Sooooo it's definitely not Monday anymore. My bad Posted something similar in Charles' thread, as I met him, Allie and Danny. Take a look there if you want my rambling recap. Anyways, here's my rambling recap of meeting Alli, Chase and Justin, as well as attending a panel of hers.sweetmusic wrote:Hey all. I'm currently at VidCon, was able to meet Alli, Chase and Justin (among others). Didn't bring my laptop this trip, and typing from my phone is a hell of a task lol. Expect some recaps and observations come Monday when I return home!
On the first day of Vidcon, Alli and Justin had a live gaming thing going on where they played Mario Kart with viewers (as seen on Alli's vlogs). Sat in the front row and had some funny interactions with Alli while she was commentating. It was mostly Justin playing with viewers/fans, which I thought Alli and Justin would compete with each other (they did once), or Alli would compete with her viewers. Even Justin kept telling Alli to switch with him, saying "wouldn't you guys rather play with her than me?" I felt the same way, among others, but didn't really mind since it was cool to be in her presence. It was fun to hear her commentary and see how nerdishly good Justin is at Mario Kart (I know nerdishly isn't a word lol).
Afterwards, Alli had a mini meet-up that moved outside of the convention center, since security kicks everyone out promptly at 6 PM. Before it moved outside, I had a chance to chat with Justin and Chase. Justin low key invited me to a Mario Kart playing party haha (didn't happen though, but would have been neat). He's cute in a kinda nerdy way, very friendly and pretty expressive in the way he talks, much like his sister. When meeting Chase, he was more talkative than I thought! He was happy to be accompanying Alli, and was overwhelmed since it was his first ever YouTube event. Didn't realize how massive it was, and the fact that people recognize him now. He mentioned something about having people wave to him and Alli, and he keeps walking while Alli acknowledges them/stops to say hello, and had to get used to that real fast AND OH MY GOODNESS he showed me his phone lock screen, which is the most adorable thing ever...it was of Alli sleeping in bed, with her arm curled around Nuna who was looking at the camera. SO PRECIOUS Apparently Nuna and Chico have very similar personalities, and Chase has grown very fond of Chico, as Alli did with Nuna.
Went outside where Alli's mini meet-up continued. Alli gave me a HUGE hug and looked genuinely happy when I told her that I had been watching her for years, and still love her videos to this day. We talked about hair (I know, super cool), how I loved her naturally curly hair, and how mine looks similar to hers. I straightened my hair that day, but she grabbed a chunk of my hair and said "I want this" lol. She's definitely the kind of person I can see myself being friends with in real life, compared to other YTers I watch. I feel like we have a similar personality, similar interests, and only a few years apart in age. Really genuine too, as seen in her latest vlog thanking everyone who helped make VidCon happen. Love me some Alli!
Kevin and Datev were around as well, but didn't say hi since I don't watch their vlogs. Datev is GORGEOUS in person, as we can see in her videos. Pretty, pretty girl. And then there's Kevin...
The second day, I went to the Expanding Beyond Your Vertical panel with Alli, Benny Fine, Olga Kay, Toby Turner and Rory Haines as moderator. And holy crap, Benny Fine is a YouTube genius. He is SO smart and knowledgable of how YouTube works, and it's impressive. All the panelists (and people who attended) looked genuinely intrigued when Benny was spitting out facts and stuff. Lots of respect for the guy, he's so so so smart. Anyways, Benny mentioned something about how viewership depends on consistency and timeliness on your uploads...something Alli obviously doesn't follow. If you tell a viewer you upload every Wednesday, they will look for your video on Wednesday. If it's late, the "hardcore" fans will still watch it, but a casual viewer will either watch it, or ditch the channel. He explained more about the "mechanics" behind how it works. Even uploading two videos in a day, people will likely only watch the first one due to how YouTube's website works (don't remember by detail, it was really elaborate).
Alli made a few "oops I'm guilty" faces while Benny explained all of this. She later chimed in, mentioning that she admittedly fails at keeping a consistent schedule and noticed comments going from positive ones to "where's a new video" ones. She also admitted to feeling as if her videos lack significant content, especially when she's not traveling. Paraphrasing, "Do people really care what I do at home with my dog/what's in my bag/favorites of the month?" I agree that those kinds of videos are extremely common on YouTube, as her travel videos are what sets her apart from others to me. However, I've been a fan of her when I began watching CTFxC so I don't mind her "boring", at home videos.
Exponentially better panel than the "Art of Vlogging" with Charles, Shay, Justine and Jesse and Jeana...that one was a joke and a waste of time, IMO.
There's some other things that happened at VidCon, but I can't remember them at the moment. I'll post later when I remember! Thanks for waiting and reading this long, jumbled post of my thoughts. More to come when I remember!