the fact that there were so many Maryland creators who didn't even know that this event was happening speaks a lot about their marketing and organizing
said this is a different comment thread but, I live in *walking distance* and never heard of this once, where I knew about Miryokucon happening practically next door in one of the hotels
Yea I drive by the convention center all the time and there is literally NEVER local advertisements for anything they have. I’ve woken up to having to move my car parked on the street for marathons etc. that were planned months ago but never any signs informing local residents of them.
@@LoveAndSnapple I’m not sure what that specific con is but I meant my response as a general commentary on how events hosted in Baltimore are often subsidized/sponsored by the gov for the purpose of boosting the local economy but they fail to adequately advertise them. My apologies if I didn’t word it correctly!
I have lived in Baltimore my whole life, no idea this was going on until you posted about it. Our city has a lot a lot of problems, but events like this are what Baltimore needs. But, it seems like no care or thought was put into this. If it’s a “failure” it won’t come back to Baltimore and we will continue to loose out on business unfortunately.
Really? I couldn't avoid the ads about it. Constant, constant ads. They werent great ads though - i had similar thoughts that they arent putting into the event what it deserves bc it's baltimore and then the city will be blamed....
Same here! By the time I finally heard about it I already had plans that weekend. Now that Otakon is in DC we really need a solid replacement to draw visitors...
@@arbisofficialif i remember correctly, Otakon used to be in Baltimore for years, then it left a while ago. I'm not sure why cause i wasn't much into it at the time. Again tho, i could just be remembering that wrong.
@@kandyappleview They moved because they outgrew the convention center. I volunteer for Otakon and saw first hand how it became difficult each year to try and run an orderly con in a small (small for Otakon) center.
It would be kinda funny if Amanda did a yearly “award show” for these events or created a tier system for ranking events featured in review videos. If you did an award show/end of year wrap up you could create like Swell Stars almost like how Michelin does their Michelin stars for restaurants. Like imagine a 3 star Swell event, it’d be damn near impossible for any event to get but would be so cool to check out the next year cause you know it’s probably gonna be really fun 🥰
@@leahpeachie yeah I think only awarding good events like the Michelin star system would be best. Like especially good events get a swell star and neutral to bad don’t get anything. So she doesn’t burn bridges or anything but can shout out cool events if that makes sense.
Here is the problem with partnering with Baltimore Tourism for advertising: Tourism ads are to attract people from outside the area to come to that particular place as a tourist. They do not market area attractions and events to locals, they want to generate tourism revenue by getting visitors into hotels and spending money at attractions and overpriced restaurants that cater to visitors. While yes, conventions do bring people from other areas to the city, wouldn’t local attendees usually make up the majority of guests?? I’m going to my city’s comic convention at the end of the month, it’s the largest one in the area (15-25 hours drive away from others) but it’s still mostly people who live here. I don’t think I have met anyone who came from farther away than a 3 hours drive, except for vendors or artists.
I think they're probably used to a lot of the conventions being work-based, where most of the attendees are from out of town and sent by their employers. I don't know if this is _currently_ the case, but I know that was their primary market for a long time.
Baltimoron and casual Swell viewer who lives in WALKING distance of the con center here, can confirm I did not see a single advertisement or even generally hear about this con until this video (ironically, I was in SoCal at the time, couldn't have made it if I wanted to)
I got lots of northern Virginia friends and they never heard about vidcon Baltimore till I told them. Not sure who those adds were supposed to have reached
Social media growing pains, I guess. Still a lot of old school concepts mixed up with new school concepts. It's very hard to get the word out these days on any legacy media. I get geo targeted ads on instagram. Couldn't they run ads on insta, tik-tok, youtube, etc. targeted to the area? If not, they need to figure it out.
I'm sure they got a kickback to host it in Baltimore or something. As a person who used to organize an annual event for a business, I can tell you why we, specifically, chose that city. Baltimore is east coat convenient in terms of transportation. It has an international airport (with lots of flights) and Amtrak lines to major cities but it also less expensive than having it in a major city like New York or Boston. Our company was based in Pittsburgh, so it was also drivable for us. We never hosted events in our own city (despite the hotels were cheaper) we have no transportation. The airport is a joke and Amtrak as line 1 line.... so yea Baltimore was better for us logistically.
I'm surprised they didn't try to book National Harbor rather than the BCC; they do Magfest every year and so many other conventions and it's more central to both Baltimore and Washington and is much more well known to conventions than downtown Baltimore, and the hotel is right there. But it's all about trying to please the cities who want these big new events.
@@MrSchimpf The BCC is a public building so there's a little less immediate risk if the con tanks -- to do a con at National Harbor takes some serious confidence you'll break even
As someone who went to Otakon and other conventions in Baltimore, here are the reasons to pick Baltimore: 1. The convention center is a great mid-size event location. It can handle pretty large events without feeling like space is being wasted. 2. The city is centrally located and pulls attendees from both the north and south. 3. It's easier for attendees to manage than DC (seriously, the fit everyone threw when Otakon moved to DC was massive) 4. The locals have historically been SUPER supportive of nerdy, niche events. The city is a mess, but I've got tons of stories of locals helping out event attendees in need. Also, I live close enough to still be considered "local" in their advertising range. I did get the ads for this event, but I didn't go because those ads were just a mashup of faces I didn't recognize. I didn't understand what the draw would be if I didn't know the creators, so I just ignored them. I had zero idea you would be a guest. Oh, and local ads were on Facebook, lol.
These are good logistical points. I think Amanda is right on that they got some sort of financial break from the state of Maryland, too. I work in marketing and have a foot in the events world. I'm not surprised at all things were chaotic. Nobody has any money to do anything the right way right now.
Aaaaaye! Fellow Otakon attendee!! I miss when it was in Baltimore. It felt more like home there. I like the new location so far but it hasn’t hit the same yet
This was my first VidCon. As a full-time artist/content creator and a recent Maryland transplant it was equally exciting and confusing that VidCon chose Baltimore. I figured it was worthwhile to take advantage of the opportunity, so I purchased a Community Track badge for Saturday. The Industry track pricing seemed crazy high. After hearing your thoughts I'm glad I didn't do it. I attended the Cultivating Creativity panel which was one of the highlights of the day! Thank you for your awesome insights. Attendance seemed low, and mostly children. I honestly felt a little out of place. I guess I had a bit more of an expectation that there would be more attendees who also post on social media. That was disappointing. I was also disappointed that VidCon didn't really provide anything for those on the Community Track to do other than panels, meet-and-greets, and meandering the expo hall. It took all of 10 minutes to see everything on the con floor. I would have LOVED for there to have even been something as simple as a networking room for attendees. Flying across the country to attend VidCon Anaheim still seems like the overall better option but it's frustrating that Baltimore fell so short.
