Case study · SBC Summit Lisbon · 29 September to 1 October 2026
Three stands, one crew: how we filmed SBC Summit Lisbon 2026
Four of us went to Lisbon. Three clients, three stands, three days. 1,936 edited photos delivered, every stand gallery out the same evening, a raffle reel that went through three versions before 11:22 the next morning, and an awards night at MEO Arena where flash was banned and every face in the room was purple. This is how it went, stand by stand, including the two things we would do differently.
The brief
What the three clients booked
SBC Summit ran from 29 September to 1 October at Feira Internacional de Lisboa (FIL), the exhibition centre in Parque das Nações. The awards were across the road at MEO Arena. SBC's own figures: 40,000 delegates, 800 exhibitors and sponsors.
The crew was four people. Volodymir on stills. Vitalii on video, and on stills for the awards night. Nazar as on-site editor and second camera. Me producing, shooting 50 Partners myself, and, as it turned out, colour-correcting until a quarter to five in the morning.
Alea · stand B213
Three full days, photo and video
- 3 days
- 1,290 photos
- Stills + video
- Raffle reel, interviews, aftermovie
We have worked with Alea for over two years, at SiGMA Malta, at ICE Barcelona, and now here. The brief was the most precise of the three. Team photos before doors, then a first batch online fast enough that their LinkedIn had something up before most of the hall had found its badge. Rolling photos through each day, a full gallery each evening. On video, a reel from the day-two raffle for the morning of day three, interviews with their agents, and an aftermovie after the show.
Their stand had a hyperbaric chamber, an oxygen bar and an iPhone 18 Pro raffle every afternoon at four. It was going to be busy.
PartnerMatrix · stand F636
The busiest hours of each day, plus the awards
- 423 photos
- Busiest hours, 3 days
- Stills + video
- Meet the Team, recap, awards
PartnerMatrix we had filmed before, at iGB Live in July. For Lisbon they wanted the busiest stretch of each day covered in photo and video, a Meet the Team film, a recap in horizontal and vertical, and the SBC Awards on the evening of day two, where they were nominated in two categories.
One rule came through on the first evening and shaped the rest of the job: no photos where a competitor's logo or mascot is in frame, and none where another brand is visible without PartnerMatrix in the shot. Sensible. We offered to retouch logos out; they said not needed, just leave those frames out.
50 Partners · stand F441
A photography slot on day one
- 223 photos
- Photography
- Same-day selection
50 Partners booked one photographer for a slot on day one: stand coverage and portraits of the people working it, a hundred-plus photos, first selection the same day. The next morning they asked for one more thing, frames with their branded bags, so we went back and shot those too.
Same four people for all three. My job was making sure nobody's busiest hour landed on top of anyone else's.
Alea · days one to three
11:07, and a raffle that needed three cameras
Day one. Volodymir photographed the Alea team on the stand between 09:45 and 09:58, before doors: 45 frames, 27 horizontal, 18 vertical. First batch exported at 11:00, gallery link in the group at 11:07, horizontals first so they could post straight away. 11:27, Andrea: "Looks good thank you!" Alea's own post went up that evening and had 106 reactions by half eleven the next morning.
For the record, that is slower than we have done it. At SiGMA Malta the first Alea gallery landed at 09:48. Lisbon was an hour and nineteen minutes behind that, and I know exactly why: the morning setup across three stands ate the gap. It still beat most of the hall to LinkedIn. I would still rather have had 09:48.
Then the raffle. Every day at four, iPhone 18 Pros, AirTags, smart pencils, a presenter, a safe. The brief for the day-two reel was faces: people winning, people not winning, the second the safe opened. You cannot get that with one camera. The draw lasts about ten minutes and everything happens at once across the stand. One operator gets one angle and some cutaways.
Vitalii had Alea for the three days. For those ten minutes Nazar walked over from PartnerMatrix and I came off whatever I was doing, and we shot it on three cameras. Then everyone went back.
The music took longer than the filming. We chased Alea for a track at 13:25 and pushed back on their first choice, which was too dark for the brand; tracks agreed by 14:01. Nazar cut the reel that night. Version one went out at 02:08. Version 1.1 at 09:54, 1.2 at 10:15, and at 11:22 Marit wrote "Good to go." Alea posted it while the people in it were still on the floor.
Over three days: 466 photos on day one, 482 on day two, 342 on day three. 1,290 edited. Each day's gallery went out the same evening, the last one at 17:41 the day after the show closed. Interview footage followed on 2 October, the aftermovie went through two cuts the week after, and we argued it down from almost two minutes to 1:48, closer to where attention runs out.
