THE SITC EXPERIENCE!!

BEWARE! LONG POST AHEAD!

So as I have mentioned in previous posts, I attended this amazing event called "Summer in the City".

Summer in the City is an event that has been held in London for up to 4-5 years now, being one of the UK's largest Youtube gatherings. This year it was held at Alexandra Palace on the 17th-18th of August. It had a large amount of things going on at it including:

• Youtuber Meet and Greets
• Panels 
• Live Performances
• Merchandise booths

etc.....

It was amazing, I got to do so many things, but I was slightly disappointed I only got to go on one of the days that it was happening due to other commitments.

Never the less, I had a great time and because I had such a great time, I thought I might as well write up what I did during the 1st day of Summer in the City :-D

THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY!

So I started up early from the B&B I was staying at and made my way up to Alexandra Palace around 1 hour before the event opened to the public. when I arrived, I was astounded by how many people had shown up. I had expected people to have arrived earlier than me being that it was 10am, but I swear there was already around 200-300 people already arrived and lined up to enter into the event to see their favourite Youtube stars.

I hate lines. I'm can be a patient person when I want to, but for a cue with 300 people in it and still another hour to go I decided ask some of the staff if there was a chance I could volunteer at the event.

Now I know what you are going to ask: "ProfKranc, were you just seeing if you could volunteer so you could sneak inside and skip the line?"

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Maybe....

Nah guys, I'm not that irresponsible. I was actually genuinely interested if I could volunteer for the day. Seeing stuff as a attendee of the event is one thing, but being part of the behind the scenes is another :-).

However, after some unsuccessful attempts to volunteer, I milled around some of the nearby shops to waste time, hoping the enormous line would die down once the gates had opened.

They didn't.

When the gates had finally opened, the line had wrapped around the building and covered the grounds surrounding it. I still didn't want to get caught in the line, especially because I was at the event all by myself. So I went back to a place I found while wasting time before Alexandra Palace opened.

At the side of the building there was a side entrance that 1 guy was guarding. I'm ashamed that I can't remember his name now, but he was a really friendly guy who worked for security at Alexandra Palace for all the events that took place here. 

We exchanged stories about each other and had a few laughs while a few small time Youtubers arrived seeking entrance with their invitations.

Then there was a fateful meeting a beautiful young woman. And thus a new chapter of the story unfolds.

Meeting a new friend

Two volunteers came up to us from the building, telling us some more Youtubers would be coming this way while handing the guard a list of who should be arriving. Julia was one of those volunteers.

Julia is a girl from Austria who was volunteering at the event. She also has a Youtube channel where she vlogs. I WAS IN ONE OF HER VIDS BTW!

Here is a her video on Summer in the City and a link to her channel if you are interested :-).

Julia's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/juliaisaglobetrotter

Anyway, she was assigned to the side entrance to help identify the Youtubers coming round to make sure they were sent in the right direction. During this we talked and I was able to find out a bit more about her, why she is here and what was going on inside Alexandra Palace behind the scenes. 

After talking with her for a while and seeing that there was no chance of the line shortening anytime soon, I decided to stay for an hour or so after the gates had opened at 11am to see whether or not I could just wait out the cue. 

So after 11am, more and more Youtubers who were performing came round to the entrance to get inside, some bring in company, some not. But in the end, Julia and the security guard did their job and some of the Youtuber's companions were turned away.

As more and more Youtubers arrived, a small group of about fan girls without tickets to the event had arrived to quickly take photos with whatever stars they could find. 

Now before I continue, I'm just going to explain what a fan girl is for anyone who has been living under a rock :-p.

Fangirl - An analysis

A fan girl (as the word suggests) is a girl who is a fan of something. You would think that's it right? Heh heh WRONG!

The term fan girl is more commonly known for some of the more extreme female fans out there. Have you ever seen Justin Beiber fans? Fans of small/ young screaming girls who are crying in the audience of 1 Direction concerts? The ones who are beyond obsessed with these people who they ogle over? Yeah, they are fan girls.

This is a tame photo for what I saw.

Anyway, back to the story

The Stars Approached

The fan girls were waiting around yet again, the group had grown slightly, but it wasn't anything the security guard couldn't handle.

You know, I wouldn't have described these girls as fan girls until I saw them react to what I' about to tell you.

The events were slowly getting into session inside the building. I was still waiting outside the side entrance with the security guard and Julia, sharing some Oreos among them and the surrounding fan girls. Then a black car with tinted windows pulled up. 

It took me a while to realise, but upon examination of the shadows inside the backseats of the car where non other than the popular twin vloggers "Jack and Finn (JacksGap)".