Also my first VidCon. Also confused but grateful MD transplant. Also... I echo everything you said. I finally filled out my feedback form and was so thorough! It's really irritating that I'm finding more people in this comment section that I could've connected with irl had they bothered to schedule creator meetups. And it would’ve been something else to do!
I follow many east coast youtube channels who I would say are in that mid-size tier and had NO IDEA there was even an east coast vidcon. I honestly think if they had appealed to mid-size creators they probably would have gotten more people going given how many of them still went all the way out to Anaheim vidcon.
As a Baltimorean this event was advertised to me but I didn't know any of the featured creators so I didn't go and it's so disappointing to see how many creators I would have known after the fact when they post their content. I would have gone just to see you queen!!!
I couldn't have made it bc ironically I was in SoCal that weekend for a different event, but, I live in *walking distance* and still never heard of this event til this video dropped
I took the bar exam in that convention center so that place is haunting. That being said, if they had the squishmallow claw machine I’d happily go next year
Hope Swell makes her way to Lightbox Expo some day, I know shes aware shes THE best background noise for artists everywhere. It'd be fun to see her review an artist made event
I'm so confused. I always assumed that booking entire floors of hotels for any kind of conference/meeting/etc. would automatically mean that you hire security or do some kind of deal with the hotel to increase security. You can't have fans (that aren't staying at the hotel btw) just hang out at the hall hoping to meet someone. I've been inside hotels were nothing was happening and even then security asked me what I was doing there.
I’ve helped run pretty big events and things like security are worked out in the contract. Generally, the event is responsible for paying for additional security but best practice is to put guests and VIPs on floors where the elevators can be locked down and have either con staff or paid security do sweeps every so often.
I feel like most industry conferences really don't need additional security. I saw a high school friend post about how excited she was about being on a panel at the theatre ticket booking office convention - she definitely wasn't worried about attendees following her back to her hotel room. The issue is that hotels are treating those kind of conventions the same as public conventions. As @silmarian said the event needs to pay for the extra security costs and ideally would bring up security concerns themselves, but I don't think we should completely let the hotels off the hook - they should have an idea of the kind of event and what level of security is required. Hotels should turn down bookings if they feel a certain level of security is required and the organisers refuse to pay for it.
I see you in the future as a convention consultant. You would do very good at it. Your reviews are just so levelheaded constructive. Even when you have negative points, you’re giving points of improvement rather than points of destruction and your good points are lifting up those points and also talking about what can be improved to make it even more more awesome and if there is nothing more, you’re highlighting it properly.
Ok. Saw the video. I'm not surprised. The part where you mentioned that Vidcon Baltimore did advertise in connection with the tourism board tells me all I need to know. The convention center is a popular facility not because the events are good. Its popular because its prime real estate with a ton of potential. Its right by the highway, near two stadiums, the harbor, two arenas, a casino, nightlife, hotels, etc. And yet the city coordinates with absolutely none of these places and wastes all of that potential. The city can't afford to modernize it. No one knows what happens there. No fanfare when events do happen. The permanent staff seem to hate it there. (Don't blame them.) Honestly I know more about the events at Science Center and the Train museum than I do the convention center. Its just a miserable location where every event seems half-full as events beg last minute for lower prices and less space. The city will lead on event planners about all the advertising around the city but its all on public transit or online. An absolute waste for reaching target demographics. IDK man. I wrote all this and I don't know why. Baltimore doesn't have to be like this. Theres a lot of good shit here but it always seems wasted. Rant over I guess.
@@meow.4972 No not at all. This is the inner harbor. With the way the highways are setup, this area has been (and should be) a commuter & tourist space. Gentrification is a bigger issue in neighborhoods deeper into the city that generally rely on the local economy.
MidCon needs to be a thing. A convention dedicated to mid sized creators with wings of a convention center as genres to explore. Industry would avoid it like the plague but fans of multiple genres would have a blast.The panels would be the opportunity for crossovers and gaining new audiences. Sponsored by Swell Entertainment and Shenanigan Enterprises.
I am in the DMV and had no clue this happened. Traditional physical advertising is not enough, especially for a market where inter-commuting is common. DC people will go up to Baltimore for events and vice versa. Targeted social ads that can account for this spread are needed, as well!
It was great to meet you at the meet & greet Swell! I’ve been to the Baltimore Convention Center for many events over the years. This event was the most bafflingly barren one I’ve gone to there. Aside from only a handful of panels that actually interested me, there was absolutely nothing to do. I ended up spending most of the time chatting with a group of teenagers who found out I did some art for minecraft youtubers. I’m very glad I was close enough to just get there with public transport, if I’d had to pay for a flight and hotel to get there for it to be as bad as it was, I’d’ve been pissed.
same! The con floor was SO barren - and I only went on Saturday, where badges apparently sold out. I've been going to comic and anime cons since 2006 and this is definitely the most barren convention I've *ever* attended. I attended 2 panels and that's just about all the value I got. The expo hall was boring, but it was nice that there was no line for food lol. I'm glad I went with a friend because otherwise I think I would have been awkwardly walking up to strangers in the hopes of finding other content creators to chat with.
I want to echo your concerns about safety. I am an adult sex educator/out trans person/gets many threats via internet. Not only do I have "fans", but due to the millieu we're in I get a ton of unwanted sexual attention. On top of that, in some areas I am considered to be a presenter worth advertising for. I always bring up safety concerns when attending events, and rarely do I get more than "we'll have [usually volunteer] security on site". Only once did I attend an event when I had a security person check in with me several times a day to make sure nothing hinky happened.
It’s crazy. You’d think people would take this seriously, given the shit that has happened and continues. It’s really shocks me that these events don’t take safety that seriously. Especially for trans people, there’s so many unhinged transphobic people out there, it’s just complete insanity. Do they just not care, or is it a money issue? Though I guess, if they did care they’d actually have more security and safety measures regardless how much it costs.
