Photos at the Christmas party.A guide for HR and people teams.

Before the party: agree on the album and the plan

Choose the admins

Decide who manages the album, for example two or three people from HR, the organising team or communications. In bleibt you invite them as admins by email. Admins see every contribution, change settings and can delete individual contributions. The guest link gives no admin rights.

Write down what the album is for

Put into one sentence how you want to use the pictures internally, such as “a shared memory of the evening and a few pictures for the year-in-review”. That sentence helps with everything else: who gets access, what goes into the invitation and when you tidy up the album. How to handle photos of employees in line with data protection rules is best settled with your data protection officer or legal team.

Decide on the gallery setting beforehand

Decide before the party whether everyone with the album link sees the shared gallery or only the admins do, and check the setting in the album before you share the link. Voice messages have their own setting: everyone with the album link, or album admins only.

Give a short heads-up in the invitation

A friendly note in the invitation is enough: that there will be a shared photo album via QR code, who manages it and whom to contact. That way everyone knows what to expect on the night. You can send the link in advance; uploads open on the day of the event.

Make “please don’t photograph me” visible

Out of consideration for anyone who would rather stay out of the pictures, put out coloured stickers or different lanyards at the entrance. Then nobody has to explain all night why they’d rather skip the group photo. Mention the sign in the invitation and again in the welcome.

During the party: QR codes, moments and room to say no

• QR codes where people wait: entrance, tables, drinks station, welcome slide. The specific spots are in the guide “15 photo challenges for your Christmas party”.
• Moments keep things in order: with moments such as “Arrivals”, “Stage”, “Team”, “Networking” and “Closing”, contributions are sorted as they are uploaded. bleibt offers these five as a preset for company events; rename them or add your own (up to twelve).
• Mention it in the welcome: one sentence is enough – where the QR codes are, who manages the album and what the sticker means.
• Nobody has to join in: anyone who doesn’t want to upload or be in the pictures simply skips it. For games like photo challenges, offer a version without faces so everyone feels comfortable. Uploading needs no account and no name.
• If a picture doesn’t fit: an admin deletes it straight from the dashboard. “Pause uploads” stops new contributions immediately without losing anything.

After the party: access, year-in-review, tidying up

Who gets access

Admins see every contribution. Whether everyone else with the album link sees the gallery depends on your setting, and anyone who can see the gallery can also download individual pictures. To keep the album among colleagues, share the link in internal channels such as the intranet or team chat. Once you’re done collecting, pause uploads; the album stays available for viewing.

Export for the internal year-in-review

Start a complete export from the dashboard. bleibt packs all photos, videos and voice messages into a ZIP file that you can download for a limited time. For a presentation or intranet post, pick specific pictures rather than passing on the whole archive. Out of consideration, leave out pictures that show someone wearing a “please don’t photograph me” sticker.

Tidy up the album

Go through the album once after the party and delete what doesn’t belong: blurry duplicates, unsuitable snapshots and any picture someone asks you to remove. An admin deletes individual contributions straight from the dashboard, no questions asked.

How long the album runs

How long an album stays online depends on the plan: 6, 12 or 24 months. Put a date in the calendar for when you no longer need the album. When it comes, the album’s owner deletes the whole album from the dashboard, even before the plan runs out.