Global – Smartphones like the Nokia Lumia 800 are essential for capturing celebrations at this time of year thanks to their quick shoot and share abilities.
And no office party would be complete without a few Facebook uploads or memorable YouTube footage. But if you are not careful, your efforts to share the occasion could damage your career.
Not long ago holiday season revellers took the view that what happens at the office party, stays at the office party.
But if you think the annual workplace holiday celebration is the ideal excuse for a binge akin to something out of the movie Hangover, think again.
Apart from the fact that your boozy antics could end up online to haunt you forever, anyone who values their job should remember they are in effect still at the office.
It’s a work situation where the same professional hierarchy still applies. So if you don’t hug, kiss, insult or high-five the boss in the office and get away with it, don’t imagine it will be OK at the office party.
Perhaps annoyingly for some these days, the holiday office party has become an audition to identify who has the social skills needed to move up the ladder.
Management, it seems, is on the lookout for those who turn up appropriately dressed, not too long after the party is underway.
The ideal partygoer will then demonstrate that they can work the room, chatting and laughing, listening and contributing while enjoying a few drinks.
They will not be the first or the last to leave. And when they do depart, usually just after the boss goes, they will not try to dry hump anyone important on the way out.
The icing on the cake, a few hours after you have thanked the host, is the ability to upload an appropriate post on Facebook or Twitter, praising and thanking everybody for an amazing time.
So here’s a few tips on shooting the right kind of footage that won’t drop you in it, or bring the company into disrepute.
- Take pictures and video early on in the evening. That way everyone will be looking their best and will be unlikely to show any ill effects from alcohol.
- Stick to respectful angles. Don’t zoom in on revealing tops or slashed skirts.
- No matter how tempting, do not take any footage that will humiliate or embarrass your subject. It could easily rebound on you, and you could pay for it dearly later if your subject complains to HR.
- Always make sure you have the consent of the person you are filming, especially if you hardly know them.
- If you do insist on having a picture or video taken with the boss, show him or her the result to check they are happy with it. And, above all, make sure you have permission to share your pictures and footage online.
The old fashioned view of office parties as an occasion to “let off steam” is dying out. In this age of corporate blame, companies can’t be seen to encourage potentially harmful behavior. And besides, too much time is lost the day after through illness, costing national economies billions.
But it’s still possible to have a great time making some new friends who will make your working life easier the rest of the year.
So raise a glass: “Here’s to happy holidays.”
How to use the Nokia Lumia 800 camera.