From the Lisbon stage to Brussels: covering an international summit

I've been covering GeSI's Digital with Purpose Global Summit — the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative — for four years. The first three editions I shot were in Lisbon; this year the summit left Portugal for the first time and was held in Brussels, at The Egg venue. As an international corporate event photographer, it was precisely this leap — staying with the same client but working outside the country — that made the job more interesting and more demanding.

When an international organisation like GeSI — whose members include companies such as Google, PwC, IBM and Huawei — takes its summit to another country, the photographer can no longer rely on what he takes for granted at home. I don't know the space in advance, I can't do a relaxed technical recce the day before, and the briefing arrives almost entirely at a distance. I prepared the Brussels coverage from Lisbon: I studied floor plans and photos of The Egg, worked out where the stage, the audience and the networking areas would be, and arrived with a shot list ready — because, in this case, scouting the venue only happened on the day itself.

Add to this the practical demands of working abroad: the time zone, the logistics of travelling with the gear, and delivery deadlines designed for an international organisation communicating across several markets at once. Having already done three editions gave me the confidence that I knew the event from the inside — its tone, its rhythm, what each moment is worth to the client — even in a space that was new to everyone.

On the ground, I organise the two days in layers, as I do at any summit. The first is accreditation and arrival logistics: attendees coming in, the badges, the The Egg sign, the first coffee. These images set the context of the event and show the scale of the audience before anything starts.

The second layer is the plenaries and panels. It's the most technical: tight timing locked to the programme, stage light shifting with every speaker, and large screens that both help tell the story and complicate the exposure. Here you have to be in position before each keynote, anticipate who speaks next, and bring both the wide shot that shows the size of the room and the portrait of the speaker on stage.

The third layer is networking and the cocktail — the awards to startups and to Digital with Purpose Committed organisations, the handshakes, the conversations in the breaks. It's the most spontaneous part and the one that best captures the atmosphere of the summit, but it demands the same attention: it's where the images that humanise the event live, the ones the client uses on social media and in communication for months.

If your organisation runs summits, conventions or corporate events outside its home country and needs a photographer experienced in covering them — not only in Lisbon, but travelling — get in touch. International corporate event photographer, from Portugal to wherever the event happens.