23:01 as a furry, I can say you’re not wrong. We got our shit down pat! When you’re one of the most hated people on the internet, we need to have our safe space secure. :)
As a Baltimore native the question "What's in Baltimore?" is absolutely the right thing to ask lol. I love my city, and there's a good bit of cool stuff but like, yeah, out of every city on the east coast *why* ? our convention center sucks, the city is CONSTANTLY under construction, and the streets themselves are a damn maze😂
I had a friend visit from Canada, and she asked what major things were around to do. My response was "um... we have stuff...i guess?..." lol I mean we do have a lot of history and the are some cool spots but i thought maybe some I've lived here all my life everything seems normal to me.
@@nicholaskovach2072 wouldn't it be the Pandemic that mostly killed of the conference and conversation business. If the Pandemic didn't happen but George Floyd happened. Maybe 2021 conversation industry would be hit.
@@tcbobb1613 I’m sure the pandemic didn’t help, but several large conventions left Baltimore within the year or two post the George Floyd incident. At least one trade show I used to go to had a 20 plus year run there halted the immediate year after and moved to TN. You have to remember that incident had and will have a lasting effect on insurance rates for hosting events in Baltimore for the foreseeable future.
I love Baltimore. I went to college there and it’s a very charming city with a lot of corruption from the government but also a lot of amazing people. That being said, I wanted to go to this vidcon just to meet Amanda but there was literally no other reason for me to go and it just didn’t seem worth it to buy a ticket for just a chance to meet one of my fav creators. Vidcon needs to offer more!
I was expecting the "it’s a very charming city with a lot of ..." to follow up with "parks, museums etc". Did not expect corruption :D I do remember the mayhem with the local police forces from a few years ago, though.
@@draakonikihv Some neighborhoods are charming and full of college kids looking for cheap rent, museums are decent, downtown is not very safe to walk around at night, but fells point and federal hill have lively bars (at least they were when I lived there). I keep telling people Baltimore has a lot of potential.
@@draakonikihvOh the government corruption in Baltimore is NEXT level. Plenty of officials unnecessarily making six-figures yet there was a study released around Feb 2023 that found something like in 21 schools none of the 7th graders could pass elementary level reading comprehension or basic math exams.
Glad you are talking about the importance of proper safety. Have found out once at a con I was in room next to a creator I follow, and I was confused as heck why they were not at least on a floor that wasn't for regular attendees (as they were an invited guest speaker). It felt really strange to know that the people in charge of security for the invited guests had overlooked this.
Otakon used to be the BIG EVENT for Baltimore con center until it moved to DC years ago and I heard they were really trying to get Otakon back/other big events to come
@kandyappleview yeah. Space was such an issue that they would really push getting your ticket as early as possible, and had a count down on the top of their website over how many tickets were left before they hit max capacity.
don't forget about Bronycon, I remember walking past the convention center to go to baseball games and just being surrounded by grown men who were all covered in My Little Pony merch lmfao
I was at Baltimore on the Industry track, and as a micro-creator (I finally broke three digits of subscribers! Woo!) I was hoping for more chance to meet other creators and find out if anybody was interested in collaborating. On my feedback form I made the point that there's not a lot of encouragement to mingle and meet other creators -- it looked like it cliqued up pretty quickly. We loved the panels, though, and a definite highlight was getting to tell you "We loved you on the creator panel!" on the run as my partner and I were leaving the Sune booth. I was scheduled to be at your meet and greet, but our budget was blown by Sunday morning and we didn't have money for another night at the hotel or for parking. In fact, I was scheduled for four meet and greets and missed all of them, because the ones that weren't Sunday afternoon had the creators pull out right before the event. But I loved getting to see you speak live!
I’m from the Baltimore area; based on the comments I was expecting a lot of negativity about the city from the video but most of Swell’s commentary was about the event itself. A lot of us need to stop projecting our own prejudices and biases about the city onto others. It’s clear a lot of the people commenting are the suburban nimby types who haven’t set foot in the city in a decade. I hope the conference organizers can get themselves together and plan a better event for the city. Contrary to some of the naysayers, there are a lot of cool events that happen in the city every year that are successful. This can be no different. Of course there are issues, but these days everywhere has problems.
I agree with all of your points. I was glad to see there was a little more for featured creators and that UA-cam actually did throw an event. I was also really disheartened by the lack of a Creator track, but grateful that I got to meet you, Annamarie and so many other wonderful people regardless. (And glad your editor was able to use some of my terrible footage from your panel, lol. 💖 Something I shared in my video that you may not be aware of, is that people who signed up for meet-n-greets were forced to pick 10 creators, so some creators were told, just like you, that “X amount of people signed up to meet you,” but some people might have chosen those creators at random and then bailed on them because they didn’t actually want to meet them and just needed to fill a list. So you had some creators expecting a certain number and then no one showing up to their meet-n-greet. 🤦♀ I really hope they take all the feedback, because I'd love for an East coast VidCon to be successful.
just wanted to say i really appreciate you always adding awesome and accurate captions to your videos swell!!! i'm hard of hearing and your content is awesome for me because you specifically don't have auto-generated captions. i really appreciate it :)
I’m really Happy to see events in Baltimore again, all the events I used to go to where either cancelled or moved to DC. the public transit Maryland has makes it pretty accessible for a tone of people. The city needs more things to happen that aren’t sports so bad The city is amazing if you get to know it I promise, I hope one day they partner with more local businesses
Thank you so much for giving a true review. I have lived in Baltimore 8 out of the last 10 years. I know the Hyatt and the Hilton have contracts with the convention center. I also have had my Hundai stolen from outside my house in an area slightly North of downtown. Sorry it all went down the way it did.
I am just over an hour from Baltimore and when you shared you would be a featured creator I knew I needed to consider attending. Unfortunately it didn't look worth the price between finding a babysitter, the lack of activities at the con, and driving down. Maybe next time if you are featured again!
As someone who worked guest relations at a Baltimore con for years, yeah, we had a party on the night before, and organized dinners every night. Of course, half the guests were from Japan, so they were less likely to figure that stuff out themselves.
