Charity gala · Fundraising ball · Black tie · QR code

Gala photo sharing, from the red carpet to the last dance

On gala night the committee is working: seating the late arrivals, running the auction, getting the honoree to the stage on cue. Meanwhile a ballroom of guests in black tie is photographing all of it. Eventphoto.io gives the gala one QR code and a PIN for the table cards: guests upload from the browser on their own phones, with nothing to install and no sign-up. Everyone at the gala can open the gallery, nothing is public, and afterward the committee has the whole night for the thank-you emails, the donor newsletter and next year’s invitation.

Create your gala photo page →I’m a guest

In short

Gala photo sharing is one QR code, printed with its PIN on the table cards and in the program: guests scan it, open the gala’s page in their phone’s browser without installing anything or signing up, and add what they shot to a private gallery that everyone at the gala can browse and the committee or planner downloads afterward. A free event holds photos for 14 days; video and 12 months of storage cost $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) once per gala.

Free: 20 photos per guest, kept 14 days from when you create the event

Every table, not only the carpet

A booked photographer works the step-and-repeat, the stage and the sponsor shot list. The guests are everywhere else — every table, the bar, the dance floor — and their phones catch the night from there.

Private to the people in the room

The QR code opens the gala’s page, which asks for the PIN first; the PIN is on by default. Nothing in the gallery is published, search engines are kept out, and the committee can delete any photo in it.

Next season’s material, with permission

Thank-you emails, the donor newsletter, the sponsor report and next year’s save-the-date all need real pictures of this year. Each photo carries the name its guest typed, so you know whom to ask before it goes public.

Why the best gala photos stay on the guests’ phones

A gala is planned for months and photographed in a few hours, mostly by people who are not working it. The committee is following the run of show, and the photographer, if there is one, is working through a shot list. The two tables that bid each other up for the star lot, the volunteers at the check-in desk, the honoree on the dance floor after midnight: that part of the night lives in guests’ camera rolls, and by Monday it has gone home in a hundred evening bags and jacket pockets.

One event per gala, one QR code, with the PIN printed beside it wherever the code appears. A guest scans with the phone camera, enters the PIN, types a name and picks photos from the camera roll; there is nothing to install and no account to create. Everyone with the code and the PIN sees the same gallery, and a quiet table usually starts uploading once it sees what the next table has added.

The same setup works for a charity ball, a school foundation’s auction gala, a hospital benefit, a company awards night, a sports club’s presentation night or an annual dinner: one event for each night, so the spring gala and the autumn ball never share a gallery.

When the room has emptied, the committee opens the private host link, deletes anything that should not stay, and requests the whole gala as one ZIP: the original files in two folders, photos and videos. The download link arrives by email at the event’s address, usually within minutes, and from there the photos go where the committee decides: the thank-you email, the sponsor report, the slide at the next board meeting.

From the print deadline to the thank-you email

Create the event before the program goes to print

Name the gala and give the email address the committee reads; the QR code and the short event code are on screen straight away, and the host link arrives by email. The PIN is on by default: choose one you are happy to print under the code. If the printing happens more than 14 days before the gala, take the paid plan so the code still opens on the night.

Put the code and the PIN on every table

A table card next to the centerpiece or the place cards, a page in the program, a stand at the bar and the coat check. One sentence from the emcee before dinner is served does more than a poster at the entrance.

Collect the archive, then ask before you post

Afterward, open the host link, remove what should not stay and request everything as a ZIP; the link comes by email, usually within minutes. Before a photo goes into the newsletter or onto social media, see in the gallery who uploaded it, and ask them and the people in it.

Occasions →Best corporate event photo app →Free corporate event photo sharing app →Corporate event photo sharing →For event planners and agencies →Photo sharing for venues →Digital guest book →Pricing →Photo sharing FAQ →

Gala photo sharing: what committees and planners want to know

Where should the QR code go at a black-tie dinner?

Where guests sit and where they wait. A small card on each table, beside the centerpiece or with the place cards, does most of the work, because that is where phones come out between courses. Add the code to a page of the printed program, a stand at the bar and the coat check, with the PIN printed under it every time. Then have the emcee mention it once from the stage, early in the evening; a reminder in the middle of the appeal competes with the ask that matters.

Some of our donors are private people. Who will see these photos?

Whoever has the QR code and the PIN, which in practice means the people in the room that night. The page asks for the PIN before anything shows, and the PIN stays on unless you switch it off when you create the event. Nothing in the gallery is posted anywhere, and search engines are kept out. The committee’s private host link can delete any photo, so a donor who would rather not appear can be taken out the same evening.

The table cards go to the printer weeks before the gala. Will the code still work on the night?

Only if the event has not expired by then, so check the dates. A free event keeps its gallery for 14 days from the day it is created and is then deleted with everything in it, so a free event created more than 14 days before the gala opens nothing on the night. For printed programs and table cards, create a paid event before the print run: it keeps the gallery for 12 months. If you started on the free plan and upgrade before it expires, the 12 months run from the upgrade.

What does the free version leave out for a gala?

Video, mainly. The free plan takes 20 photos per guest, photos only, for 14 days. A gala usually wants more than stills: the honoree’s speech, the paddle raise and the band’s first song are worth having as clips, and a paid event has no per-guest limit on photos or videos, with clips up to 200 MB each, for 12 months. It also opens the guest book, where guests can leave the charity a typed note or film a short message on their phones; the filmed messages are in the ZIP, the typed ones are not, so copy them out before the event expires. One payment of $19.99 (£15.99 in the UK) covers the whole gala, and nothing renews.

Can the photos run on the screens in the ballroom?

Yes, with two things to know. The gallery has a slideshow that plays in a web browser, so whichever laptop feeds the screens can open it; ask the AV team to keep a browser window free for it. The slideshow plays photos, not videos, and only those that were on the page when it started; it does not add new ones by itself, so close and reopen it after the auction or before the dancing to bring in the latest. And whatever guests upload can reach the screen, so have someone on the committee look through the gallery and delete anything that should not be shown before each reopen.

A sponsor has asked for the photos from their table. Can we send just those?

Yes, but you pick them out yourself. There are no folders per table or per sponsor and no way to download a chosen set: the gala has one gallery and one ZIP. Download the ZIP, choose the sponsor’s photos from it and send those with the report or the thank-you; nothing is forwarded to anyone automatically. The sponsor’s own guests can already browse the whole gallery with the code and the PIN from the night.

Can we use guests’ photos in the donor newsletter and next year’s promotion?

Ask first. A photo a guest uploaded was taken by that guest and usually shows other guests, and posting it publicly is a different thing from sharing it in a private gallery. Each photo in the gallery shows the name its guest typed, so you know whom to ask; the ZIP does not carry the names, so note them while the gallery is still online. A line on the table card saying the committee may ask to use photos helps, but it does not replace asking, and the rules that apply to your organization are yours to check.

We plan galas for several charities each season. Do we pay for every event separately?

You can, or you can pay for the season up front. In a coordinator workspace you buy galas in advance as credits, in packs of 5, 15, or 25, at up to 45% below the $19.99 a single event costs. Each gala you set up spends one credit and gets everything a paid event has: video, unlimited uploads per guest and 12 months of storage. Credits do not expire, so those left over from the autumn season are still there in the spring. Set your business name and logo once in the workspace, and the guest page of every gala you create from it shows them at the top in place of Eventphoto.io.

Every table’s view of the gala, in one gallery

Create the gala’s event, print the code and the PIN on the table cards, and by dessert the committee can see the night from every table in the room.

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