the socialization, the appearance of prominent figures and the captivating talks given by your speakers. All of this will be conveyed to new attendees and will remind past attendees about the experiences they had.
Using a service like Flickr to host the images of your event allows you to take advantage of their excellent widgets and API calls to pull rotating photos displays and slideshows directly on to your event website or registration form. You can also use their search function to find additional photos taken at your event by attendees.
When designing your form or website, you may find that there aren't any suitable images taken specifically from the event that you can use as a header or main title graphic, which is very common due to the chaotic nature of event photographs. However, one easy solution is to turn to the venue where the event will be held to find inspiration. Some venues provide more opportunity than others. Las Vegas, for instance, is easy because it is a very visual city: dice, cards, dancing girls, slot reels and bright lights can all make for great photography which will lend to the excitement of your event. Other venues can be more challenging, but the simplest strategy is to stick to what makes the city or state unique. Check out http://www.sxc.hu for free stock photography to use on your event website or registration form.
When designing your event information website, or online registration form, remember to take advantage of the structure of the form to make use a variety of photos. For example, if you have a recommended hotel or are using the meeting space of a specific hotel ask their staff if they have any promotional photos of the hotel that you can integrate into your page. Feature the hotel's best photos, and show pictures of the rooms and amenities. Make your registrants excited about attending not just for your event, but for the entire experience.
You can also use photos of your speakers on the agenda next to their session descriptions. This way, your attendees will have been "introduced" to your experts and familiarized with their experience before they've even checked in for the first session.
Photography is a great way to capture all the fun, spirit, emotion, and value of your event and express it to potential registrants in a concise message. Photos are worth 1,000 words, and when you are trying to convince someone to become an attendee you need all the opportunity you can get to speak to them about the benefits of your event.
