Corporate events
A photo wall for a corporate offsite
How to run a live photo wall at an offsite, get every attendee's photos into the company Drive the same day, and keep it appropriate without policing.
Every offsite produces two kinds of photos. The official ones, taken by whoever was handed the camera, are group shots in front of a banner. The real ones are on forty phones and will never be seen again. A live photo wall fixes this, and it costs an hour of the organizer's time.
This guide covers the setup, the wall itself, and the part that worries every HR lead: making sure nothing inappropriate ends up on a screen in front of the whole company.
What a photo wall is
A screen somewhere central shows the shared gallery, updating as people take photos. Attendees scan a QR code, a camera opens in their browser, and everything they shoot appears on the wall within moments. No app to install, which matters when half the room is on locked-down work phones.
The wall does two things. It gives people a reason to take photos of each other rather than of the view, and it gives the event a heartbeat: the gallery fills during the day, people spot themselves, and the room shoots more.
Keeping it appropriate
Every photo is screened automatically before it appears anywhere, which catches the obvious. For a company event that is not enough on its own, and it does not have to be. Switch on approval mode and nothing appears on the wall until an organizer has seen it. Two or three co-organizers can share the review queue, so it takes seconds rather than becoming someone's whole day. Video clips always wait for approval regardless.
Approval mode is available on the larger plans, which is where corporate events sit by headcount anyway.
How to run a photo wall at an offsite
- Create the event on a work account. Connect the company's Google Drive, not someone's personal one, so the photos stay with the company. Set the occasion to corporate. Corporate events are verified with a company email when you pay, which is what gives you the corporate rate.
- Add co-organizers. Invite two people who will be in the room. A co-organizer can do everything you can on the event, so choose people who are running it with you. They see the same dashboard and review queue, and on a big event you can nominate one of their Drives as the backup for video clips.
- Turn on approval. In the event settings, before launch. You can switch it off later if the queue proves quiet.
- Launch, print, and place. The QR code and poster are ready the moment the event is live. One poster at the entrance, one at the coffee station, one by the screen. Print the Wi-Fi details on the same poster.
- Put the gallery on the screen. Open the shared gallery from the code on a laptop connected to the display. Full screen. It updates on its own.
- Say it in the opening. Whoever opens the day says: scan the poster, everyone gets a camera, the photos go on the wall. Thirty seconds. Repeat it after lunch.
- Share the folder the same evening. Every approved photo is already in the company Drive in a folder named after the event. Share the folder with the team before they get on the train home.
What you get afterwards
A folder of full-size originals in the company's Drive, from every attendee, on the day of the event. No exports, no download fee, no chasing the marketing team for the memory card.
Questions people ask
Can people take photos on a work phone with no app store?
Yes. The camera opens in the browser, so a managed phone with no ability to install apps works fine, as long as the browser has camera permission.
Who can see the wall?
Anyone at the event who scans the code, and anyone you share the code with. Keep the code inside the venue and do not post it to a public channel.
What if someone takes a photo of a whiteboard we should not share?
With approval on, it never appears. Without approval, you can remove any photo from the gallery at any time from the dashboard. The original stays in your Drive for you to decide about.
How many shots does each person get?
A limited roll, which is what stops the wall filling with forty frames of the same slide. Larger events come with a bigger pool to share, and an organizer can grant more if the day runs long.
Is this a subscription?
No. One payment before the event, set by the headcount. The next event is a new event.
The corporate events page has the plan details, and the Review tab guide shows exactly what approval looks like on the day.