A live photo slideshow for awards ceremonies and banquets

Why a live slideshow works at an awards night

An awards ceremony runs on long stretches of waiting: the reception before dinner, the meal, the transitions between categories. A screen that fills with photos from the room gives people something to watch and a reason to take part. When attendees see their table, their colleague walking up to accept, or the selfie they took at the bar appear on the screen a few seconds later, they take more photos and send them in.

It also solves the after-event problem. Organizers of an annual banquet usually end up with one photographer's set and a scattering of photos on attendees' phones that never come back. With TacBoard every photo sent during the night is in one private gallery, ready for the newsletter, the annual report, next year's promotion and the honorees themselves.

• Recognition dinners and staff appreciation nights. Coworkers send photos of each other, and the screen becomes a running tribute.
• Association and chapter awards. Members who only see each other once a year send far more photos than any hired photographer can take.
• School and booster banquets. Sports banquets, senior awards nights and honor society dinners, where parents are already taking photos on their phones.
• Sales kickoffs and President's Club dinners. Branded signs and a live wall keep the room's energy up between presentations.

How it works on the night

1. 1

   Create the event gallery

   Sign up, choose a plan and name the gallery after your event. You get a phone number (on the $159 and monthly plans) and a QR code straight away. You can buy up to 12 months before the event and start collecting photos right away.

2. 2

   Preload the photos you want on screen

   Text or upload last year's winners, headshots of this year's nominees, sponsor slides saved as images, or archive photos from the organization's history. They stream alongside live photos from the start.

3. 3

   Print the table signs

   The free sign shop produces table cards and posters with your number and QR code on them. Put one on every table and one at the entrance.

4. 4

   Put the stream on the screens

   Open your gallery on a laptop, press Display Live, and connect the laptop to the venue's screen or projector by HDMI. The setup guide covers each kind of display.

5. 5

   Let attendees send photos

   Attendees text photos to the number or scan the QR code. The first time someone texts, TacBoard asks for their name, and every photo they send after that carries it.

6. 6

   Download and share the gallery afterwards

   Hosts download the whole gallery in one click. Share the gallery link with attendees and honorees, or pull photos for your newsletter.

Fitting the slideshow around the program

Most awards nights already have a screen for the program: category title cards, nominee photos, sponsor logos. You have two easy options.

1. Use a second screen. If the venue has side screens or a TV near the bar, run the live stream there all night and leave the main screen for the program.
2. Share the main screen. Run the live stream during the reception, dinner and dessert, and switch the projector input to your presentation laptop for the formal awards. Switch back for the after-party. The stream keeps collecting photos while it is off screen.

Ask the emcee to announce the number once before dinner and once after the last award. A single announcement and a card on each table is usually all it takes.

Keeping it professional

Work events need a screen that never embarrasses anyone. An automatic content filter checks every photo and message. Anything it flags waits in a queue where you approve or delete it, and you can block a sender. You can delete any photo from the stream at any time from your phone or the laptop, and deleted photos disappear from the screen and the gallery.

For the look of the screen, choose from 18 gallery themes and add your own cover photo. A cover photo of your logo or event artwork works well. TacBoard does not put a logo watermark on guests' photos.

Because guests text photos to a phone number, people who would never install an event app still take part: senior leaders, retirees being honored, spouses and older family members.

A sample run of show

Here is how a typical three-hour awards dinner uses the stream. Adjust the times to your program.

If there is one AV technician for the night, give them the live stream laptop as well as the presentation laptop. Switching between them is a single press of the projector's input button or the switcher.

Mistakes to avoid

• Announcing the number only once. Put it on a card at every table and on the welcome slide. People join in when they see the number at the moment they take a photo.
• Starting with an empty screen. Preload 20 to 30 images so the stream looks alive when the first guests walk in.
• Running the stream on a company laptop. Corporate security software often blocks screen sharing or puts the laptop to sleep. Use a personal laptop and plug in the charger.
• Skipping the venue test. Ballrooms in hotel basements can have poor cell signal. Test with Try TacBoard on a site visit, and ask for the venue's Wi-Fi password for the laptop.
• Forgetting the honorees afterwards. Send each winner the gallery link. It is the most-shared email the event produces.

What it costs

Most single awards nights choose the SMS & QR Code plan so attendees can text. Organizations that hold several banquets, chapter meetings or recognition events in a year usually save with the monthly plan.

Frequently asked questions