School formal photo sharing: a checklist for P&Cs and year advisers

A formal or graduation is one of the most photographed nights of a student's school life, and most of those photos end up scattered across parents' phones. Gathering them into one album, and showing them on a screen on the night, is a great keepsake. Because it involves students, often under 18, it also needs more care than a 21st. Here is what to settle first.

1. Check your school's photo consent

Start with the school's existing photography and media consent policy, and ask the school for the list of students whose families have opted out of having their image shared. Whoever approves photos on the night needs that list, so they can leave those students' photos off the screen and out of the album.

2. A person checks every photo before it is shown

Nothing should go up on a screen in front of families without someone looking at it first. Pick one or two staff or committee members to approve photos from their phones during the night. It takes a few seconds per photo, and it is what lets everyone relax and leave the screen running.

3. Know who sent what

Decide whether guests can share with just a first name, or must sign in with a named account. Named accounts mean every photo is linked to a real person, which discourages anything silly and makes it easy to remove a photo if a family asks.

4. Keep viewing and uploading separate

After the event the album link tends to be forwarded far and wide. Make sure that link can only be used to view and download, and that uploading only happens through the event's own QR code, so a forwarded link can never be used to add photos.

5. Ask about faces

Some photo services scan every photo for faces so people can find pictures of themselves. That can be handy at a wedding; for a school event, many families would rather it was not happening. Ask the provider directly whether photos are scanned for faces.

6. Agree when the photos are deleted

Choose a date for the album to be deleted, tell families when it is, and remind them to download what they want before then. A school does not want a forgotten album of students sitting online for years.

7. Tell families before the night

A short note in the newsletter or the formal information pack does three things: families know what to expect, the ones who would rather not take part can say so, and more people share because they already know how. Put the QR code on the program and on the tables, and ask the MC to mention it early.

8. Sort out the screen

Many function centres have a projector but no television. A photo wall that runs in a web browser on a laptop plugged into the venue's projector is often all you need, but test it at the venue beforehand. See how to run a photo wall without a TV.

A one-page summary for the committee

• Opt-out list from the school, given to the approvers
• Two named approvers, with their phones charged
• First name or named accounts, decided
• Album link view-only; upload by QR code only
• No facial recognition, confirmed with the provider
• Deletion date chosen and told to families
• Note to families sent; QR code on the program and tables
• Screen tested at the venue

GuestCam was built with this checklist in mind, and it is free for school events in Australia and New Zealand. Approval cannot be switched off for schools, the school can require Google sign-in, the album link is view and download only, photos are never scanned for faces, and everything is deleted a month after the event. See GuestCam for schools, and what to put on the program.