The selfie as a concept is nearly as old as film photography itself – as early as the 1920s, enterprising shutterbugs were using poles to capture themselves with their own cameras. Bearing this in mind, 3-D Media, an event-promotion and sponsorship agency, created the Photo Spot Social Media Contest. 

3-D Media has show attendees attach their mobile phones to selfie sticks and snap shots of themselves – the wackier the better! – in front of a show-appropriate backdrop. Once they’ve got the perfect shot, they upload their photos to a mobile website and add clever captions. Contest photos can be displayed on monitors on the show floor and shared on social networks in real-time.

“Photo spot includes both a physical event photo location and the private, mobile device photo functionality that allows attendees to take photos, comment, and socially share these photos,” Christman Dunhill, creative director and founder of 3-D Media, told Convene. “Event- and sponsor-branding is carried through all aspects of these mobile pages. We even provide a photo montage that can be broadcast on any social media channel.”

In the two years since 3-D Media began running selfie-stick booths for their event and trade-show clients, they’ve explored a number of different contest angles. “We’ve done best photo or best comment, or questions like ‘What’s the #1 thing you learned at the conference?’ or ‘What’s the most innovative new product you saw?’ The question [is designed to] highlight the area the event manager or sponsors want to shine a light on,” said Dunhill.

You don’t need to be a full-time event marketer to run a selfie contest at your next event –  just pick up a few selfie sticks, figure out a hashtag to use on Instagram and Twitter, and scare up some prizes.