Some Business help needed!!! at DVinfo.net

Shawn Legg · March 7th, 2011, 10:47 PM

HI Guys

I got some great advice from you all last year when I was about to shoot my first trade show. Well I have done about four of them with the same company and this time I decided to ask if I was allowed to hand out cards.

I got a lot of guys from the booths there asking if we could make them looping videos for their booths. With this show it basically works out to about $65/hour. But that is with a lot of running around shooting crowds, speeches etc. I feel $65/hour might be too much for little looping videos or work out to too little if you know what I mean. Anyone out there do these kinds of videos, and give me some kind of idea of what range they may be expecting to pay. I dont want to under value my work but I don't want to scare anyone off.

Thanks

Shawn

David Chilson · March 8th, 2011, 08:45 AM

Shawn,

Your post is a little confusing. It sounds like you are working for a production company to shoot trade shows and they are paying you for a certain job. Your comment about you are going to ask if you can hand out business cards shows to some extent you feel there may be some sort of conflict of interest.

If you discover a business oportunity while working another gig it's good pactice to ask who is ever hiring you about this. "I have been approached by certain exhibitors and they would like me to do a short video to display in their booth, would you mind if I gave them my card?" would be a great place to start.

It may be something the people who hired you have no interest in doing and it would be no problem, but on the other hand you may find it's a service they were going to offer in the future. (Oh, thanks for the idea) Be very careful, handled poorly it could get you fired.

As far as rate is concerned, only you can decide if the job is worth it.

Good luck!

Andrew Smith · March 10th, 2011, 07:23 PM

Better still, I'd say to the person who was hiring me .... "I'm getting approached by booth owners who want to have some short videos produced. Do you have a card that I can hand to them?"

This will work much better.

If the person who is hiring you can do the work, then you become A+ valuable and probably will end up doing the job. If the company isn't able or interested in that sort of work, they might suggest that you handle it directly if you want to.

Either way, you are "good staff to have" in the eyes of the boss. (In business, good staff earn money for the business, bad staff cost the business money.)

Andrew

Calvin Bellows · March 10th, 2011, 08:45 PM

I have some experience in this. I work for a production company that shoots trade shows and had asked if they were approached to do "looping" videos could they do them. The trade show had no concerns. So what we did is on the first two days of the trade show we would get everything we needed for the trade show. The next few days we went back and shot the looping videos. We figured we could shoot 5 a day and our day rate (for example) is $1000.00 divide by 5 $200. That is what we charged each company to shoot their video.( assuming a standard straight forward video) we did the same thing with editing. That way your not charging half day or full day rates. You still make what you would working a full day but just collecting a little from more people. The companies think they get a steal of a deal and you've made more contacts.

March 7th, 2011, 10:47 PM	#1
Shawn Legg Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Hamilton, ONTARIO Posts: 29	Some Business help needed!!! HI Guys I got some great advice from you all last year when I was about to shoot my first trade show. Well I have done about four of them with the same company and this time I decided to ask if I was allowed to hand out cards. I got a lot of guys from the booths there asking if we could make them looping videos for their booths. With this show it basically works out to about $65/hour. But that is with a lot of running around shooting crowds, speeches etc. I feel $65/hour might be too much for little looping videos or work out to too little if you know what I mean. Anyone out there do these kinds of videos, and give me some kind of idea of what range they may be expecting to pay. I dont want to under value my work but I don't want to scare anyone off. Thanks Shawn

March 8th, 2011, 08:45 AM	#2
David Chilson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Walworth, NY Posts: 292	Re: Some Business help needed!!! Shawn, Your post is a little confusing. It sounds like you are working for a production company to shoot trade shows and they are paying you for a certain job. Your comment about you are going to ask if you can hand out business cards shows to some extent you feel there may be some sort of conflict of interest. If you discover a business oportunity while working another gig it's good pactice to ask who is ever hiring you about this. "I have been approached by certain exhibitors and they would like me to do a short video to display in their booth, would you mind if I gave them my card?" would be a great place to start. It may be something the people who hired you have no interest in doing and it would be no problem, but on the other hand you may find it's a service they were going to offer in the future. (Oh, thanks for the idea) Be very careful, handled poorly it could get you fired. As far as rate is concerned, only you can decide if the job is worth it. Good luck! __________________ Dave Chilson www.loc.org

March 10th, 2011, 07:23 PM	#3
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,019	Re: Some Business help needed!!! Better still, I'd say to the person who was hiring me .... "I'm getting approached by booth owners who want to have some short videos produced. Do you have a card that I can hand to them?" This will work much better. If the person who is hiring you can do the work, then you become A+ valuable and probably will end up doing the job. If the company isn't able or interested in that sort of work, they might suggest that you handle it directly if you want to. Either way, you are "good staff to have" in the eyes of the boss. (In business, good staff earn money for the business, bad staff cost the business money.) Andrew

March 10th, 2011, 08:45 PM	#4
Calvin Bellows Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Red Deer, Alberta Posts: 215	Re: Some Business help needed!!! I have some experience in this. I work for a production company that shoots trade shows and had asked if they were approached to do "looping" videos could they do them. The trade show had no concerns. So what we did is on the first two days of the trade show we would get everything we needed for the trade show. The next few days we went back and shot the looping videos. We figured we could shoot 5 a day and our day rate (for example) is $1000.00 divide by 5 $200. That is what we charged each company to shoot their video.( assuming a standard straight forward video) we did the same thing with editing. That way your not charging half day or full day rates. You still make what you would working a full day but just collecting a little from more people. The companies think they get a steal of a deal and you've made more contacts. __________________ Calvin Bellows www.exposureproductions.ca