Show Notes
In this episode of The Localist, host Carrie Rollwagen shares her personal checklist for creating engaging social media content from events, conferences and networking opportunities you’re already attending. She explains that while these events are great for learning and making connections, they’re also valuable opportunities to build your personal or business brand — if you know what to capture. Carrie walks listeners through her practical, low-stress approach to documenting events in a way that feels authentic and keeps you present in the moment.
Her tips include shooting the entrance to set the scene, intentionally taking still photos (not just video), jotting down key takeaways while they’re fresh, recording B-roll for dynamic visuals and even capturing behind-the-scenes moments for a more human touch. Carrie also emphasizes the value of following up with new connections on LinkedIn or other platforms to strengthen relationships. With her thoughtful checklist, she helps listeners turn ordinary business obligations into meaningful, story-driven content that builds both networks and brands.
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Episode Transcript
Carrie
Welcome to the localist a conversation with local makers and independent entrepreneurs. I’m your host, author of The localist book and former small business owner, Carrie Rollwagen. So today I wanted to talk about how to get the most social media value and content out of events you’re already attending. So a lot of us have to go to conferences and networking events and things like that for work all of the time, and we could be using these things to either build a personal brand, like put things out there on LinkedIn or other social media platforms, or to build a business, kind of, depending on what our role at that business is. But it’s hard to do. I think we see a lot of people who seem to post about these events, and it’s it kind of comes across. It seems like it’s really natural and like authentic or organic, I guess is the of those two buzz words. I’m looking for organic. It feels like it just happens. For most of those people, It doesn’t. For some people, it does. But then for some people like me, I maybe do see those opportunities. But when I’m at an event, if I’m at a conference, I actually am trying to learn something, or I’m trying to network with people. Or if I’m at a networking event, I’m trying to, you know, network normally, I’m trying to learn something, or I’m trying to concentrate on people. And it’s really hard to do those things and also to add that promotional piece, especially when you don’t really know what you’re going to cover. So it we don’t really just take we’re not at the point with social media where you can just kind of take a picture of like your papers on the desk, and that’s enough. You kind of have to do something a little more engaging, but it can be difficult to do, and I think what a lot of us do is we go to these events, we maybe take a couple of photos, or maybe a couple of videos, and then we get back home at the end of the day or to the office and realize that that content really isn’t usable, like we could technically post it, but it doesn’t really tell A story. And so I’ve kind of made a checklist of things that I try to get when I go to events, or even if I’m going to, you know, a new restaurant or a new store, or anything that might be interesting, either to the business that I work for. So for me, that’s infomedia, or a lot of times for me, it’s on my personal account. So I’m trying to show people that these are the things I’m interested in, that they should follow me, kind of building that personal brand. So here’s kind of a checklist that I don’t always do all of these things, but it kind of helps me to know that I’m getting the content I want.
Carrie
Okay, the first thing I try to do is shoot the entrance to the building. This seems weird because, like, especially if you’re going to a conference or something, the entrance of the building isn’t that interesting. Now, a lot of times I’m going to a small business, so the entrance might be kind of cute. There are a couple of reasons that I try to shoot the entrance, and that can be a video or even just a still shot. The main reason I do this is because if you tell any kind of story with the content, like maybe you have a photo carousel, or you have a reel or some other kind of video, it can really be helpful to have, like, the beginning of the story be walking into the building. So if you’re able to set up a tripod and film yourself walking in. That’s great if you have a friend who can film it, that’s great. If not, but even having a shot of that entrance can help now, this also helps me when I’m doing a lot of different things in one day, because it also kind of gives me a photo record of where I was when I took these shots. Because sometimes I’m taking shots inside a business or, you know, especially if you’re inside a conference room or something like that, and I’m looking at that back at them later, and I’m like, when was this? You know, like, maybe I was at an event that lasted a few hours or even a few days. It’s actually hard to put those pieces back together. So shooting the entrance of the building or even the conference room, so I know, like, okay, I can cross reference. This was from the talk from so and so, and this is what it was on that kind of thing. So it’s also kind of just, like, logistically helpful.
Carrie
The second thing I do is I try to take photos. Now, that sounds super obvious, because we’re talking about gathering content, but a lot of what I’m posting now is video, and that is going to perform really well. So you may be shooting video too. It’s super helpful to shoot video, but when I take the videos that I shot and try to pull a still image out of them, so if I’m say, like in a post, it on YouTube and I want, like a slide at the beginning, or if I just want to make like a kind of a title card from my instagram or whatever it is. Sometimes I need a still image, and when I try to grab just a still from the video, my face ends up looking like really weird because I’m in the middle of saying a word or something. So it actually does help me, even if I’m primarily shooting video, to go ahead and take a couple still photos where I’m happy with the way I look, or if there’s a speaker, or if I met somebody and want to promote that, it can really help to take a picture with them, too. Again, I don’t always use it, but it does help to just have it, and it also helps. In the same way, shooting an entrance helps you to know where you were shooting, this can also kind of give you a record of the things you wanted to cover in the day. So even if you don’t use that photo, it kind of is almost like a scrapbook of what happened, and it can help you put together how you’re going to share about that day.
