YouTube Australia Blog: My experience at Vidcon

My experience at Vidcon

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

This is a guest post by YouTube Partner “TwistedTim01” who recently attended Vidcon 2011 in Los Angeles.

After seeing my favourite Youtubers attend Vidcon last year, I thought “Attending Vidcon would be a dream. I will make this happen.” I was able to fully fund the trip from Tasmania to Los Angeles as a two week trip after months of saving. Earlier in the year I also noticed Alen from ChampChong write on Twitter that he planned on attending, so I organised to travel with him.

While staying in Hollywood for a week, Alen and I met with brilliant content creators such as Daneboe of Annoying Orange, Bobjenz, Kevin Brueck, Greg Benson, Funnyz, KeepTHEheat, and DavidUngerMusic, with whom I organised a collaborative music video cover / parody.

When I got to Vidcon, I found it extremely informative. It was super entertaining to watch all of the amazingly talented creators perform, talk, and interact. I was also lucky enough to perform a few songs on stage and do a live music show for Vokle.com, where I could interact with viewers watching the Vidcon stream.

Here’s a summary of some things I learned from Vidcon:

1. Networking among the YouTube community is key
YouTube is both a media site and a social network, so of course networking plays a large role. It’s the best feeling to work together to create great content, share tips with one another, and make friends with people who love doing what you do. There’s always a way to contact other creators to network, collaborate, and get opinions about your work — just stay persistent. Nothing happens overnight.

2. Trying to get exposure? Stop trying so hard!
The more popular YouTubers are people with a hobby and lots of talent — just like a football player, musician, or skateboarder! If you have talent and you’re working hard on your videos, eventually people will catch on and follow your work.

3. Have fun
If you’re having fun while creating content, then who cares if you’re not getting the views you want? Just open up, have fun, and show your personality. It’s what people like.

Vidcon was amazing, I made so many new friends, and learned a lot of great lessons. If you have any other questions upon my trip, feel free to comment them below or post them as a comment on my channel. I’ll do my best to get back to you!

Posted by Tim Whybrow, who recently watched Gym Class Heroes