Last week, I attended TwitchCon with friends and members of the streaming community for the second time. This year, TwitchCon took place in Long Beach, CA and I was able to book an Airbnb that was within walking distance to the Long Beach Convention Center.
Thursday — Day Zero
I flew into Long Beach Airport in the afternoon from Seattle.
JetBlue has a direct flight from Seattle to Long Beach — this was an absolute time-saver. The JetBlue employees I met were friendly and helpful and I would totally fly them again when possible. One employee at the gate even remembered me and asked how my trip was when I asked him for the baggage carousel number on my return flight.
In less than two hours, I was able to grab my bags, drop them off at my Airbnb, and pick up my TwitchCon Affiliate badge before I had to head to my first photo shoot at TwitchCon. This would not be possible without the assistance of “the Dillingers” (John and Mrs. Dillinger), who picked me up from the airport and got me where I needed to be during this time period.
Team Sin Squad Meetup
A week before TwitchCon, one of my friends reached out to me about photography at an event she was hosting. Meghan, better known as SinfullyRiddling, was organizing a meet up for her stream team — aptly named Team Sin Squad — and many of her team mates did not have professional photos.
I offered to take pictures for free. Many of her team mates are small to medium-sized broadcasters who would definitely benefit from the support. Her team has provided so much support and community to them, so why not surprise them!
Domino’s Pizza was extremely kind to provide free food (pizza, sides, and dessert), drinks, and fidget spinners for this event.
The meetup lasted into the night. While team members were hanging out, I did head shots for members of the team.
I had to pleasure to catch up with old friends (Leshkee, CMDRHughMann, Tyrynn) and meet broadcasters that I’ve discovered in the past year for the first time. From RayforRachel (recommended by Meg and the Dillingers at PAX East 2017) to Erik_Da_Nerd, I had the opportunity to get to know the members of Team Sin Squad better.
As the night ended, Meghan’s family made an appearance at the meetup. I had the opportunity to talk with them and I was amazed by their outpouring support for her team — and more importantly — her decision to pursue full-time broadcasting on Twitch.
I was also surprised when one very special guest made a surprise appearance to the meetup.
Chase, the Public Relations Director at Twitch, found out about the meetup and decided to show up — he refused to reveal details of how he found out, but his presence was definitely appreciated. He is one of the most engaged, and dedicated Twitch staff members that I have met. He collected business cards from the team members who were still present and drew one card, which he would use his Twitch Prime subscription on.
As the crowd died down, I began packing my camera equipment, said my goodbyes, and went back to my Airbnb. On the ride back, it became apparent that one of my goals for next year is to become a member of Team Sin Squad. The interactions that I had with team members and Meg that evening cemented my resolve to grow as a broadcaster.
Pictures from the event are available here.
Friday — Day One
After six or seven hours of sleep, I prepared to get ready for day one of TwitchCon. Before going to brunch, I spent the morning editing photos using Adobe Lightroom Mobile on my iPad, sending off a few tweets, and deciding what to pack for the convention.
This is the first time I used Adobe Lightroom Mobile, which was included with my Creative Cloud subscription. Combined with the Apple Lightning to SD card adapter, I was able to import, process, and post photos to social media quickly.
Brunch in solitude, or not
Before heading over to the convention, I decided to grab brunch at the Long Beach Cafe, thinking that I wouldn’t be recognized while eating. I was completely wrong. Digital Extremes was hosting a brunch at the cafe and several friends (and Warframe streamers) were present. While I was waiting for my food, I took the opportunity to snap a couple of pictures of the attendees.
TwitchCon: The First Day
I made it to the Long Beach Convention Center with time to spare. There was plenty to see outside the convention center, such as cosplay, musical performances, and Dr. Disrespect arriving in a Lamborghini. I also had the opportunity to see friends — both new and old — at the convention today.
I was fortunate to see friends that I met at PAX East earlier this year again. I saw Zach and Radders again. Zach was my roommate for PAX East this year (thanks to wgrates) and he brought along his Spartan (from the Halo franchise) armor to TwitchCon — I have fond memories working with it at PAX East. Unfortunately, I was unable to get pictures of it this time around. I was also able to see several broadcasters that I met at TwitchCon last year such as Not_Jenn, Maquannas, and littlesiha.
Inside the expo hall, I was able to get a quick photoshoot with Lodey, Chris, and PetraCat. I was also reunited with several friends from PAX West, including Halie_Atisuto and xNikkiB. On my way to the panel I planned on attending today, I was able to meet Hannahbart in-person for the first time and I was able to get a few pictures of her on the way to the panel. Earlier this year, two friends of mine (CarlyontheMoon and wgrates) raided her channel on the same night and I’ve been a viewer ever since.