I have lived in Maryland my whole life. Didn’t know about Vidcon Baltimore and my friends who work in the city were surprised it was happening. I’m so glad I found out from you that it was happening and got to go out and meet you! Swell is definitely the same in person as in videos as everyone else can attest. I just wish UA-cam put a banner on their website that said “All new Vidcon Baltimore”. It was a pretty empty event so I just hope if it happens next year, it’ll be bigger
Baltimore is actually a huge multicultural hub between MICA, Baltimore School for the Arts, the Hippodrome, and Artscape, so Vidcon is a great way to get people to realize there's more to the city than the Wire😊
This is less a comment about vidcon, and more about places not inviting you. I used to work in conventions, and I would have LOVED feedback like yours for our events. I find it so bizarre that events aren't inviting you, because consultation is quite a bit more expensive than a guest. Hahaha Events, not inviting Amanda is weak. Invite her, get her feedback, and IMPLEMENT IT. She's a huge asset to you. Yes, you're gonna hear things that hurt because I'm sure you tried, but it's good to get this level of feedback. Do it.
Speaking personally, I enjoyed myself (it was so nice to meet you and Hassan!), but I'd be lying if I said I was particularly impressed with the event in terms of planning/promotion and things like usage of the expo hall, etc. I totally second having a sort of dedicated artist alley space, there were several people I talked to saying the same thing. I went to school in Baltimore (and still live here after graduating), and yeah, I was surprised to see so little advertisement. There's an art school just up the road (only a few light rail stops) from the convention center filled with people I know for a fact are obsessed with this channel (hi other MICA people!). It seems like an obvious step to work with schools to sell more tickets (something I know other cons in the Baltimore area do), but maybe that's not the demographic VidCon is going for here, I dunno. This first attempt at an east coast event seemed a little half-hearted, and that worries me. I wonder if there was a lack of faith in this event and/or location. I know Baltimore is probably an odd choice for a lot of people, and this iteration definitely could have been better planned/promoted/executed, but I truly hope this event gets another chance. I live here and love it, and Baltimore could really use an event like this. (And on the note of whether or not in person you come off the same way you do in your videos, this was something that I discussed with the "con friends" I made waiting in line for your meet & greet, and we all agreed that you totally did - just so you know 😊)
👋 hello fellow MICA person! I genuinely have no idea if anyone else currently attending went to vidcon aside from me. I didn’t see anyone I recognized while there, and everyone I talked to about vidcon both before and after the fact had no idea it was happening.
I do love the idea for adding an artist alley to vidcon. So many artists and makers are on UA-cam, TikTok, and Instagram. Having someplace they can be featured, even as venders, would be perfect.
I live about an hour away from Baltimore so I was excited that there was going to be an East Coast Vidcon and especially that it was so close to me. I was disappointed by the small amount of featured creators but decided to give it a try anyway. And God the expo hall sucked so bad. The boredom was just palpable. I hadn't booked a meet and greet and I wasn't super excited about any of the panels so I just left. I went to Blue from OSP's free talk at a local library and that was fun, but Vidcon itself just felt like a waste of money
Ooo I’m kinda jealous. I’m in NY and I debated going solely because of Blue and Indigo but I just couldn’t justify the cost. Was the talk at least exciting?
Thanks for the furry con mention lol! Deffo agree that the furry events are usually better organized than other fandoms. I've been doing cons of all kinds for over a decade now, and the furry ones always blow me away with how well put together they are. You mentioned in your FWA video how you missed out on 18+ stuff, if ever you're down Anthro New England in Boston js coming up in January 2024! One of my fave furry cons, amazing parties (there's a dedicated party floor!), amazing crowd, and the Night Market is so so fun (last year's literally could barely accomodate everyone, it was just so popular!)
The fact someone actually said they didn’t think there would/could be any weirdo fans actually in existence or possibly present at the Con… sweet, sweet summer child. As long as the internet exists there will be creeps on there.
Ok, in fairness to them, there arent a ton of hotels that are in that general inner harbor area of city (as far as i know), so they were working with limited options. But they definitely could have put everyone in one, like you said. As someone who live in the Baltimore county, if a few cars being stolen was the worst thing that happened, that's not bad given its Baltimore. Granted most of bigger issues aren't in the inner harbor area but still. As a local, i can confirm there was no advertising, at least not that i saw. The only reason i knew about it was i follow Vicon on twitter. unfortunately i had work that weekend so i couldn't come.
Thank you for your review of Vidcon Baltimore. We met both Saturday and Sunday at your panels and I was first in line at your Meet and Greet. I hope Hermes liked his dog treats. I have Vidcon's business card to email them for signing up to be on staff for next year because I feel like they need someone from Baltimore that has convention experience. I'm on the Trech staff and in the past the Accesibility staff for Balticon, the local sci-fi convention that happens Memorial Day weekend here in Baltimore.
This might just be me, but I think Virginia Beach would be a great place for vidcon. It’s used to have a bunch of people flood in at once for shore leave, it’s easily accessible to the east coast and already has a lot of conference space. It’s not perfect, but I think it could be great for mid- and small-size creators….
If I had to guess why they chose Baltimore, it’s probably bc Baltimore Convention Center gave them a good deal bc they’ve probably been struggling since Otakon (the biggest convention the venue use to host) moved to DC.
i'm still miffed that the one time swell is insanely close to my vicinity was when i was literally in another country but glad you had a lot of thoughts!! wish more local businesses could have been involved as well and that you could have enjoyed more baltimore sights :// hopefully the concept of east coast vidcon(s) can be ironed out to be a lot safer for everyone and smoother for creators!
i think they chose baltimore so nobody would come and they wouldn’t have to pay for an east coast event ever again (joke) (i am from baltimore). in all seriousness i think they chose it because it’s kinda in the middle of the east coast? it’s also not as expensive as other places- that’s why small/niche cons like furrycon and bronycon are/were there. the fact that the meals were a struggle to figure out is so strange because if there’s one thing we have here, it’s RESTAURANTS. it’s upsetting that it didn’t go well because our city needs more events like this. another petty reason to critique it- they abbreviated baltimore to “BLT.” guys- nobody calls it that. bmore is the abbreviation. BLT is a sandwich.
Fr everyone should have gotten a complimentary crabcake! And the features creators should have gotten to experience eating steamed crabs (if they wanted to. I get that for some people it might seem gross).
I have stayed at that hotel for an event the same weekend as a Baltimore Ravens football game. The team was staying in the hotel as well as all of us. They had an entire floor blocked off for them. If you tried to get to their floor, they had people there to stop you. The big name players were using the service corridors to get around. Some of them did come to the public areas and interact but had security with them. I don’t know why they couldn’t have done that for the creators and guests.
