YouTube Networks Looking ahead at Vidcon vs. Vidsummit in 2022

[MattCommand1]

I am curious as to how people feel about Vidcon vs. Vidsummit. I am thinking about attending one of these out of curiosity in the coming year. I hear the networking opportunities are big in Vidsummit which is the true value compared to the educational value.

I know much more about Vidsummit than I do Vidcon. How do they compare? Vidcon gave me the impression it is not as focused on YT as Vidsummit is.

 

[Damon]

I've always wondered how good these video conventions were.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I've done VidSummit twice (this year in person, 2018 via their virtual tickets) and I did Video Marketing World once in person. My two cents:

Vidcon is fun, that's a big YouTuber event. But that's where you go to meet your favorite YTer. You go to play. Vidsummit is where you go to meet the guys who are trying to really learn and grow. The presentations are based more on the industry and business of YouTube, the tactics that people use not only to grow but how they utilized their YouTube channel while growing an audience and how YouTube works in general. The connections I made at Vidsummit and VMW are... just amazing. I have no other word for it. They are weird... and weirdly amazing. There are no sub counts following you around. That guy you are talking to may have 124 subscribers (that day) and he's talking to someone who has 5.5 million. And they are talking like human beings. Discussing things in a human way.

And you can become friends with that human. Have a group of creators whom you develop and grow with. The value of being there to help each other is immeasurable. And being a human being rather than a channel name or social media handle with these guys makes a huge difference. It's nice to have people like this as members of your own accountability group; those that you can call on when you need an honest opinion of your thumbnail style, your work ethic or even your video presentation.

It's hard to describe their value... I can't put a dollar amount or attribute an amount of views to it. I'm in circles now that I wasn't in then, and it feels really nice not to be quite so alone in the YouTube universe.

One of my all-time favorite connection stories was at the virtual Vidsummit conference. Derral Eves was giving away two virtual tickets and the deal was you had to make a video explaining why another creator deserved to go. You had to sell him on someone else. I chose Hamiltonville Farm. He was smaller than I (I wanted to be that guy giving a leg up to someone else) and he was one of the few outdoors channels in the livestream we were watching. So I immediately made a video about him. Everyone was doing these dumb 30 second testimonials just to get into the contest. I went to the park (so I'd look like I was outdoorsy lol) and filmed my testimonial, and then I shot a handful of b-roll clips and made a decent little video. I totally won and Hamiltonville Farm and I both got virtual tickets.

Six months later Hamiltonville Farm got a hit and a video exploded... I assume this was due to what he learned at Vidsummit. All I know is that he is a 200,000 sub channel now and to this day I still get mentioned randomly in his social media feeds and on his channel. He met with a couple local YTers in his area whom were also in that same size of channel for some business stuff; they were both fishing YouTubers and so he brought me up in conversation. That hasn't gone anywhere for me (yet). But because of Vidsummit three YouTubers with a combined 1 million subscribers were talking about me.

I don't know how to measure the value of that... but in my opinion it makes it totally worthwhile.

 

[MattCommand1]

What a wonderful write-up, just wonderful!

It has been a while since I attended any business conference/convention in any industry. It is almost always about the value proposition. Often, it is about convenience also. I dislike flying nowadays. It was a real slog even pre-Covid.

You are absolutely correct, how does one put a value on personal connections made? We all have to figure out how much money, time, energy, and "hassle" is "worth it".

All I know is that 2022 will soon be upon us and I am trying to get a jump on this as we wrap up the last few days of 2021. Vidsummit 2022 is definitely on my radar and I got a lot to do until then.

 

[MattCommand1]

I just did a lookup on Vidsummit 2022. It looks like it is mostly a 2-day event although it says Sept 27-29, 2022. I guess Sept 27 (registration day) is mostly for vendor setup and attendees are milling around.

Are vendors flying in that Monday or Tuesday? I assume some people leave that Thursday night but I probably would want to stay over to Friday. Are there any "official" events on that Tuesday except for registration?

Anything you recommend in terms of scheduling, logistics, and travel plans?

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

I just did a lookup on Vidsummit 2022. It looks like it is mostly a 2-day event although it says Sept 27-29, 2022. I guess Sept 27 (registration day) is mostly for vendor setup and attendees are milling around.

Are vendors flying in that Monday or Tuesday? I assume some people leave that Thursday night but I probably would want to stay over to Friday. Are there any "official" events on that Tuesday except for registration?

Anything you recommend in terms of scheduling, logistics, and travel plans?

That first afternoon is vendor check-in. Not much going on there... although that is when everyone is flying in. Which means there will be big names wandering around at the venue as well as the airport. Everyone is excited and ready to get started so there are some fun conversations and parties that happen that night.

Afraid I don't have much in the way of recommendations. I'm pretty frugal; I stay at the Motel 6 and I already only eat like once per day so I don't get out much. I live off coffee... so the TB coffee booth is a no brainer for me!

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

Is anything out of vidsummit recorded for people to watch later, I currently live in India, so its quite a ways to go just to get to there.

 

[MattCommand1]

Is anything out of vidsummit recorded for people to watch later, I currently live in India, so its quite a ways to go just to get to there.

Wow, India is far away.

There are Videsummit video recordings available for $199 but one guy told me the recordings are of mixed quality due to unexpected technical difficulties.

 

[Super Cooper Hobbies]

Wow, India is far away.

There are Videsummit video recordings available for $199 but one guy told me the recordings are of mixed quality due to unexpected technical difficulties.

Yep, India's pretty far from the states, took us a long flight to get here.

Thats pretty high considering my budget, but thanks!