Carrie
Now another thing I try to do is to write down a few takeaways. And so this would just be it can be in a notebook. Obviously, I like paper, but also a lot of times I just keep this in a Notes app. So if I’m listening to a talk, or if I’m meeting people, I can either do that in the moment, like at a conference, it’s pretty easy to just take out your phone and do that while the speaker’s talking, like I will often, as they’re saying interesting things or things I want to develop later, just pull up my notes app, write something down and then put it away again. I don’t think it’s polite to look at your phone the whole time, but I think doing that once in a while is pretty normal. So I write those things on a Notes app. Or if it’s not appropriate to do in the situation, I try. As soon as I get back to my car or my desk or home at the end of the day, really, as long as I’m not like as I as long as I’m doing it by the end of the day, I try to jot down a few things. I do find that that’s so much more helpful in remembering the things that you know when they happen, you’re kind of thinking, I’ll never forget this. It’s so important. But then you go back later and you’re like, what was that that was so important? I even do this with the podcast. So I used to record a podcast, and then maybe a week later, when I’m editing the podcast, I would try to write the title, but now I try to write the title while I’m still sitting here recording, because that’s when, like, when, when I’m sharing these episodes where I’m thinking like, this is what is really important, but especially with guest episodes, like, right after we have the conversation, is the time that I’m most likely to remember the major takeaways from the conversation. So it can be really helpful to write down those notes while you’re still in that mindset. And I’m, I’m a writer, so I enjoy, like taking notes and writing things down. But if you’re not, you can just use like of you can make a voice memo or anything like that. If you do these things, if you do networking events or conferences or something like that, on a regular basis, I would kind of try to get in the habit of, maybe as soon as you get in your card, just make a voice memo, and that way, you know you have all these things recorded.
Carrie
Another thing I try to do, if possible, especially if I’m doing a video, is to shoot B roll. So for the purposes of what we’re talking about today, I’m just gonna say that B roll is kind of just background video that doesn’t have a voice, like, if I’m talking to the camera, that’s not B roll, but I might be like, we do an event every so often at a bookstore, and I speak at libraries a lot, so I might have actual footage of me speaking, but I might have B roll of just kind of like panning the shelves or something like that. That just kind of adds visual interest, but it’s helpful. You know, when I’m coming, when I’m walking into a place, if I can get there early, before I’m speaking, and I can take a picture of the entrance, I can shoot a couple of B rolls, just like two or three videos that are maybe seven to 10 seconds long. That’s really all you need, especially if you’re putting together a social media video, that’s probably more than enough. So if I can do those things and then maybe take a selfie where I’m in this space, then I already have, like, several pieces of content that I can build a video out of later.
Carrie
Alright, it’s also helpful when possible, and I don’t do this all of the time, but to make kind of a behind the scenes video. So a lot of people like to see behind the scenes. So if I’m doing, say I’m doing a talk at the library, I might shoot that B roll, shoot the entrance, get a photo of myself. I may have somebody shoot a little bit while I’m talking, or I’ll set up a camera to do that, but then I also might step outside right afterward and just shoot, kind of like, Hey, here’s how this video went. Here’s how this event went, and maybe the reel that I post will be a little more edited and a little more polished. Yeah, but the behind the scenes is kind of like more raw, unfiltered. This is how I’m really feeling about this. And people just like to see behind the scenes. Usually in my behind the scenes, if I’m speaking, it’s like how nervous I was and that kind of thing, because I’m almost always nervous. Actually, whether or not I’m speaking, I’m just a nervous person. But those kind of videos can be helpful. Now, I don’t always use those later, but it is helpful to have and sometimes I post them later, and sometimes I post them as a story, like in the moment, but those kinds of things can kind of like, round out your content and make you feel like more accessible to people.
Carrie
And then the last thing I would say is, if you are doing some kind of event where you’re meeting people, it can be really helpful in the next couple of days to go ahead and add them on LinkedIn, especially if this is something for business. Now, you could also add them on Instagram or Tiktok or wherever. So this is going to depend a little bit like it’s going to change a little bit depending on what you’re promoting, what you are, what social media channels you’re active in. But if you have kind of like, a desk job or a corporate job, I would try to find those people on LinkedIn, just send them a message and say, hey, it was great to see you at this event. If you talked about something, say like I it was not, you know, we connected over coffee or whatever. You wouldn’t really word it like that. You’d say like, oh, maybe you talked about coffee. You would say something like, it was great to talk to you about your favorite coffee shops. Hey, I heard this new coffee shop open. I haven’t been there yet. Have you just something like that? You’re not trying to necessarily, like, send a really detailed message, but it kind of gives another touch point. So, like, you connected with someone in real life, and then if you friend them on LinkedIn, and you send a little message, then maybe, like, in another month or two months or whatever, maybe you need a connection that they have, or maybe you want to pitch them something, or maybe you just want them as part of your network. That just makes it a little bit stronger, and it’s pretty easy to do if it’s kind of on your checklist of things to do when you’re going to events.
Carrie
So I do think that going to events and conferences can build our network, and they can build like our knowledge, and those things are really, really important, but they can also builds our social media and our content strategy as well. And you know, if we’re already going, then why not?
Carrie
So the localist podcast is written and produced by me, Carrie Rollwagen. We record here at infomedia studios. So if you’re interested in doing a podcast or even just filming some social media footage. Or if there’s any kind of photo or video you want to do for your business, hit us up at infomedia.com and fill out the contact form. We would love to help and when you fill out that form, it’s just going to be a casual conversation. If we can’t help you, we’ll let you know who can. But if we can help you, we would love to work together. So the localist podcast is written and produced by me Carrie Rollwagen. Our show runner is Taylor Davis, and Alana Harmond is our promotions Manager. You can find show me. You can find show notes about these. You can find show notes about this week’s topic at carrierollwagen.com and you can find me pretty much on anywhere on social media, @crollwagen. So until next time, here’s to thinking global by acting local and putting small shops before big box.