Many events think that no one can hear the music unless it is too loud. I was at a festival where we were not paying attention to the dancers so they kept turning up the music.
I honestly agree with the hotel issue and its not just vidcon. A majority of all events I've gone to I know where the guests are staying because either I've seen the guests staying there or its obvious they would be staying at the only hotel right next to the venue. It's not say. I remember my friends saw Elvira at a con I was at and we were chilling in the hotel lobby and she was going up to her room. My friends swarmed her and the security basically said "Hey, meet her at her table". In a nice way, but still. There is no safe place for guests at venues. Guests need to be at hotels close by, but also far enough that people wouldn't think they would be staying there.
I live in the Baltimore area and had no clue Vidcon was happening until one of my favorite podcasters Emma Vigeland from Majority Report said she was going to be there. I thought the ticket prices for one-day passes were very expensive for what I'd be experiencing and unfortunately I did not attend. I love that it was in Baltimore. Baltimore needs this type of business and entertainment to help it thrive. It's a really wonderful city that has been rampaged by corruption, but the people of Baltimore are incredible and it's exciting to think that there could be a con like this in the area. It just felt all very last minute and they didn't include the community or businesses in Baltimore to be a part of it.
It’s a “first year event” but not run by first time organisers. Like this is VIDCON! They’re THE UA-cam convention. They should know how to do this by now
got so excited to see you put out a video on this con. I got blasted with Instagram ads about it and was really curious about how it was gonna turn out. also THANK YOU so much for having subtitles on your videos. its something a lot of bigger creators look over and it means the world to see those who care enough to implement them. I have a much easier time understanding what's being said and absorbing the information when I have subtitles, so it's really appreciated to have them included and not just auto generated.
I've only just started the video, but I just wanted to say thank you. Your videos have kind of been a constant in my life over a very turbulent few years, and I'm always excited to see you've uploaded a new video!
It was awesome meeting you Amanda!! Great conversations we had on UA-cam stuff😄 Was very cool to be at the 1st VidCon BLT (we’re pioneers lol!), hopefully they keep improving it and keep it going😊
I live in Baltimore, had no idea there was a “vidcon Baltimore” and am disappointed that I didn’t get to see swell at whatever “vidcon Baltimore “ is. ily ❤
I went to Baltimore once for like an hour and saw a woman get her purse snatched in broad daylight….the car jacking is so obvious I cannot believe that wasn’t planned for like WHY was the parking lots not guarded?? Wild
In Baltimore or just in general? cause just in general I belive too! People go to these cities with no awareness like hello if I have no money and I know a bunch of people are gathering somewhere that requires a good amount of money to attend...where am I gonna find money, huh. lol @@viewer6152
I was thinking the exact same thing. Convention center area is as good as it gets. God forbid you take a wrong turn, you’ll get to see the real Baltimore. I lived most my life in Maryland and avoid that city like the plague.
Pretty much once you posted you would be there and I considered it enough to look at the Vidicon Baltimore Site, I saw Vidicon Baltimore ads everywhere on social media.
I want to add that for me personally it was very underwhelming and centered to kids as far as the fan side of things. Creator side, I had no idea the creators were just thrown in the mix without anything to do
I only knew about Vidcon Baltimore because of instagram adds due to a lot of my friends living in Baltimore but I was walking by every night for a different event and had no idea if it was going on. Also would say 3 cars stolen is on the better side for Baltimore. There were regular issues with street robbing on my campus and around the inner harbor when I lived there in part from the city's inequal treatment of neighborhoods (inner harbor sometimes feels like Manhattan but my own apartment was next to multiple condemned, collapsing ones.) That being said, the people are wonderful but the government is shit at taking care of anything but that one small area. Forgive the Baltimore rant, it's something that's made me absolutely sad when I had to research the infrastructural issues of it and I just hope more money possibly goes to that if Vidcon stays there.
I had zero interest in doing the 1 hour trek to Baltimore for this. When you posted about it I actually considered getting a ticket. Ultimately it did not seem like there was a lot for me. So I didn't end up going. I am glad you had a fun time with it at least.
I’m from Baltimore and this video was my first time hearing about this. Horrible marketing on their part! I’m glad you got to visit Baltimore thougg, such an underrated city. I hope they get more events here
I'm a 50 minute drive from Baltimore, and this video may be a month old, but I had zero idea there was a vid con in Baltimore at all until I found this video. If they actually had ads up, I can promise you I didn't see them.
HARD agree with everything you said here. I was really let down with the whole event.. like I am a BIG con goer, but this was the most lackluster one i have ever been to. Not to mention the loose security in BALTIMORE???? I literally live here and could not imagine why the hell did they even think of putting an east coast vidcon here, it makes ZERO sense. I genuinely think they simultaneously over and under estimated what was going on, the creator pools selected seemed a bit random, and everything felt "glued" together. It was nice meeting and talking with you and Hassan though, best part of the event!!
hearing how downhill vidcon has gone is such a bummer. I went to it years 2-4 and it went from an amazing time to an overwhelmed mess. hopefully they can get their shit together bc like you said, this is a huge opportunity to foster community. I really want it to be successful :(
I literally go to college in Baltimore and I was texting my friends to see if anyone wanted to go with me, and no one had heard of it! Definitely should’ve advertised more
Baltimore is relatively centrally located on the East Coast and is fairly cheap compared to other East Coast cities. Granted Philadelphia would also make sense for similar reasons if you are focusing in the Northeast as your main region. If you wanted to include more of the Southeast, I would go with Atlanta.
I'm not far from Baltimore and would have come, but I didn't hear about it until I saw your post. I saw no advertising about this, and I had committed to an event the week before so I didn't have the funds to come down. Baltimore is skipped a lot for events unless it's something homegrown, like Artscape. Don't know if it's the crime, the location, or the higher ups don't have the energy to bring more of these cons to the city.
I went to an art school in Baltimore so when you were like "Why is this here?" I immediately thought they'd be catering to students in the area. It's a big college city. Only...one of your Baltimore viewers only found out about it because you posted you were gunna be there? Exqueeze me? Their marketing team must have been on something if it was that poorly advertised to locals.
I genuinely think I’m the only MICA student who attended! No one else here had any idea it was happening. Nearly everyone I talked to about it here found out about it from me. The advertising was non existent.
