Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2026 Videographer: Filming at ADGM

Abu Dhabi Finance Week 2026 takes place from 7 to 10 December on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi, hosted by ADGM. It is the largest financial gathering in the region: in 2025 it brought together more than 35,000 participants and 819 speakers across 394 sessions, according to WAM. For 2026 the organisers plan more than 70 events over four days.

For banks, asset managers, fintech companies and other sponsors, ADFW means keynotes, panels, roundtables and receptions with the people they most want to reach. Video keeps that investment working after the week: the CEO's panel as a clean recording, clips for LinkedIn while the event is still on, and interviews the marketing team can use all year.

This guide is for sponsors, speakers' companies and their agencies: what to film, crew size, sound, working around executives and compliance approval.

What to film at Abu Dhabi Finance Week

Decide what you want to publish first, then plan the filming around it. Most companies at ADFW need some of these:

• Keynotes and panels. Your speaker on stage, filmed with two or three cameras: a wide shot, a close-up of the speaker and one for the rest of the panel, so the session becomes a full recording and short highlights.
• Speaker interviews. Five to ten minutes with your speakers right after their session, while the topic is fresh.
• Sponsor content. Your branded space or lounge, guests arriving, conversations, the logo in context: proof of what the sponsorship delivered.
• Side events. Roundtables, breakfasts, launches and receptions your company hosts around the main programme.
• Signings and announcements. In 2025, more than 80 memorandums of understanding were signed during the week.
• Social clips. Vertical videos of 15–45 seconds that go out the same day, while the industry is following the event.

If you need photos as well, book a photographer with the same crew.

How many videographers you need

For a single keynote or panel, two videographers is the minimum we recommend: one holds the wide shot of the stage, the other follows whoever is speaking. A panel of four or five people works better with three cameras, and three or more videographers need a production coordinator who keeps the schedule, the speaker list and the interview slots together.

Many sponsors film their main session and reception fully and book shorter blocks for interviews on the other days. Two events at the same time need two separate crews.

Clean sound from the stage

The best audio for a keynote or a panel comes from the venue's sound desk, not from a microphone on the camera. Ask the event's AV team in advance for a feed from the desk, and the crew records it together with the room sound. Interviews in a busy foyer need a separate sound recordist with wireless microphones and the right equipment. Plan them in a quiet room or corner, with a time slot for each speaker.

Filming around senior executives

At a finance event, the people on camera are often chairmen, fund managers and CEOs with full diaries. The crew works discreetly: business clothing, compact equipment, no lights in anyone's face during sessions and no filming of private conversations. Tell us which sessions are off the record and who should not be filmed, and we keep to that list. Agree interview questions beforehand and have the set-up ready, so an executive spends five minutes with the crew, not twenty.

Compliance approvals for financial content

Most financial companies cannot publish a video until their compliance or legal team has checked it: statements about products, performance or markets need review, and some need a disclaimer. Agree in advance who approves the videos, how quickly they can do it during the week and what the editor sends them, a rough cut, a transcript or both. Same-day clips need an equally quick approval route.

Same-day clips

The first day is when attention is highest. If you want to post during ADFW, plan an editor on site: footage goes from the cameras to the editor during the day, and short clips are ready for compliance review the same evening, sometimes within hours. Without an editor on site, session recordings and the highlight film come after the event, on the delivery date agreed before it.

Access and accreditation

ADFW events have passes, security checks and venue rules. Crews normally get access through the organiser or the partner team that manages your sponsorship or speaking slot. Check early which passes the crew needs for each day, send the names in time and confirm which sessions may be filmed.

What it costs

Our rates for event filming apply to Abu Dhabi Finance Week as well:

• Videographer: from AED 600 per hour when you book 4 hours or more; shorter bookings cost more per hour, and the minimum booking is 2 hours.
• Sound recordist with all the equipment, for interviews and vox pops: AED 2,500 per day.
• Editor on site for same-day clips: AED 3,500 per day (up to 8 hours).
• Production coordinator for crews of three or more videographers: AED 3,500 per day.
• Travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi: about AED 500 per car, and one car takes up to two people of the crew.
• Editing is quoted separately, by the number and complexity of the videos.

These prices are approximate and exclude 5% VAT. Try the event price calculator with your hours and crew, and confirm the exact figure with our producer on WhatsApp.

Plan it now

December is the busiest month of the year for event crews in the UAE, and in 2026 ADFW runs in the same week as GITEX Global in Dubai. Book the crew as soon as your speaking slots and events are confirmed. Send us:

• the sessions and side events, with venues and times;
• the speakers and executives to interview;
• who approves the videos and how quickly;
• what you want to receive and by when.

Why Fat Cat Media

We are a Dubai production company with our own crew, filming events since 2012. In Abu Dhabi our crew has filmed the World Future Energy Summit and Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week at ADNEC; we have also filmed GITEX Global, Expo 2020 Dubai and five Globe Soccer Awards ceremonies in a row. See how we work on our conference videography and Abu Dhabi event videographer pages, read how much an event videographer costs in Dubai, or send us your session list on WhatsApp.