Photo from LearningDSLRVideo.com
So, VidCon is a thing that has happened. Never heard of VidCon? Well, it was only the biggest and baddest online video conference/gathering that there ever was, and you missed it! Gutted. I gave a few talks, played a few songs, made some new friends, gave a lot of hugs, dived into a few ball pits, and took my pants off. Yes, I took my pants off on stage, and yes, I’m still completely teetotal. I’m still not quite sure how I did it.
If, however, you had already heard of VidCon and didn’t need it explained to you, apologies for that last paragraph. Massive respect goes to Hank Green (the main organiser) and all of the team that worked on the conference for managing to pull everything together so well. Sure, there was room for improvement, but seeing as it was Hank’s first go I think he did a brilliant job, and I can’t wait to see how he can build upon it next year … if there is a next year. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed, and I’ll be sure to swoop up the opportunity if he chooses to invite me again.
The most overwhelming thing about the conference though was how many people seemed to know who I was. I did my absolute best to meet as many people as possible when I had spare time to do so, and fortunately everybody that I met was very lovely, friendly, and not creepy in the slightest. There were, however, a few times when I’d head down to the lobby to meet up with a friend for lunch, bump into someone who wanted a photo, and then look behind them a few minutes later to find that a “meet charlieissocoollike!” line had formed all on it’s own. The moments where I had to turn people away so that I could go and get some food were incredibly hard for me to handle, I wanted to give everyone the chance to meet me, but I just didn’t have the time. If you were at VidCon and didn’t get the chance to say hey, I can’t apologize enough :(
Another Thing
As well as VidCon being as thing that has happened, another thing has happened that I want to inform you all about, and that’s FirstTV. I’m extremely lucky to be in the position that I am, I’m thankful for it every day, to live in a world where opportunities get handed to me as often as I do. As a 19 year old without much life direction, when I was approached to audition for a job in traditional presenting I thought “hey, sure, I’ll give it a go”. After all, I wasn’t ever going to know if traditional presenting was the job for me unless I tried it out, so when the producer of FirstTV was kind enough to give me a shot, and a job, I jumped in.
Image from FirstTV
However, it was only after the first day of shooting that I started to feel out of place. Reading from a script didn’t feel right, no matter how much I tried to make it my own, it just wasn’t the show for me … so I decided to quit. Everybody that works on the show is downright lovely, and we all became friends very quickly, which just made my decision to leave all the harder. But hey, when something doesn’t feel right, logically or emotionally, all you can do is use your best judgment.
I don’t regret my decision to join the FirstTV team, albeit very briefly, because without that experience I wouldn’t ever have known that traditional presenting just wasn’t for me. For the FirstTV team of the future, I wish you all the best of luck, and for anyone that’s interested, you’ll be able to find the next four episodes, appearing one by one (all of my stuff has already been shot) on their website: firsttv.tv – I actually break a world record in the first episode, surely it’s worth watching just for that :)
Thanks again to the FirstTV team for the opportunity, to Emma, Nick and Fran for being such lovely ladies and co-presenters, and to you, for your continued support while I try and work out what the hell I want to do with my life. I’ll know at least by the time I reach 30, I promise. <3