Well if they only do it through the tourism company then they might not advertise locally. That's the only explanation I can think of, it's nuts! If the city has a lot of students then that's a HUGE advertisement opportunity which then goes in to spread by word. Maybe they did stuff online rather than posters etc for schools. It's crazy that companies like these don't make the most of advertising. They're missing out
I live near Baltimore and got constant Facebook ads for VidCon Baltimore with the featured creators' faces, BUT they never updated the ads as they added featured creators. I saw the update that you were announced as a featured creator but they kept using the original ads so I would've never known off the ads alone
How do they not have an East Coast event, then not do a better job putting East Coast creators front and center? There's a lot of UA-camrs who operate on the East Coast/Mid-Atlantic. How do they not do their damndest to make it worthwhile for Rich Rebuilds or Milo Rossi or anyone like that to show up?
I wish i had known you were coming here! I might have actually gone to this one. I'm pretty close and I've never been to a convention other than when I worked at FoodEXPO East. That was a lot of fun and i came home with so many samples and a full tote bag of free organic seeds that I gave away to family and neighbors
Count me as another one who lives in the general area who had absolutely no idea this event was happening. I found out about it after it was over from seeing another creator talk about going. I’m much older than the typical Vidcon demographic, so I likely wouldn’t have gone anyway, but I would have definitely considered it if I had heard about it at all!
I live in Baltimore and so does my boyfriend and this is the first we are hearing of it. Didn't see anything or hear anything and I work a retail job at the mall where there is advertising everywhere so that's honestly wild.
I live about 3 hours south of Baltimore in Central Virginia and Instagram pushed Vidcon Baltimore heavy toward me leading up to the event. I would flip through the marketing and I really never got a sense of who it was for - creators, fans, industry, etc. Then, looking at the creator list, I assume they were featured creators, I didn't know any of them, which further pulled my interest away.
Local here. I saw tons of ads for Baltimore Vidcon down in the inner harbor by the convention center but that's a problem because no one even goes there anymore because the pavilions by the water are empty. There just isnt anything to do in that area anymore. All of the fun is in Harbor East and Fells Point.
As soon as I saw Baltimore in the title, I went, "Oh no." Lol The one time I wish I still lived in Maryland and still went to Cons. Baltimore used to draw in huge crowds for Otakon (anime con), so much so that it expanded into the Hyatt. Eventually it grew too big for the convention center and then Otakon relocated to DC. Next time you're in Maryland, definitely try an authentic MD blue crab cake.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
the fact that there were so many Maryland creators who didn't even know that this event was happening speaks a lot about their marketing and organizing
said this is a different comment thread but, I live in *walking distance* and never heard of this once, where I knew about Miryokucon happening practically next door in one of the hotels
Yea I drive by the convention center all the time and there is literally NEVER local advertisements for anything they have. I’ve woken up to having to move my car parked on the street for marathons etc. that were planned months ago but never any signs informing local residents of them.
Same I live close and I would have gone and I heard NOTHING???
@@ac2292 Miryokucon took place at the Marriott Hotel at Camden Yards, so yeah, there wouldn't be any advertising for it.
@@LoveAndSnapple I’m not sure what that specific con is but I meant my response as a general commentary on how events hosted in Baltimore are often subsidized/sponsored by the gov for the purpose of boosting the local economy but they fail to adequately advertise them. My apologies if I didn’t word it correctly!
I have lived in Baltimore my whole life, no idea this was going on until you posted about it. Our city has a lot a lot of problems, but events like this are what Baltimore needs. But, it seems like no care or thought was put into this. If it’s a “failure” it won’t come back to Baltimore and we will continue to loose out on business unfortunately.
Really? I couldn't avoid the ads about it. Constant, constant ads. They werent great ads though - i had similar thoughts that they arent putting into the event what it deserves bc it's baltimore and then the city will be blamed....
Baltimore needs some love for sure. It would be great to have some big events there. It has lots of potential, despite the issues.
Same here! By the time I finally heard about it I already had plans that weekend. Now that Otakon is in DC we really need a solid replacement to draw visitors...
@@arbisofficialif i remember correctly, Otakon used to be in Baltimore for years, then it left a while ago. I'm not sure why cause i wasn't much into it at the time.
Again tho, i could just be remembering that wrong.
@@kandyappleview They moved because they outgrew the convention center. I volunteer for Otakon and saw first hand how it became difficult each year to try and run an orderly con in a small (small for Otakon) center.
It would be kinda funny if Amanda did a yearly “award show” for these events or created a tier system for ranking events featured in review videos. If you did an award show/end of year wrap up you could create like Swell Stars almost like how Michelin does their Michelin stars for restaurants. Like imagine a 3 star Swell event, it’d be damn near impossible for any event to get but would be so cool to check out the next year cause you know it’s probably gonna be really fun 🥰
actually love this idea, although I wonder how it would fair for her being invited back to said events if she listed them on the lower end lol
@@leahpeachie yeah I think only awarding good events like the Michelin star system would be best. Like especially good events get a swell star and neutral to bad don’t get anything. So she doesn’t burn bridges or anything but can shout out cool events if that makes sense.
Yes!!! Please let us vote
Here is the problem with partnering with Baltimore Tourism for advertising: Tourism ads are to attract people from outside the area to come to that particular place as a tourist. They do not market area attractions and events to locals, they want to generate tourism revenue by getting visitors into hotels and spending money at attractions and overpriced restaurants that cater to visitors.
While yes, conventions do bring people from other areas to the city, wouldn’t local attendees usually make up the majority of guests??
I’m going to my city’s comic convention at the end of the month, it’s the largest one in the area (15-25 hours drive away from others) but it’s still mostly people who live here. I don’t think I have met anyone who came from farther away than a 3 hours drive, except for vendors or artists.
I think they're probably used to a lot of the conventions being work-based, where most of the attendees are from out of town and sent by their employers. I don't know if this is _currently_ the case, but I know that was their primary market for a long time.
Baltimoron and casual Swell viewer who lives in WALKING distance of the con center here, can confirm I did not see a single advertisement or even generally hear about this con until this video (ironically, I was in SoCal at the time, couldn't have made it if I wanted to)
I got lots of northern Virginia friends and they never heard about vidcon Baltimore till I told them. Not sure who those adds were supposed to have reached
Social media growing pains, I guess. Still a lot of old school concepts mixed up with new school concepts. It's very hard to get the word out these days on any legacy media. I get geo targeted ads on instagram. Couldn't they run ads on insta, tik-tok, youtube, etc. targeted to the area? If not, they need to figure it out.
