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Documenting and sharing the happenings of an event or fundraiser can be tricky if you're responsible for organizing it as well. Thankfully, with the power of mobile apps, you can be a photographer, videographer, social media promoter, and a liveblogger for your events. To kick off TechSoup's 2013 Digital Storytelling Challenge, we have compiled apps to help you showcase your organization in action.
Also, make sure to follow TechSoup's Online Community Coordinator, Alexandra Bezdikian, as she tests the digital storytelling tools of the trade. She'll be reporting on a few of the apps listed here, as well other storytelling platforms.
CoverItLive is the go-to liveblogging tool for journalists all over the world. Nonprofits can also benefit from this easy-to-use program. You can give real-time updates from fundraisers or liveblog featured speakers at events from your laptop or mobile device. CoverItLive is a bit more costly than other programs in this list so make sure that your organization will get a lot of use from it. MediaBistro compiled some free alternatives to CoverItLive in this blog post.
One of the easiest (and free!) ways to cover an event is by livetweeting through Twitter. You can set up a hashtag for your event or use pre-established hashtag. Additionally, make sure to get the Twitter handles of any speakers or participants at the event. Click here for a list of our favorite social media management apps. After the event, Scoop It (Android, iOS) is a useful tool for compiling press coverage, photos, social media, and more into one, slick-looking page.
Instagram (Android, iOS) is the ultimate social photo-sharing platform. You can add filters and effects to your photos and share them with Twitter or Facebook. Like Twitter, you can set up a hashtag for your event and tag your photos with it. You can even set up an Instagram printer at your event. If your organization uses Flickr (Android, iOS, Windows Phone) to manage photos, the mobile app is a must-have companion. It not only helps you keep your photos organized, but you can also use it to upload and edit photos.
To edit your photos on the fly, check out Adobe Photoshop Express (Android, iOS). You can also create and share layered images with the touch of your hand.
Turn your photos into word collages with Wordfoto (iOS). This app lets you turn any photograph into a mosaic made up of your chosen words. The result is a one-of-a-kind image that you can share on your website or through social media post-event. There are a number of apps that let you build and share photo collages after a fundraiser or event. Layout (iOS), Pic Collage (Android, iOS), Diptic (iOS), and PhotoGrid (Android, iOS) are some of our favorites.
Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but video can show your organization in action. Out of all of the video apps listed here, Vyclone (iOS) might be the best for covering an event. You can mix film taken on your iPhone with footage taken by other people filming the same events.
Vine (iOS) (Note: Vine has a 17+ rating on iTunes) is one of the latest social video apps to emerge. The app allows you record 6-second stop-motion videos with your phone's camera and then share them with Facebook or Twitter. The finished result is an impressive, looping video that can impress and inspire your audience. Cinemagram (iOS) is essentially the Instagram for video. Like Vine, you can create short and beautiful videos, but you can also apply filters and effects. You can also create hybrids between photos and videos. If you need to record a longer video, the YouTube app is an old standby for uploading and sharing video. Some phones even let you upload to YouTube directly from your video gallery.
Do you use your smartphone to capture and share your events? Tell us how and what apps you use in the comments.
Image: Man with smartphone, Shutterstock
As the photographer, videographer and storyteller of our organization reading this post opened my mind to options that I never considered. The ability to share our story would be right in the palm of my hands. Thank you, Ginny, for this much needed info.