Daily and final videos for a multi-day conference

A daily video recaps one day of the conference and is released quickly. The final film tells the story of the whole event and is built afterwards. Plan them as two different products, each with its own capture, cutoff and release time.

Which moments need daily coverage?

Ask which moments are useful in the days that follow. The opening, a keynote, an announcement, an award or a panel that delegates will talk about are good candidates. Breakout sessions and quiet networking may not need a daily video at all.

Everything else can wait for the final film. That keeps daily work small and protects the editor’s time. For example, an opening keynote might feature in the Day 1 recap, and again in the final film, but with fuller context.

How do daily videos differ from the final film?

A daily video is not a first draft of the final film. If you want the daily edits to feed the final film, say so in the brief, because the footage choices differ.

What does a sample plan look like?

The programme below is an illustration of how a plan can be laid out. It is not a template for any real event.

Notice the plan does not give every day the same output. Day 2 gets clips because the best moments are spread out, while Day 3 is the closing screening, where the footage cutoff matters most.

A public conference brief from 2025 (SIDEC, SDEC) asked for separate crews at two venues, daily highlights by the next morning, a promo for the following year and raw footage handover. It is an example of how much an organiser can write into a brief.

What do we need to settle for each day?

1. Capture: which rooms, sessions and people are covered, and by which camera.
2. Cutoff: the last moment that can enter that day’s video.
3. Edit: who edits the daily video, and where.
4. Approval: one named person per day. See who approves a same-day video.
5. Release: when and where it is shown or posted.
6. Hand-off: how footage is saved so the final film can use it.

Because filming does not stop while a daily video is edited, the work usually needs a clear split between shooting and editing. Our guide to same-day social clips while filming continues explains the same issue for short clips.

How do we plan the final film?

Agree the length, the story and the audience early. Then choose the footage to protect: the moments you want kept for the final film, so the daily recaps do not use them up. After the conference, the editor builds from all days, with a normal review.

Use the same-day edit deadline planner to test each day’s timings, and read how a same-day event edit is planned for the five steps. For the wider service, see multi-day event video coverage and same-day event edits. Daily videos are available on request; tell us your dates and we confirm the crew.