(Jack and Finn from JacksGap)

Only seconds after realising who the shadows were in the back of this car, the driver got out of the car to open the door to allow the stars to get out and make their way into the building. The fan girls caught sight of Jack and Finn and began screaming with excitement. 

Jack and Finn urgently pleaded to the driver to close the door and drive on through quickly. Julia, the security guard and I removed the barrier leading to the building and the car began passing on through. 

Meanwhile the fan girls were crying just from the sight of Jack and Finn, one biting her finger to prevent herself from screaming anymore.

Of coarse this screaming brought more fan girls to the area and began discussing excitedly how Jack and Finn had been here.

Moments later, the black car showed again exiting the building, now without Jack and Finn. However, this did not matter to the fan girls as they began to feel the car just for having the Youtubers in it.

I don't want to paint fan girls a bad name as it seems I making them out worse than what they are. I got talking to them and they were actually really nice. I was just really surprised about how they reacted to the sight of Jack and Finn. I only thought the stories of fan girls were just gross exaggerations of the real thing, but now I have learnt the truth.

After Jack and Finn, no more Youtubers came and Julia was allowed to go back into the building after a job well done. 

I went back to the main entrance. It was now around midday and the line had finally died down. I was able to get in without a problem and began exploring the massive venue.

The Venue

Entering I could see the place was absolutely packed full of people (as it would be). Seeing that this was now around 1pm, I grabbed the nearest program and found out what was on next. 

Upon looking at the program, I figured I had some time to kill before I could go see one of the panels I wanted called "Taste and Decency on Youtube". So I made my way to the main hall and explored.

There where quite a few booths here. They included video games, bars, free hugs, merchandise, a Youtube network and the Youtube consultation area (with FREE MILKSHAKES) which is where I got the Creator Playbook. 

After wasting some time, I made my way out to the main entrance. I was in the middle of trying to find a vending machine for something to snack on when I ran into Julia again. She was wondering too after she lost her friends. So she stuck with me as we continued to explore.

Eventually I came across a Youtube star. None other than Liam Dryden :-D.

Liam Dryden

Liam Dryden is a random Youtuber who helped make Summer in the City. But the main reason I got giggly from the sight of him (Oh God, I'm a fan girl) is because he was Scottish (even creepier XD).

Anyway, he was the only Scottish Youtuber I knew and so I wanted to meet him. 

By the way, I don't have an obsession with the Scottish. For one reason and another, I feel like I have a special connection with Scotland. So I went up to him and guess what I did?

I shook his hand and told him that I respected what he was doing and that he should be proud.

Yeah, I did just that. See I'm not a fan girl :-p.

Panels Arise

Afterwards, we went to a couple of panels and I got to shake the hand of a couple other Youtubers including Benjamin Cook, Tomska and Ciaran O'Brien.

After a panel called "Short films on Youtube", I got talking to Ciaran afterwards and he actually told me about how he got invloved with Youtube.

Just a bit of background on Ciaran. Ciaran is a 1 man crew that helps a lot with filming other Youtubers stuff while also doing jobs for production companies.

Ciaran O'Brien

He told me about how he started off doing stuff for production companies and worked with a couple of Youtubers before he got spotted by Tomska during Summer in the City with his camera. 

But anyway, after we talked all the way into the main hall he got surrounded by a few fans wanting autographs, photos and other things of the such. So I let him be and made my way to another panel about the new Youtube layout.

Something I actually noticed during this panel is that the Youtube staff presenting the panel were getting slowly bashed by the Youtubers present about how they have lost a lot of their traffic because of the new system put in place on Youtube. I won't get into that, but I was able to make a few friends who were Youtubers there. 

After this panel, the big event happened where a star studded cast of people from Youtube came and did a panel on the main stage, asking questions that the series "Becoming Youtube" poked questions at.

I'm kinda slowly losing the amount of detail I'm putting into this it seems, so I'll be quick and briefly explain the rest of the night.

When Day Turns into Night

Julia, her friends and I all stayed to watch a couple of the final live performances and made our way to the bar. This was quite a fun part as a few Youtubers and many of the event attendees had arrived. 

We had a few drinks and before you knew it everyone was gone. I sadly parted ways with everyone and made my way home for a good night sleep.

Moral of the Story

I'll say that I had a wonderful experience at Summer in the City. Even though I could only go for one day, I made lots of new friends, got to meet some brilliant Youtubers and learn some valuable information.

I would totally advice you to go to Summer in the City next year. It's a blast for anyone who goes :-).

Anyway yeah. That is my big long post about the Summer in the City experience over. I'll catch you later. Live long and prosper or something like that :-D.

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RANDOM VIDEO TIME!!!