- 09:45Team on the stand, 45 frames, before doors
- 11:07First gallery sent. "Looks good thank you!" at 11:27
- 16:00Day two: raffle, three cameras, ten minutes
- 02:08Reel v1. v1.1 at 09:54, v1.2 at 10:15
- 11:22"Good to go." Posted the same morning
The raffle reel as posted, 9:16, three cameras. Beside it: the crowd as the draw began, the selfie wall, and the winners with their prizes.
The aftermovie, 1:48, with testimonials from Alea agents. Delivered as two cuts after the show.
The three-camera raffle only worked because there were four of us in the building for three clients, instead of one person per client. That is the whole argument for how the crew is sized.
PartnerMatrix · stand F636 and MEO Arena
The awards night nobody warned us about
Day one on the PartnerMatrix stand was straightforward. 96 frames through the afternoon. At 17:52 Elina asked for the day's pictures; we said about two hours, there were a hundred of them; the gallery went out at 19:37. Day two, Elina asked at 08:07 for wide, full, crowded shots of the whole stand, so that is what the morning was. By 17:22 we had every shot the Meet the Team film needed. First cut to them at 18:35. Comments by 18:41: ending too abrupt, swap one clip, add a black end card with the logo and the line "Complete Affiliate Ecosystem". Updated version at 00:14.
In between those two timestamps was the part nobody had warned us about.
The SBC Awards, MEO Arena, arrive 18:40 for welcome drinks at seven. PartnerMatrix were nominated in two categories. Vitalii went across for stills, Nazar for video. On the door: no flash. Fine, we expected that. What we did not expect was the room. MEO Arena is a concert venue, and the only light on the audience came from an enormous LED screen behind the stage, so every face in the hall was lit purple and blue, from one side, and changing colour with the slides. For a stills photographer with no flash that is about as hard as event work gets. For whoever has to correct the colour afterwards, it is worse.
He shot it anyway. 215 frames between 18:58 and 22:20. At 21:10 Raul asked whether the photographer could come back into the ceremony after the first award, in case of a second; Vitalii was back in his seat within ten minutes. PartnerMatrix won Affiliate Technology of the Year.
Which meant the photos could not wait for a normal edit. The day-two stand gallery went out at 04:45 with a note that the awards set would follow because of the lighting. I did the colour myself. Isolating skin tones and pulling them back to something human without touching the brand colours behind them, one frame at a time, until 04:45. At 11:34 Elina asked when the awards photos were coming. 13:45, the gallery was with them. They posted the win while the industry was still in Lisbon.
The recap film ran on our standard seven-day turnaround. We cut version one to a track we preferred; the client wanted theirs back, coffee and table shots out, more of the ceremony and the team on stage with the award. We said swapping the track would not count as a revision round, because it was our call to change it in the first place. Version two the next morning, version three by lunchtime, vertical version the same day.
- 19:37Day-one gallery sent, 1h45 after the ask
- 18:35Meet the Team v1. Notes at 18:41, updated cut at 00:14
- 18:58Awards night, MEO Arena. 215 frames, no flash, until 22:20
- 21:10Back in the seat within ten minutes. Affiliate Technology of the Year
- 04:45Day-two stand gallery out. Awards colour still going
- 13:45Awards gallery delivered. Posted while the industry was still in Lisbon
Meet the Team, 0:43, black and white. Cut as a vertical reel; the client posted it horizontally on TikTok, which is how it sits here. First cut at 18:35 on day two, notes six minutes later, updated version at 00:14.
The recap of all three days, 0:40. Three versions in two days: the client's track back in, stage and award shots added, vertical cut the same afternoon.
The lesson is boring and specific: ask the venue about lighting and flash rules before the night, not at the door. It is on the pre-event checklist now, for every awards ceremony we cover.
One awards frame, before and after colour. Every one of the 215 was corrected like this, by hand, until 04:45.
50 Partners · stand F441
Shooting a stand in waves
I shot 50 Partners myself. The brief was the stand and the people on it, a hundred-plus photos, a first selection the same day.
A three-day show breathes. The aisles fill when a conference session lets out and empty again twenty minutes later, and a stand that looks packed at one o'clock can look abandoned at half past. If you photograph it in one continuous block, you get whatever the hall happened to be doing in that block.
- 223 photos
- Shot in two passes + bags
- Delivered same evening
So I did not. I shot the controlled things first, while it was calm: the merch, the printed material, the Bingo bar, individual portraits of the hostesses with nobody walking through the frame. Then I left, worked for another client, and came back when the aisle was busy again to shoot the stand the way they would want to see it, with people at the bar and in front of the wall. Twice. 195 frames from day one. On the morning of day two Alex wrote "you can post, just tag us" and asked for frames with the branded bags, so there was a short third visit for 28 more. 223 photos in total, delivered that evening.
A photographer booked alone has nowhere to go when the stand is quiet. You get an empty stand or a stand with staff pretending to be busy. A crew already in the building for other clients can leave and come back, and the photos show the stand as it was at its best, because that is when they were taken.
