Events and media e-signature examples, with the audit trail

Contracts for the event, releases for the camera

Seven of the ten envelopes book something for an event: a venue hire agreement for a birthday in a function room, a catering contract for an office lunch, a market stall vendor agreement, an exhibitor contract for a trade show, a sponsorship agreement for a festival, a conference speaker agreement and a band's performer contract. Three are releases for a camera or a microphone: a model release for a catalogue shoot, a location release for three days of filming at a farmhouse and a podcast guest's interview consent. Nine take two signatures; the interview consent takes the guest's alone.

The details the other side types

In each envelope the person booking or being recorded types the facts only they know into fields on the document: a guest count, a stand number, a food registration number and insurer, or which parts of a property the crew may use. The sender cannot pre fill a field, so whatever is typed is the signer's own. Choices such as recording a session or using a photo in print are checkbox fields, and a box that is filled prints as an X. The date beside each signature is stamped at signing rather than typed.

Order, verification and the record

Eight of these envelopes are signed in order: the hirer, client, stallholder, exhibitor, sponsor, speaker, model or owner first, then the other side countersigns. The performer contract switches the order off, so the band and the venue were invited at once. The sponsorship agreement adds an emailed one time code for the sponsor; the rest rely on the email link. Every envelope comes back as a certified PDF with a certificate listing each signer, their verification and the time they signed. Five are Australian pages that name the law that applies. Every business and person is invented.

Every page in this collection

• Sign a catering contract online

  Signing a catering contract online should lock the menu, the price per head and the date final numbers are due, because those three decide the invoice. This four page contract for a Sydney architecture firm's end of year lunch has the office manager type the estimated guest count, initial the menu, and sign, then the caterer signs, before the deposit falls due.

• Sign a location release online

  Signing a location release online has to show that the person granting filming owns the property, which parts of it the crew may use, and how it will be put back. This two page release for three days of filming at a farmhouse near Ballarat has the owner type the areas she wants excluded, sign with her name and date, and the producer sign a four line company block, all before the first filming day.

• Sign a media interview consent form online

  Signing a media interview consent form online should let a guest agree to each use separately, and know they can still pull out before the episode goes live. This one page form for a Hobart food and farming podcast has the guest type an X for audio, for video and for use of their full name, then sign with their name and the date, ten days before the recording.

• Sign a model release form online

  Signing a model release form online for paid work has to record more than consent to be photographed: the shoot date, each use the model agrees to, how long, and the fee. This two page release for a swimwear catalogue shoot in Byron Bay has the model confirm her name, type her agency or none, type an X for web use and for print use, and sign before the photographer countersigns.

• Sign a performer contract online

  Signing a performer contract online should fix the set times, the fee and where it is paid before the band loads in, without the venue and the band waiting on each other. This three page booking for a four piece soul band at a Fremantle hotel has the band's leader type the bank account name and sign, and the venue's booker sign a company block, both invited at the same moment.

• Sign a speaker agreement online

  Signing a speaker agreement online should settle the two things organisers and speakers argue about afterwards: whether the session may be recorded, and what the fee covers. This three page agreement for a 40 minute breakout at a Perth logistics conference has the speaker type an X to permit recording, type any dietary and access needs, and sign before the conference director countersigns.

• Sign a sponsorship agreement online

  Signing a sponsorship agreement online is about pinning down the benefits, because that table is what the sponsor will check the festival against months later. This five page major partner agreement for a Victorian twilight festival has the sponsor's marketing director initial the eight row benefits table behind an emailed code and sign a four line block, then the festival director signs.

• Sign a venue hire agreement online

  Signing a venue hire agreement online should lock in the date, the money and the rules that cost hirers their bond, before anyone books a band. This four page agreement for a Friday night 40th in a Ballarat function room has the hirer type the expected guest count, type an X under the noise limits and sign, then the venue's events manager countersigns, 39 days before the party.

• Sign an event vendor agreement online

  Signing an event vendor agreement online lets a market check a food stall's paperwork before it takes a pitch: the food registration number and the insurer, typed by the stallholder, then reviewed and countersigned. This three page agreement for seven Thursday nights at a Victorian twilight market has a dumpling stall type both, choose power with a typed X, and sign before the market manager.

• Sign an exhibitor contract online

  Signing an exhibitor contract online should leave no doubt about which stand was booked, what it costs and who carries the insurance. This three page contract for a two day hospitality trade show in Adelaide has the coffee roaster exhibiting type the stand number it was allocated, type an X undertaking to supply its insurance certificate, and sign a company block, then the organiser countersigns.