How ICCA and MementoPhoto.AI are making event photography easier to manage, more personal for delegates and more valuable for sponsors.
The Challenge
For ICCA’s marketing team, event photography used to create a second workload after every event.
With ICCA organising international congresses, regional events and attending major tradeshows, the team regularly received requests from speakers and delegates looking for their photos. Finding them meant searching through thousands of images, checking files across different days, venues and sessions, and following up with colleagues and photographers.
The same process had to be repeated when the marketing team needed images for social media and email campaigns.
“Before MementoPhoto.AI, we would get all of these post-event communications where speakers or delegates would just be asking for their specific pictures.” Cristina Gonzalez, Senior Marketing Coordinator, ICCA
But the challenge wasn’t just the workload. It was also the timing.
Photos often arrived five days or even more than a week after an event. By then, delegates had returned home, and the excitement of the experience had started to fade. Finding a particular photo in a gallery containing a thousand images or more was another hassle.
“In previous experiences, we had to wait 5 days after the event, or sometimes even more than a week, to receive the photos, so you kind of lose the experience. You might think they’re just photos, but they’re actually part of the event experience.” Gino Ferruzo, Marketing Coordinator, ICCA
For ICCA, this highlighted an opportunity to rethink the role of event photography. Rather than treating photos as something to distribute after an event, the team wanted to make them part of the experience itself.
The Solution
Since 2025, ICCA and MementoPhoto.AI have worked together through a global partnership, with ICCA useing the platform on all of its global events.
The platform brings photo delivery, content management and distribution into one place, while allowing ICCA to retain control over its galleries, branding and published content.
At a glance:
- Personalised photo access. Delegates scan a QR code in the congress app, take a selfie and find their photos in a “For You” folder, alongside the public galleries.
- Control over content and branding. The team decides what goes public and applies different branding per event (for example ICCA Association Circle and IMEX Frankfurt in the same week, under a single URL).
- Automatic sonsor delivery. Sponsors and partners automatically receive the photos of their own people, based on a list ICCA shares before the event.
- On-site engagement. Backdrops and red carpets at the evening events, QR signage and a live photo feed on the event screens bring delegates to their photos.
- Dedicated support. A dedicated project manager onboards the photographers on the platform, and the MementoPhoto.AI team supports ICCA on site during the Congress.
Personalised Access Through a QR Code and the Congress App
Finding your event photos becomes a simple, immediate experience.
MementoPhoto.AI generates the QR codes and ICCA places them in its conference app and around the venue. A delegate scans, takes a selfie, and lands on a “For You” folder with only the photos they appear in. Public folders sit next to it, with the event highlights.
When several events run back to back, delegates keep one entry point. During IMEX week in Frankfurt, the ICCA Association Circle event and the ICCA Programme at IMEX shared a single URL and a single QR code. IMEX attendees could also browse the public ICCA Association Circle photos.
Access is not limited to ICCA members. At FIEXPO in Latin America, delegates from other associations scanned the code too.
ICCA Stays in Control of Every Photo
Personalised delivery doesn’t mean giving up control.
The ICCA team sees every photo and decides which ones become public. Each event carries its own branding on the photos.
For content, the marketing team filters by day, location and session to find the exact shots it needs for social media and email. All photos from all events are stored in one place.
After each event, the back office produces a stats report: Registered users, active users, downloads, engagement rate, photos delivered, with a breakdown per day and per photographer. ICCA’s regional managers use it to report internally.
Photos Delivered Automatically to Sponsors and Partners
Event photography also creates opportunities for ICCA’s partners to participate in the experience.
One week before an event, ICCA shares its list of sponsors and speakers. During the event, each partner’s marketing contact receives the photos of their own people and can post them right away.
Bringing Photography to Life Onsite
At the ICCA Congress in Porto, photographers and videographers covered 9 venues from Saturday to Wednesday. These included the Alfândega Congress Centre as the main venue, 5 additional venues hosting activities across the city, plus the evening social events locations: The Stock Exchange Palace for the welcome reception, Super Bock Arena for the gala dinner, and F.C. Porto Dragão Stadium for the I amsterdam Night.
The setup was built to drive attendees to their photos:
- Red carpet and backdrop areas at the evening events, for signature photo moments.
- Signage next to the backdrops, and roaming photographers telling delegates their photos were already available by QR code.
- A live feed of the photographers’ shots on screens in the coffee areas.
- A social media wall for delegates’ posts.
At IMEX, the ICCA booth had a photo wall in the theme of the next Congress in Panama City, with the MementoPhoto.AI QR code on the stand.
Dedicated Support Before and During the Event
A dedicated project manager prepares each event with ICCA: Gallery structure, branding, audience and photographer briefing. Photographers booked by the destination get an onboarding call on the platform before the event.
During Congress, the MementoPhoto.AI team was on site, with a chat group set up for the event week.
“You’re very quick responding and helping us. And I think the biggest proof was Congress. We couldn’t have captured the essence of Congress in any other way. […] Having you on site was also helpful. And of course, we love the platform because it’s easy to manage.” Claudia Bastidas, Senior Marketing Manager, ICCA
For the ICCA Congress in Porto, Portugal, this meant 6 photographers over 5 days for 1,514 attendees.
Privacy: Protecting Delegates and the Associations that Host Them
Personalised event photography also comes with an important responsibility: protecting the people in the photos.
For associations organising international events, privacy can be easy to overlook among competing priorities. But event photos may contain personal data, and organisers need to understand the different rights and obligations involved.