I live in baltimore county, i had o idea vidcon was happening here, thats crazy
"did you think PBS was going to throw us a party?" that killed me lol
I'm sure they got a kickback to host it in Baltimore or something. As a person who used to organize an annual event for a business, I can tell you why we, specifically, chose that city. Baltimore is east coat convenient in terms of transportation. It has an international airport (with lots of flights) and Amtrak lines to major cities but it also less expensive than having it in a major city like New York or Boston. Our company was based in Pittsburgh, so it was also drivable for us. We never hosted events in our own city (despite the hotels were cheaper) we have no transportation. The airport is a joke and Amtrak as line 1 line.... so yea Baltimore was better for us logistically.
I'm surprised they didn't try to book National Harbor rather than the BCC; they do Magfest every year and so many other conventions and it's more central to both Baltimore and Washington and is much more well known to conventions than downtown Baltimore, and the hotel is right there. But it's all about trying to please the cities who want these big new events.
@pastelsheeepysays the mf who takes the time to comment this over & over lol
@@MrSchimpf The BCC is a public building so there's a little less immediate risk if the con tanks -- to do a con at National Harbor takes some serious confidence you'll break even
DC is insanely expensive. That’s probably why.
@@noope921 this is a bot. responding to these comments is useless.
As someone who went to Otakon and other conventions in Baltimore, here are the reasons to pick Baltimore:
1. The convention center is a great mid-size event location. It can handle pretty large events without feeling like space is being wasted.
2. The city is centrally located and pulls attendees from both the north and south.
3. It's easier for attendees to manage than DC (seriously, the fit everyone threw when Otakon moved to DC was massive)
4. The locals have historically been SUPER supportive of nerdy, niche events. The city is a mess, but I've got tons of stories of locals helping out event attendees in need.
Also, I live close enough to still be considered "local" in their advertising range. I did get the ads for this event, but I didn't go because those ads were just a mashup of faces I didn't recognize. I didn't understand what the draw would be if I didn't know the creators, so I just ignored them. I had zero idea you would be a guest.
Oh, and local ads were on Facebook, lol.
So true, DC cons are a nightmare!
These are good logistical points. I think Amanda is right on that they got some sort of financial break from the state of Maryland, too.
I work in marketing and have a foot in the events world. I'm not surprised at all things were chaotic. Nobody has any money to do anything the right way right now.
But Facebook is dying. Why didn't they advertise on UA-cam?
Aaaaaye! Fellow Otakon attendee!! I miss when it was in Baltimore. It felt more like home there. I like the new location so far but it hasn’t hit the same yet
Actually clicked on this video to see the Baltimore Convention center again. I miss it so much. Otakon in Baltimore was my first con.
This was my first VidCon. As a full-time artist/content creator and a recent Maryland transplant it was equally exciting and confusing that VidCon chose Baltimore. I figured it was worthwhile to take advantage of the opportunity, so I purchased a Community Track badge for Saturday. The Industry track pricing seemed crazy high. After hearing your thoughts I'm glad I didn't do it.
I attended the Cultivating Creativity panel which was one of the highlights of the day! Thank you for your awesome insights.
Attendance seemed low, and mostly children. I honestly felt a little out of place. I guess I had a bit more of an expectation that there would be more attendees who also post on social media. That was disappointing.
I was also disappointed that VidCon didn't really provide anything for those on the Community Track to do other than panels, meet-and-greets, and meandering the expo hall. It took all of 10 minutes to see everything on the con floor. I would have LOVED for there to have even been something as simple as a networking room for attendees.
Flying across the country to attend VidCon Anaheim still seems like the overall better option but it's frustrating that Baltimore fell so short.
Also my first VidCon. Also confused but grateful MD transplant. Also... I echo everything you said. I finally filled out my feedback form and was so thorough! It's really irritating that I'm finding more people in this comment section that I could've connected with irl had they bothered to schedule creator meetups. And it would’ve been something else to do!
I follow many east coast youtube channels who I would say are in that mid-size tier and had NO IDEA there was even an east coast vidcon. I honestly think if they had appealed to mid-size creators they probably would have gotten more people going given how many of them still went all the way out to Anaheim vidcon.
Swell should be a featured creator for every convention
Seconded!
aw, it's you! the no life troll who is on EVERY channel. what's wrong, still no life?@ville__
@notville_ you have 800 comments on this channel. Fan behavior 😂
@@meowiestwoit’s a bot, don’t bother with it, just report for spam
@pastelsheeepyyikes
As a Baltimorean this event was advertised to me but I didn't know any of the featured creators so I didn't go and it's so disappointing to see how many creators I would have known after the fact when they post their content. I would have gone just to see you queen!!!
I didnt even know this was happening here tbh! I know we have conventions down here occasionally but I didnt know about vidcon being down here.
I couldn't have made it bc ironically I was in SoCal that weekend for a different event, but, I live in *walking distance* and still never heard of this event til this video dropped
How was it advertised to you?
I took the bar exam in that convention center so that place is haunting. That being said, if they had the squishmallow claw machine I’d happily go next year
Honestly I was a little let down by the whole event, HOWEVER, it was an honor meeting you!
Also the way I didn’t know Full Access and Featured Creator had different access
@ville__ This is honestly such a dumb comment, it has literally nothing to to with the video at all
@notville_had to comment on that back up account huh 🤔 😅
@ville2_you literally have 1 video! gtfoh 🤣🤣
But it wasn't as bad as TanaCon, right? The Gold Standard of how cons should not be run.
Hope Swell makes her way to Lightbox Expo some day, I know shes aware shes THE best background noise for artists everywhere. It'd be fun to see her review an artist made event
I’d love to see her critiques of lbx haha
I hope this happens I’d love to ask her “why are you here” even though I know full well what the answer is gonna be
you manifested it
I'm so confused. I always assumed that booking entire floors of hotels for any kind of conference/meeting/etc. would automatically mean that you hire security or do some kind of deal with the hotel to increase security. You can't have fans (that aren't staying at the hotel btw) just hang out at the hall hoping to meet someone. I've been inside hotels were nothing was happening and even then security asked me what I was doing there.
I’ve helped run pretty big events and things like security are worked out in the contract. Generally, the event is responsible for paying for additional security but best practice is to put guests and VIPs on floors where the elevators can be locked down and have either con staff or paid security do sweeps every so often.