Panel: Building a Strong & Unique Community on Twitch
Several of my friends were participants on a panel about community building. One of the most important things about Twitch that differentiates it from similar websites is the strong sense of community around broadcasters. Given that in mind, I was extremely interested in learning from some of the masters of community building on Twitch. I was extremely impressed with how much collective advice, insight, and experience the panelists had to offer. If you’re still reading this, please watch the video above!
Pictures from Friday are available here.
Main Menu Masquerade
A few weeks prior to the convention, iKasperr from Main Menu and Tiltify reached out to me about being a photographer at their TwitchCon Masquerade Mixer this year.
I have had the pleasure of being friends with Kasper for over a year and he puts in so much energy and effort into making charity streaming a core part of the Twitch community. That being said, I could not refuse this opportunity.
Saturday — Day Two
CarlyontheMoon Community Meetup
The most important event on my calendar for Saturday was CarlyontheMoon’s brunch meetup. Carly is a large part of the reason why I am so involved in the Twitch community. She is responsible for most of the initial introductions with community members last year and one of my biggest supporters — she encouraged me to pick up photography again after a several year hiatus.
I did some more exploration of the show floor, purchased art from the creative corner (the artwork graces my home and office now), and took some more photographs of things that caught my eye.
Pictures from Saturday are available here.
Sunday — Day Three
Animatedbreak Community Brunch
I met AnimatedBreak last year at TwitchCon and his energy, positivity, and friendliness was unforgettable. In the time between TwitchCon last year and now, he became a Twitch Partner. I wasn’t able to find him earlier, so when the opportunity presented itself in the form of a community brunch, I couldn’t refuse.
The Expo Floor — Part 3
On the last day on the expo floor, I saw some new and familiar faces. I met Comrade for the first time in person and met Spofie again. Spofie first met at TwitchCon last year when she wanted a picture with a friend. She was an up-and-coming streamer when I first met her and in the time between then and now, she became a Twitch Partner!
I saw Zillieness, BlackLightAttack, and ThaButtress again — friends that I got to meet over the course of this year. I also got to meet Kungfufruitcup (co-host of Sidequest Cafe with BlackLightAttack) and CrystAAHHL (a member ofTeam Sin Squad who was looking to finally meet SinfullyRiddling — I’m glad I captured that moment). I also had the opportunity to meet with Gunrun and talk about broadcast technology — a topic that I was only able to discuss in detail with my friends in college.
Most importantly, I got to see Dan/IDSHOCK, a friend that I got to know over the past year at various conventions and events, again!
Abraham_Linksys Community Dinner
For dinner, I hung out with Abraham_Linksys and his community at Bubba Gump. I am not typically a fan of seafood, but I made an exception this time!
Pictures from Sunday are available here.
Monday — Disneyland
I had never been to a Disney park until this trip and one item on my agenda was to make it out to Disneyland. However, I forgot to make concrete plans to with friends because I was really busy planning for events and photoshoots.
Thank goodness for excellent friends.
Aly, who I had the pleasure of befriending at PAX West this year at the Main Menu event, saved the day. She invited me to go with her group of friends, GamrEnchantment and Minikitty. Before I continue further, I have to say that they’re the best group of friends to go to Disneyland with!
We spent the majority of Monday at the park, where GamrEnchantment (who was also a Disney cast member) gave a in-depth tour about the park and its magic!
Conclusions
I had a great time at TwitchCon this year and got the opportunity to see old friends, make new ones, and have fun. In addition, I was able to use my passion for photography to help friends and small broadcasters at the convention this year. Also, I want to take the time here to thank everyone who made this convention and this trip an extremely positive experience.
A future post discussing my plans on Twitch for the next year will be out before the end of the year, but I wanted to leave with several takeaways and goals:
- Support other broadcasters by utilizing my broadcast production experience to help others grow. I stream because I am passionate about the medium and want to see it grow and mature as a whole. Four years working in broadcast production with RPI TV showed me that the space is still young and has plenty of room for growth and refinement. I’ll write more about this someday.
- Become a force multiplier for good. I was inspired by several discussions I had with Twitch staff about charity streaming and broadcast technology. Those discussions have motivated me on focusing on fundraising for charitable causes I care about and working with other broadcasters on finding ways to improve the production quality of broadcasts without spending a small fortune doing so.
Note: Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon, where I work as an engineer. I traveled to TwitchCon and purchased an Affiliate badge using my own funds. Disclosure is important here and views here are my own.
