sharypic official blog

Event of the Week: di*/zaïn #5: Code(s) + data(s)

Photo by Designers Interactifs via Flickr.

*di*/zaïn is a series of 10 events taking place at Divan du monde in Paris, offering an opportunity to present design projects. The 5th in the series, titled Code(s) + data(s), took place on Tuesday and was devoted to creative practices in code and new uses of data. 

They used sharypic’s live twitter wall to feature audience input and open the discussion up to everyone.The evening brought together a dozen speakers from different areas - interactive design, research, installation, digital arts, and architecture. It was a great opportunity to explore unique approaches around these themes! See all the photos collected on sharypic.

Event of the Week: The Carnival of Venice 2013

Photo by @benjaaquila via Twitter.

Thousands of visitors come to Venice every year to experience the costumes, masks and music that makes the Carnival so special. The Carnival of Venice dates to at least the 15th Century, however it fell into decline after the city was seized by Napoleon in 1797, and was later abandoned when Mussolini banned the wearing of masks. It was revived in 1979, in an effort to reinstate the city’s traditions, and is today considered among the world’s finest festivals.
 
Masks have always been a main feature of the Venetian carnival and on the last weekend the best mask, “La Maschera più bella”, is decided by a panel of international costume and fashion designers. Have a look at some of the most beautiful masks in the world captured in the photos on sharypic, and get into carnival spirit!

Event of the Week: Greenpeace Digital Mobilisation Skillshare 2013

Photo by @sarcasmcat via twitpic.

The second annual Digital Mobilisation Skillshare (DMS) saw 140 people from across Greenpeace’s global offices gather in the countryside of Spain for four days of collaboration and skill-building. The event  is part of Greenpeace’s broader shift towards mobilisation, a way of working that acknowledges the broadcast era is over and for large-scale change to happen the organization needs to engage and involve people more deeply in campaigns to win. The ultimate aim was to share skills on how to build the best, creative people-powered campaigns.

Aside from the workshops, there was plenty of time for enjoying the neighbouring UNESCO nature reserve. From the photos collected on sharypic it definitely looks like it wasn’t all work and no play!Find out how sharypic can bring life to your event!

User Profile: Pam’s Wedding

Photo by @loyalandtrue86 via Twitter.

Sharypic is well-suited to big occasions like weddings, where everyone wants to see everyone elses photos. Pam used sharypic for her wedding, with two large PhotoWalls at the reception. Here she answers some questions about her experience.

1 - What features on sharypic did you value the most during your wedding?
Overall, the PhotoWall was one of the best features in the reception and our guests were very intrigued by it. The system worked the entire night and our guests are still talking about it. There have been several inquiries from our friends who are planning a wedding and hope to incorporate it in their receptions. Sharypic was user-friendly with very supportive staff. We emailed with a few questions and received a quick and helpful response.

2 - Did the PhotoWall impact on your guests’ experience at your wedding?
YES! For sure. The experience at the reception was incredible. Our guests were able to keep up with everyone in attendance from anywhere in the room. It was very helpful for guests who weren’t interested in dancing and were able to be entertained by guest photos. My husband and I loved seeing everyone’s images, because as you know, the bride and groom are very busy!

3 - How many photos did you collect and what did you do with them once your wedding was over?
We collected more than 250 photos. On our flight to Miami the next day we logged in and looked at all the photos together. There were many that we had not seen and our guests captured some great times. We have downloaded all the images and will be uploading to Facebook soon.

Thanks for the insight Pam, and congratulations on your big day! Get in touch if you would like to discuss sharypic at your wedding, and discover what we can do for your big day.

Event of the Week: Nature Nocturne at the Canadian Museum of Nature

Photo by @nature_ab via Hootsuite.

The Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa featured the sharypic PhotoWall at their inaugural Nature Nocturne on Friday, our Event of  the Week! This monthly event turns the museum into a playground for adults, with DJs, artists, food, and drink, and allows visitors to explore the exhibitions in an informal and fun way.Anne Botman, Head of Web Services at the Museum, shared insight into what sharypic brought to the event:

“The PhotoWall was a major highlight at our first Nature Nocturne evening event. Displayed on the main wall in the Atrium, visitors could see the very large Photo Wall from every floor in the museum. Visitors really enjoyed seeing real-time photos of the event as well as being able to easily contribute their own photos and watching them appear on the big screen.  Having this live and visual social media experience at Nature Nocturne was a real focal point, judging from the event reviews.” See all the wonderful photos from the night and go along next month if you’re in Ottawa!

Feature Update: Version 1.4 of the mobile app improved with Algolia Search!

