10 Must-Have Non-Gear Items to Survive Shooting Event Headshots

There's a lot of planning that goes into providing an amazing event headshot experience. You meticulously account for every camera, every battery, every lens, and every cable that you need to pull it off. You've got the conference floor plan, the internet access password, and the team prepared and ready to serve hundreds of people. 

You have everything ready to go...but wait...are you forgetting something?

Here's a list of our top 10 non-gear items that you MUST-HAVE to survive your next event headshot job. Don't be caught without them!

1. Water Bottles

Bring lots and lots of water bottles. Better yet, bring a refillable one! When you're so busy with a line of 100 people that you can't escape to get your lunch, at least you can stay hydrated! Make sure each member of your team has water throughout the day. After endlessly speaking with hundreds of people, your mouth with thank you!

2. Snack Food

Bring your favourite easy-to-access snacks: granola bars, crackers and cheese, non-dairy gluten-free fruit snacks - whatever you like! Keep in mind that hundreds of people will not only be smelling your breath, but there are many people who deal with severe allergies. Bringing your favourite peanut-filled chocolate bar may prove to be extremely problematic for someone in your line. Try to keep the snacks you bring as allergy-friendly as possible, and if you do end up eating something nutty, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before helping any participants. 

3. Gum or Breath Mints

Bringing a pack of gum or your favourite breath mints will save you from many potentially awkward moments. That onion salad you had at lunch can be easily tamed leaving you feeling fresh and confident as you interact with the crowd.

4. Chapstick

Lots of talking combined with dry air at expo conference centres leads to extremely dry lips. Cherry, minty, tinted or not - do your lips a favour and slather on some of that soothing mouth moisturizer for happy lips.

5. Hand Sanitizer

You'll be glad to have sanitizer stations available as you interact with the masses. Our stylist sanitizes her hands between each participant. A participant actually thanked her once for sanitizing her hands. People appreciate that you're doing your best to keep the experience hygienic and as germ-free as possible.

6. Hand Moisturizing Cream

Hand sanitizer can be extremely drying after the 50th squirt, so bringing your favourite moisturizing cream can really help your hands survive an intense day. 

7. Lighted Mirror

Having a decent-sized mirror for participants to check their teeth, makeup, and hair is essential; however, the lighting in the venue can be terrible! Bringing along a lighted mirror really makes a huge difference! Choose one with batteries or one you can plug in. The one we found at Marshalls has the option of setting the tone of light from warm to cool - pretty great!

8. Screen cleaner

Mirrors and screens on you computer and kiosks gather lots of finger prints! Bringing a good screen cleaner can keep your set-up looking pristine. Just give each screen a quick wipe a few times throughout the day and you're looking great!

9. Headache Meds

At some point during the day, the fast-paced endless stream of people, flashes, chatter, and activity will cause someone on your team to develop a lovely headache. Bring along your favourite brand of headache medicine to keep feeling top notch so you can finish the day smiling.

10. Comfortable Shoes

No matter how old you are, an amazing pair of comfortable shoes will save your soles. Add pillow-soft insoles and you'll thank me later. At a few of our past events, our team has been standing for 12 hours, minus washroom breaks. Having the right shoes can be the difference between bed rest for 2 days or getting up to work again the next day.

Hopefully this list of must-have non-gear items will help you at your next event headshot job. Our team ALWAYS makes sure we bring all 10, but we've had to learn the hard way: with blistered feet, bad breath, parched lips, and hungry bellies! If you think of any more must-have non-gear items that help you during your long days of shooting headshots at events, we'd love to hear about them!