Running Your First Event with Pylon iPad Booth

This guide covers everything from creating the Cloud event to exporting post-event deliverables. Follow it for your first Pylon iPad Booth event, then adapt it into your own pre-event routine.

Step 1: Create Your Cloud Event

Every Pylon iPad Booth session is tied to a Foto Master Cloud event. Create it at least 24 hours before the event so you have time to test.

1. Log in at cloud.fotomaster.com
2. Go to Events → New Event
3. Set the event name, date, and duration
4. Save the event

→ See Creating a Cloud Event for the full walkthrough

Step 2: Choose or Build Your Preset

A preset bundles your workflow (the guest experience steps), photo layout (the final print design), and video output template. Assign one to your event in Cloud before syncing to FMX.

Option A: Use a Foto Master Preset (Recommended for First Events)

Foto Master maintains an ongoing library of ready-made presets covering a wide range of themes — updated regularly with new styles, seasonal packs, and AI-powered experiences. Every preset is production-ready and fully tested, so you can go live immediately or use it as a starting point and customise it to match your client's brand and theme.

1. Inside the event settings in Cloud, click Load Preset
2. Browse the library by theme, product type, or AI feature
3. Load a preset — the workflow, layout, and video output are all configured instantly
4. Customise as needed: swap the overlay, add your client's logo, adjust the AI prompt, or update the sharing settings

→ See Using the Load Preset Option

Option B: Build From Scratch

If you have a specific vision, use the Cloud editors to build the full preset yourself:

• Workflow Builder — design the step-by-step guest experience, including AI steps, sharing, and logic. See Workflow Builder Overview or use the AI Workflow Generator to generate a workflow from a description
• Layout Builder — design the final photo output: frames, overlays, and branding. See Layout Builder
• Video Builder — design the video output template if your experience captures video

Step 3: Set Up Sharing

Configure how guests receive their photos inside the event settings in Cloud.

• Online Gallery — enable the gallery and set branding, privacy, and expiry so guests can access photos via QR code or link
• Email sharing — set up the email template under Sharing & Communications and test with your own address
• SMS sharing — confirm SMS credits and sender settings if your workflow includes an SMS step

→ See FMX for iPad: Sharing & Printing Overview

Step 4: Test Before the Event 

1. Charge the iPad to 100%
2. Open FMX on the iPad, sign in, and select your event
3. Tap Sync, then tap Play
4. Run a full test session: go through the entire workflow, capture a photo, and send it to your own email or phone
5. Confirm the photo appears correctly in the Cloud gallery and the sharing link works

Step 5: Pack Your Kit

• iPad with charger and charging cable (run tethered during the event, not on battery)
• Power strip or surge protector
• Wi-Fi hotspot as internet backup
• Spare USB-C cable for the iPad
• Spare printer media if printing
• Phone charger for your own phone (for monitoring Cloud)

Step 6: At the Venue (1–2 Hours Before)

1. Complete physical assembly using the Setup Checklist
2. Connect to venue Wi-Fi — confirm a strong signal at the booth location
3. Open FMX and Sync the event again (if needed)
4. Enable Guided Access before guests arrive
5. Run one full test session end-to-end
6. Tap Play — the booth is live

Step 7: During the Event

• Monitor session counts and gallery uploads from the Cloud dashboard on your phone
• Keep the iPad plugged in — do not rely on the battery during a live event
• If something goes wrong, swipe up to return to the FMX dashboard without ending the event

After the Event

Foto Master Cloud stores everything from the event. Before you pack up, take a few minutes to pull the deliverables your client expects.

Download All Media as a ZIP

1. In Foto Master Cloud, open your event and go to Gallery
2. Click Download All (or select specific photos and download selection)
3. A ZIP file containing all guest photos and videos is downloaded to your computer
4. Share it with your client via Dropbox, Google Drive, or any file transfer service

Export Guest Contact Data

If your workflow included email or SMS sharing, the contact data is stored inside the event — one tab per channel.

• Email contacts — open your event and go to the Email tab. It shows every guest who shared via email, with their address and session details. Click Export to download a CSV.
• SMS contacts — open your event and go to the SMS tab. It shows every guest who shared via SMS, with their phone number. Click Export to download a CSV.

Share the CSV with your client for follow-up marketing, or import it into your own CRM.

Export Survey Data

If your workflow included a survey step, guest responses are stored in the Cloud.

1. Go to your event → Analytics 
2. Download the responses as a CSV
3. Include this in your post-event report to the client — it often contains valuable feedback and demographic data

Share Analytics with Your Client

The Cloud dashboard shows session counts, sharing rates, gallery views, and more. You can screenshot the analytics panel or share the numbers directly as part of your event report.

Related Resources

• Setup Checklist
• Software Setup Guide
• Creating a Cloud Event
• FMX iPad: Logs and Troubleshooting