The calm pass: portraits and merch shot while the aisle was quiet. Centre, the team between sessions.
Behind the three days
Four people, three stands, no collisions
This is the part clients do not see and the part everything depends on.
Volodymir stayed with Alea for three days on stills. Vitalii had Alea on video, and went across to MEO Arena on the evening of day two with a stills camera. Nazar covered PartnerMatrix's busy hours on video, ran the edits between, and was the second camera on the Alea raffle and the video camera at the awards. I produced, shot 50 Partners in two passes around everyone else's schedule, and did the colour at night.
What delivery looked like, in order: Alea's first gallery at 11:07 on day one, PartnerMatrix's at 19:37, 50 Partners' that evening. Day two, PartnerMatrix's Meet the Team cut at 18:35, Alea's raffle reel at 02:08. Day three morning, the reel approved at 11:22. Then the stand gallery at 04:45, the awards gallery at 13:45, Alea's day-three gallery at 17:41, both films within the week after.
We Stream has filmed in eleven countries since May 2022 and has not missed a delivery deadline. Lisbon stayed on that list. The colourist would like it noted how close it came.
| Who | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volodymir, stills | Alea: team at 09:45, gallery 11:07, 466 frames | Alea, 482 frames | Alea, 342 frames |
| Vitalii, video | Alea, all day | Alea + raffle at 16:00; awards stills at MEO Arena from 18:58 | Alea, interviews |
| Nazar, video + edit | PartnerMatrix busy hours; edits | PartnerMatrix; Alea raffle camera; awards video; raffle reel cut overnight, v1 at 02:08 | PartnerMatrix; Meet the Team final |
| Violet, producer | 50 Partners in two passes; schedule | Awards logistics; colour until 04:45 | 50 Partners bags; final deliveries |
1,936 edited photos across the three clients. 194 more of our own, which is where this article's pictures come from.
If you have exhibited at SBC before, you know the failure mode. You book a videographer, they stand on your stand, they film your stand, and for the ten minutes a year when something happens that you want from three angles, there is one of them. The crew that fixes that is not three times the price. It is a crew that is already in the building for someone else.
The four of us on the Alea stand at 08:31 on day one, before doors.
Next on the circuit
We will be at SiGMA Rome and ICE Barcelona
The next two shows on this circuit run the same way: three days, one or two moments per stand that matter, and content that has to be live while the hall is still open. We are covering both with the same crew structure described above. If you are exhibiting at either, tell us the stand and the dates and we will come back within a day with what we would film and when it would be delivered.
2 to 5 November 2026 · Fiera Roma
SiGMA Europe, Rome
We filmed Alea's stand there last year. Slots are confirmed in order of booking; a 50% deposit holds the dates.
January 2027 · Fira Barcelona
ICE Barcelona
Stand coverage, interviews and same-day photos across three days, with the crew already in the building.
Questions
FAQ
How many crew do you need to cover a stand at SBC Summit Lisbon?
For one stand with same-day photos and a daily video, one photographer and one videographer. For anything that happens once and fast, a raffle, a product reveal, a signing, you want two or three cameras for those minutes. At SBC Lisbon 2026 We Stream covered three stands with four people and pulled two of them onto Alea's ten-minute raffle.
How fast can photos be delivered during SBC Summit?
Alea's first gallery was with them at 11:07 on day one, an hour and twenty-one minutes after the first frame was taken; the rest of each day followed as a full gallery the same evening. 1,290 edited photos over three days for Alea, 1,936 across the three clients. Same-day delivery is a standard line on our rate card, planned before the show.
Can you photograph the SBC Awards at MEO Arena?
Yes, without flash. The room is lit by the stage LED screen, which turns every face purple and blue, so the real work is colour correction afterwards. In 2026 We Stream shot 215 frames for PartnerMatrix and delivered the corrected awards gallery at 13:45 the next day, after colour work that ran to 04:45.
What if a stand is quiet when the photographer arrives?
Shoot the controlled work first, the merch, the stand, individual portraits, then leave and come back when the aisle fills. At SBC Lisbon 2026 that is how 50 Partners' stand was photographed, in two passes, with the gallery out the same evening.
Do you work with the same clients across several shows?
Yes. Alea has booked We Stream at SiGMA Malta, ICE Barcelona and SBC Lisbon over two years, and PartnerMatrix at iGB Live London and SBC Lisbon in the same year. Knowing a client's stand, team and posting habits is what makes an 11:07 gallery possible.
How many revisions are included in an event video?
Two rounds. At SBC Lisbon the Alea raffle reel went through versions 1.1 and 1.2 in one morning before sign-off at 11:22. When we change something on our own initiative, like swapping a music track, putting it back does not count as one of the client's rounds.
team@westream.uk