“I think the privacy part is something that we overlook a lot, and I think associations as well do, because there’s many more priorities. But at the end of the day, it’s also about being compliant.” Gino Ferruzo, Marketing Coordinator, ICCA
Three Legal Frameworks on One Photo
Every event photo carries three sets of rules at once:
- Photographer rights. The contract with the photographer must give the organiser the right to use the photos.
- Image rights. What the organiser can do with a person’s image (website, magazine, social media), usually covered by the registration terms.
- Personal data. A photo where someone can be identified falls under GDPR in Europe, with different rules in North America and the rest of the world.
Associations regularly ask MementoPhoto.AI what they can share, how to ask for consent, and how rules differ between Europe and North America.
Why a Public Photo Link is a Risk
Many events still publish every photo on a public link, such as a Flickr album. That exposes the image of every attendee to anyone, much like publishing the full attendee email list. For events that welcome CEOs and other senior profiles, as ICCA’s do, it is rarely an option.
What Changes for Delegates
- They choose to take part. Facial recognition only runs for delegates who opt in.
- They give explicit consent. Before a delegate uploads a selfie, MementoPhoto.AI shows a dedicated consent form, separate from the terms of use. Each consent is recorded with a timestamp and the version of the text shown, so the organiser can prove it was given.
- They can still access photos without it. A delegate who prefers not to use facial recognition can still view the public galleries the organiser makes available.
- They only see their own photos. The “For You” folder shows a delegate the photos they appear in, and nobody else’s.
- They can change their mind at any time. Withdrawing consent from the account settings, or deleting the account, immediately erases the selfie and the biometric data and switches off facial recognition.
- Their biometric data stays limited. It is used only to find the delegate’s photos, kept no longer than the event space the organiser sets, and hosted exclusively in the EU.
What Changes for ICCA and Its Members
- No more public dumps. The ICCA team sees every photo and decides which ones become public highlights. The rest stay private to the people in them.
- One place for all photos. Photos from every event sit in one controlled space instead of shared drives and links.
- Sharing on their terms. Sponsors and partners receive the photos of their own people only, not the full event library.
What Associations Can Rely On
- Clear roles under GDPR. The association is the data controller and MementoPhoto.AI acts as its processor, on its instructions only.
- Proof of consent on request. Timestamped consent records are available to the organiser to demonstrate compliance.
- No reuse of data. Photos and personal data are never sold or used for advertising. No biometric data goes to third-party AI providers, and there is no connection to social media platforms.
- Photographers stay out of personal data. They have no access to biometric data, to facial recognition, or to delegates’ accounts.
- Retention set by the association. Photos and data are deleted when the event space the association defines expires, or earlier if it closes the space.
- US and international events covered. MementoPhoto.AI adapts to local regulations wherever the event takes place. In the US, the policy includes specific provisions for BIPA in Illinois and CCPA/CPRA in California, relevant for ICCA’s North American events. For events in other parts of the world, data stays hosted in the EU, and delegates can access their galleries from the country where the event takes place.
The Results: Less Chasing, Better Experiences
With MementoPhoto.AI, ICCA has changed how it manages and distributes event photography. The benefits extend beyond the marketing team to delegates, sponsors and the wider ICCA community.
The team no longer needs to handle the same volume of individual photo requests or repeatedly search through files after events:
“We are getting quality pictures on time. We don’t need to chase people. […] This has been a game changer.” Claudia Bastidas, Senior Marketing Manager, ICCA
Photos from different days, locations and sessions can be filtered to find the right images for communications, whether for social media or email:
“It’s just really useful to filter through days, through locations, through sessions, and find the exact pictures that we’re looking for in our communications, whether it’s for social media or email.” Cristina Gonzalez, Senior Marketing Coordinator, ICCA
Delegates receive a more personalised experience, while sponsors and partners can access relevant images sooner. According to ICCA, the positive response to the platform also contributes to how members perceive the organisation and the quality of its events:
“Their perception of the platform is very positive and with that it also builds our brand […] it helps us deliver high quality events.” Gino Ferruzo, Marketing Coordinator, ICCA
The experience has also influenced organisations beyond ICCA. After using MementoPhoto.AI as a delegate at the ICCA Congress in Porto, a representative of EANS (European Association of Neurosurgical Societies) decided to roll out the platform at his association’s own congress.
This demonstrates how an improved delegate experience can create interest in new solutions across the wider association community.
Run Your Next Congress with MementoPhoto.AI
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What is MementoPhoto.AI
MementoPhoto.AI is an event photo platform. It uses facial recognition to deliver each attendee the photos they appear in, in a personalised and branded gallery, while the event is still happening. Attendees scan a QR code and take a selfie: No app to download.
MementoPhoto.AI is not a photography agency. Most organisers use the platform with their own photographers, but MementoPhoto.AI can provide photographers through its network in 50+ countries when needed.
Created with event organisers in mind, it turns event photography into a brand new distribution channel: Photos reach delegates, speakers and sponsors, who share them, and the marketing team gets one searchable library and a report of how the photos were used.
- A personalised experience for every delegate. Each delegates gets their own photos, which boosts engagement and builds a stronger attachment to the association behind the event.
- Post-event photo work made simple. Photos are sorted automatically and smart links send the right photos to the right people, so nobody spends hours going through thousands of photos or sharing different links with different people.
Trusted by 7,500+ events worldwide, MementoPhoto.AI won “Best AI for Personalisation of the Attendee Journey” at the Event Technology Awards AI Edition 2026.
