How we
run this business

Big Event Media provides photography, videography and headshot booth services for conferences and live events across the United States. We believe strong event coverage should not carry an outsized footprint, and we have built our operating model around that principle rather than bolting it on afterwards.

How our model reduces impact

• Local crews first. We maintain a vetted network of photographers and videographers across the country and staff events with crews based near the venue wherever possible. This removes flights, hotel nights and shipped equipment that a single touring team would generate.
• Digital delivery. Galleries, films and headshots are delivered digitally. Our standard service produces no printed material, packaging or shipped physical media.
• Remote pre-production. Planning calls and shot-list development happen over video wherever the client and venue allow, rather than through advance travel.

We are a small business, and we would rather make accurate commitments than broad claims. We do not currently hold a formal environmental certification, and we state that plainly rather than imply otherwise. What we can offer is a delivery model that structurally requires less travel and less waste than the touring alternative.

Big Event Media is committed to preventing modern slavery, forced labor, servitude and human trafficking within our business and our supply chain. We fall below the turnover thresholds at which a statement of this kind is legally required, and we publish one voluntarily because our clients and the people who work with us are entitled to know where we stand.

Our business and supply chain

We are a United States based creative services company. Our work is delivered by a small core team together with a network of professional freelance photographers, videographers, editors and support crew, each engaged directly by us. Our wider supply chain consists mainly of professional equipment suppliers, software and cloud services, and travel and accommodation providers.

Risk assessment

The nature of our work carries a low inherent risk. It depends on skilled creative professionals who contract with us directly, set and negotiate their own rates, and are free to accept or decline any engagement. We do not use labor brokers, staffing agencies or third party recruiters to source crew, which removes the intermediary layer where exploitation in this industry typically occurs.

The steps we take

• All crew are engaged directly by us, under terms agreed in writing before the event, at professional market rates, and are paid promptly.
• We never charge recruitment or placement fees, retain identity documents, or restrict anyone's freedom to work elsewhere.
• We source equipment and services from established, reputable suppliers.
• We expect the venues, vendors and partners we work alongside to meet the same standards, and we will decline or end a relationship where we become aware of practices inconsistent with this statement.

This policy applies across all Big Event Media operations: our own team, the freelance crews working under our name, and the decisions we make when planning and delivering event coverage.

Our practices

• Travel. We plan staffing to minimize travel by prioritizing crews local to the event. Where travel is unavoidable we consolidate crew and equipment movements rather than duplicating trips.
• Waste. Our deliverables are digital, so the standard service generates no print or packaging waste. On site we remove what we bring in, and batteries and electronic waste go through appropriate recycling channels rather than general waste.
• Equipment lifecycle. We maintain and repair gear to extend its working life, and route retired equipment to resale or donation instead of landfill.
• Procurement. Where a genuine choice exists at comparable cost and quality, we prefer suppliers with credible environmental practices.

The statements above describe where we stand today. These are the commitments we hold ourselves to going forward, and they apply across all three policies.

• Keep growing our regional crew network so that national coverage requires less travel each year.
• Work within the sustainability and environmental requirements set by our clients and their venues while on site.
• Continue to engage every crew member directly, on terms agreed in writing, at professional market rates.
• Decline or end any relationship where we find practices inconsistent with these policies.
• Review all three statements annually and strengthen them as the business grows.

Questions about any of the above, or requests for these statements in another format, can go to info@bigevent.media.