Sharypic’s mobile app features a search bar from where you can access all public events and your own private events. Typing on a smartphone can be prone to frustrating errors, so we are happy to announce that the app’s search bar is now typo-tolerant, visually engaging and allows you to search within multiple fields, thanks to an integration with Algolia Search.Algolia are a fellow Parisian startup, who have developed smart algorithms providing instant results, autocompletion and visual feedback on mobile search. When integrated with sharypic, this technology allows users to quickly and easily access events, even with typos or only a few letters of a search term. For example, typing ‘pqris’ gives you all events with ‘Paris’ in the event name, description, hashtag or location. Matches are colour-highlighted, giving instant visual feedback. And if you lose network connection, it still works like magic, superb!

Download version 1.4 of the sharypic mobile app and enjoy improved search for easy access of all your events!

Event of the Week: DLD 13

Our Event of the Week is DLD13, taking place over 3 days in Munich, Germany. DLD (Digital-Life-Design) is a global network for innovation, digitization, science and culture. It connects business, creative and social leaders, opinion-formers and influencers for crossover conversation and inspiration. During the event over 150 speakers and 800 attendees discussed topical issues, exploring new opportunities, and unearthing hidden patterns in such areas as mobile payment, 3-D printing, search, cyberwar, and big data.

Take a look at the photos on sharypic to get a glimpse into this fascinating event!

10 steps to boost photo sharing at professional events

Photo by @pmisir, via Twitter.

The Royal Ontario Museum used sharypic for their weekly Friday Night Live events, with hundreds of photographers and the largest PhotoWall we have ever seen! In this post we share some things we have learned about using sharypic at public gatherings such as this.

Before:
1 - Create your sharypic event ahead of time and let guests know about it using the built-in invite system.

2 - Publicise how people can share photos during the event, especially the #hashtag you will use for photo aggregation. All communication regarding your event, for example flyers, emails and posters, should include this information.

3 - Let people know that they can follow the event as it happens, even if they cannot be physically present, via a live coverage page. Embed the slideshow widget and all photos will be broadcast live once the event begins. Why don’t you also add text, video and audio, as in this example?

4 - Set up the PhotoWall in a prominent position where visitors will notice it and be able to stand in front of it (for example near the bar or the entrance of the venue).

5 - Communicate your brand by uploading a banner/logo to be displayed at the top of the PhotoWall as shown in the example below from Nova Scotia Music Week. See the photowall in action here!

During:
6 - Make full use of the PhotoWall by scheduling slides to be broadcast with the photos. For example the Royal Ontario Museum lets attendees know what is happening in different parts of the museum through slides such as the one below.

7 - Start a photo contest by enabling the PhotoWall leaderboards, and encourage more photos! One leaderboard displays the top contributors who have taken the most photos, and another shows the top photos which receive the most ‘likes’. Why not have a prize for whoever reaches the top of the leaderboard by the end of the night?

8 - Monitor the PhotoWall with the sharypic moderation dashboard from a tablet device. Choose the best photos to display and be certain that unwanted photos will not be broadcast.

After:
9 - Schedule reminder emails to be sent to guests, to encourage them to share their photos even after the event! Simply enter your guests’ emails and sharypic will do the rest. This is also a good time to let poeple know the winner of the photo contest!

 10 - Post your sharypic event on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to let everyone have a peek and upload photos even after the event.

We hope this guide helps you to get the most out of sharypic for your public events! Professional subscription packages start at $199 per month, allowing you to enjoy unlimited events and customization features. If you want to talk to us about any of these features, or how we can work around your needs, do get in touch: contact@sharypic.com.

Event of the Week: Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

shared by @BinJiang91 via Instagram.

The Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, established in 1985, is an annual event lasting for one month in Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang Province, China. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. Multi-coloured lights illuminate the ice, which can be carved into everything from buildings and monuments, to figures of animals, people and mythical creatures, or even slides made of ice!

Harbin is located in northeast China which provides abundant ice and snow at the time of year. The technology to create the ice sculptures ranges from using modern lasers to traditional chisels, ice picks, and saws.

Get inspiration from the astonishing photos on sharypic and make your own ice sculpture this winter!

Feature Update: Create a contest with leaderboards

We’ve been working on making the PhotoWall even more dynamic and engaging by introducing leaderboards to show the top contributors and best photos. Become a top contributor by sharing the most photos, or claim the top photo if your photo receives the most likes. This adds a competitive edge to the PhotoWall and encourages participation!

From within ‘Settings’, select ‘Contest’ from the left-hand menu. From there you can control your leaderboards and manage who shows up (you might not want your official photographer to appear in the contest, even though they might take the most photos).
Above is a screen shot of the leaderboard embedded in the mosaic version of the PhotoWall. See the standard PhotoWall and leaderboards in action here!

Try the PhotoWall and start a contest at your next event!