Event highlight videos: how to plan a same-day edit

An event highlight video is a short film, usually two to four minutes, that captures the energy and the main messages of a conference, launch or summit. A same-day edit is a highlight video that is filmed and edited during the event itself, so it can be played in the closing plenary or posted online that evening.

It is not right for every event. A same-day edit is worth the extra crew and planning when the closing moment matters, when partners want to share something while the event is still in the news, or when a ministry or UN agency wants to show results to delegates before they fly home. If nobody will watch it on the day, a well-made conference recap video delivered a few days later is often the better choice.

Start with one question: who will watch this, and where? A film for the big screen in the closing session can carry atmosphere and music. A clip for LinkedIn or X needs to make sense in the first few seconds and without sound. These are two different edits, and trying to make one video do both usually weakens it.

Agree the running time, the screen format and the deadline in writing. A useful brief also names the three or four messages the event exists to deliver, so the editor can choose quotes that carry them. Some practical event video ideas to consider at this stage:

• A two-minute closing film for the final plenary
• Three or four vertical clips of 30 to 60 seconds for social media
• A short speaker quote for each partner to share on their own channels
• A longer recap video, edited after the event, for the website and report

A same-day edit is built backwards from the deadline. Take the programme and mark the moments the film cannot do without: the opening address, the signing, the panel with the strongest voices, the field visit or exhibition. Then mark the cut-off: anything filmed after it will not make the edit.

This is also the moment to plan for accessibility. The W3C advises planning accessibility from the very start of a project, and notes that some of it needs to be included in the script before filming.¹ Its planning guidance recommends writing accessibility requirements into project requirements, requests for proposals and contracts.² For a highlight video, that means agreeing captions, any on-screen text and the treatment of interpreters in the brief, not on the afternoon of the screening.

The most common reason a same-day edit is late is that one person is trying to film and edit at once. In our own practice, we separate the roles: at least one camera operator stays on the floor, while an editor works in a quiet room with reliable power, sets up the timeline in the morning and starts cutting from the first card handover.

Agree fixed handover times, for example after each session block, and label every card with the time and room. Record clean sound from the venue mixing desk where you can, because a strong quote with poor audio is unusable. Choose music early and use only tracks you have a licence for, so there is no last-minute search. Keep a short running list of the best quotes, with timecodes, so the editor is not watching hours of footage to find them.

Captions are a text version of the speech and non-speech audio needed to understand the content.³ Most are closed captions that viewers can show or hide, while open captions are always displayed and cannot be turned off.³ For a film played on a conference screen or posted as a social clip, burned-in open captions are usually the safer choice, because you do not control the player.

Speed is the enemy of accuracy here. The W3C states that automatically generated captions do not meet user needs or accessibility requirements unless they are confirmed to be fully accurate.³ Build time into the schedule for a person to check names, titles, figures and terms in Kinyarwanda, French or Swahili before the film is shown.

Visual information matters too. The W3C describes integrated description, where description is woven into the main speakers' scripts, so that people who cannot see the screen still follow the story.⁴ If your event has a sign language interpreter, keep them in shot: viewers need to see all movements and facial expressions, and the signer is usually placed at the bottom right of the frame.⁵

Donor rules can change your timeline. Under the European Union's visibility guidance for external actions, videos must feature the EU emblem at the beginning and/or end, accompanied by the relevant funding statement, and videos produced by EU-funded actions must be approved by the EU before they are screened, broadcast or distributed.⁶ If your event is donor-funded, check the partner's requirements early and agree who signs off, and by when, on the day.

Name one approver with the authority to say yes, and have them watch a near-final cut at a fixed time. Confirm before filming which sessions are off the record, and do not use footage from them. Anyone who asked not to be filmed, and any children or vulnerable participants, should be left out of a fast edit unless consent has been clearly recorded.

Export the screening version first, test it on the venue system during a break, and keep a backup copy on a second drive. Then export the social cuts in the formats each platform needs, with captions burned in, and a version without captions for partners who will add their own.

Keep the caption file. The W3C notes that captions and transcripts use the same text, so once you have one, it is fairly easy to develop the other.² Publishing a transcript with the online version makes the film searchable and helps people who cannot watch it, and the edited recap can then follow a few days later with more care and fewer constraints.

• Audience, length, format and deadline agreed in writing
• Key moments and edit cut-off marked on the programme
• Separate camera operator and editor, with fixed card handovers
• Clean sound from the venue desk and licensed music chosen early
• Captions checked by a person before screening
• Interpreter kept in frame where one is present
• Donor logo and approval rules confirmed, with one named approver
• Screening file tested on the venue system, with a backup