A conference that starts in the afternoon and ends at 10 pm is, in practice, two events in one. Until dusk the substance is the content: talks, slides, questions from the floor. After dusk the networking begins, and the stage gives way to conversations by the windows with a view over the city. Both events have to end up in the material.
In April 2026 I photographed the Warsaw Pricing Meetup 2026, a Guidewire conference for around 150 pricing and insurance specialists. Venue: the Just Join IT office in Warsaw, a high floor with a view over the city. The agenda had 11 segments, from registration to evening networking.
What happened
The programme interwove formats, and each one required a different approach.
Talks in front of the big screen call for two shots: a close portrait of the speaker and a wide frame showing the scale of the event. The fireside chat and the panel discussion on the property insurance market are pure reportage: an exchange of remarks, gestures, reactions from the audience. Nobody is being posed here, you have to anticipate who is about to speak.
After the last talk the room changed character. Conversations over a glass of wine, the Warsaw skyline through the window and details of the space that made the mood of the evening. From this the organiser gets material for a report, social media and invitations to the next edition.
What I watched for
Branding works in the background of every frame. The title slide with the client’s logo, badges on lanyards, signage for the venue partner. I make sure these elements are in the material before anyone asks for them.
People at an industry event talk about work, they do not pose. I photograph discreetly, from a distance, so the conversations look the way they actually looked.
The evening part has different light and a different rhythm than the afternoon. The material from the whole day should be one coherent report, not two separate galleries.
Result
The photo and video material went to the client. Guidewire used the interview footage for further production of marketing content from the event. Attendees wrote about the event on LinkedIn.