I feel like most industry conferences really don't need additional security. I saw a high school friend post about how excited she was about being on a panel at the theatre ticket booking office convention - she definitely wasn't worried about attendees following her back to her hotel room.
The issue is that hotels are treating those kind of conventions the same as public conventions. As @silmarian said the event needs to pay for the extra security costs and ideally would bring up security concerns themselves, but I don't think we should completely let the hotels off the hook - they should have an idea of the kind of event and what level of security is required. Hotels should turn down bookings if they feel a certain level of security is required and the organisers refuse to pay for it.
I see you in the future as a convention consultant. You would do very good at it. Your reviews are just so levelheaded constructive. Even when you have negative points, you’re giving points of improvement rather than points of destruction and your good points are lifting up those points and also talking about what can be improved to make it even more more awesome and if there is nothing more, you’re highlighting it properly.
Welcome to Baltimore. I havent seen the video yet but if it happened at that convention center then Im sure it was awful.
Ok. Saw the video.
I'm not surprised. The part where you mentioned that Vidcon Baltimore did advertise in connection with the tourism board tells me all I need to know. The convention center is a popular facility not because the events are good. Its popular because its prime real estate with a ton of potential. Its right by the highway, near two stadiums, the harbor, two arenas, a casino, nightlife, hotels, etc.
And yet the city coordinates with absolutely none of these places and wastes all of that potential.
The city can't afford to modernize it. No one knows what happens there. No fanfare when events do happen. The permanent staff seem to hate it there. (Don't blame them.) Honestly I know more about the events at Science Center and the Train museum than I do the convention center. Its just a miserable location where every event seems half-full as events beg last minute for lower prices and less space. The city will lead on event planners about all the advertising around the city but its all on public transit or online. An absolute waste for reaching target demographics.
IDK man. I wrote all this and I don't know why. Baltimore doesn't have to be like this. Theres a lot of good shit here but it always seems wasted. Rant over I guess.
@@mynameisntpatrick1476do you think this is a direct result of gentrification in the Baltimore area? 🤔
@@meow.4972 No not at all. This is the inner harbor. With the way the highways are setup, this area has been (and should be) a commuter & tourist space. Gentrification is a bigger issue in neighborhoods deeper into the city that generally rely on the local economy.
@@mynameisntpatrick1476😊😊😊o😊o😊😊 😊😊😊o 😊😊😊o 😊
MidCon needs to be a thing. A convention dedicated to mid sized creators with wings of a convention center as genres to explore.
Industry would avoid it like the plague but fans of multiple genres would have a blast.The panels would be the opportunity for crossovers and gaining new audiences.
Sponsored by Swell Entertainment and Shenanigan Enterprises.
Do it in the Midwest too Chicago wouldn't be a bad spot lol
@@alithe13thmouse82omg please, the Midwest is lacking with conventions of all kinds
@notville_ why are you here dude?
@@KingOfGaymesWhat area of the midwest? Minnesota/wisconsin area has a ton. Like kitsucon and anime detour.
@@PinkcatninjaI think Minnesota would be great since MSP has way more connections + Sun Country hub!!
I am in the DMV and had no clue this happened. Traditional physical advertising is not enough, especially for a market where inter-commuting is common. DC people will go up to Baltimore for events and vice versa. Targeted social ads that can account for this spread are needed, as well!
It was great to meet you at the meet & greet Swell! I’ve been to the Baltimore Convention Center for many events over the years. This event was the most bafflingly barren one I’ve gone to there. Aside from only a handful of panels that actually interested me, there was absolutely nothing to do. I ended up spending most of the time chatting with a group of teenagers who found out I did some art for minecraft youtubers. I’m very glad I was close enough to just get there with public transport, if I’d had to pay for a flight and hotel to get there for it to be as bad as it was, I’d’ve been pissed.
same! The con floor was SO barren - and I only went on Saturday, where badges apparently sold out. I've been going to comic and anime cons since 2006 and this is definitely the most barren convention I've *ever* attended. I attended 2 panels and that's just about all the value I got. The expo hall was boring, but it was nice that there was no line for food lol.
I'm glad I went with a friend because otherwise I think I would have been awkwardly walking up to strangers in the hopes of finding other content creators to chat with.
I want to echo your concerns about safety. I am an adult sex educator/out trans person/gets many threats via internet. Not only do I have "fans", but due to the millieu we're in I get a ton of unwanted sexual attention. On top of that, in some areas I am considered to be a presenter worth advertising for. I always bring up safety concerns when attending events, and rarely do I get more than "we'll have [usually volunteer] security on site". Only once did I attend an event when I had a security person check in with me several times a day to make sure nothing hinky happened.
You have like 6 subscribers bro
@@CeliMe007 I'm not a UA-camr.
It’s crazy. You’d think people would take this seriously, given the shit that has happened and continues. It’s really shocks me that these events don’t take safety that seriously. Especially for trans people, there’s so many unhinged transphobic people out there, it’s just complete insanity. Do they just not care, or is it a money issue? Though I guess, if they did care they’d actually have more security and safety measures regardless how much it costs.
@@CeliMe007 You forgot there's people outside of UA-cam didn't you?
23:01 as a furry, I can say you’re not wrong. We got our shit down pat! When you’re one of the most hated people on the internet, we need to have our safe space secure. :)
furries lowkey slay spread the word
As a Baltimore native the question "What's in Baltimore?" is absolutely the right thing to ask lol. I love my city, and there's a good bit of cool stuff but like, yeah, out of every city on the east coast *why* ? our convention center sucks, the city is CONSTANTLY under construction, and the streets themselves are a damn maze😂
Because it's cheaper than NYC and Boston, Maybe Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?
I had a friend visit from Canada, and she asked what major things were around to do. My response was "um... we have stuff...i guess?..." lol
I mean we do have a lot of history and the are some cool spots but i thought maybe some I've lived here all my life everything seems normal to me.
Because after the riots like 80% of the regular conventions bailed, so now they’re the cheapest spot on the east coast.
@@nicholaskovach2072 wouldn't it be the Pandemic that mostly killed of the conference and conversation business. If the Pandemic didn't happen but George Floyd happened. Maybe 2021 conversation industry would be hit.
@@tcbobb1613 I’m sure the pandemic didn’t help, but several large conventions left Baltimore within the year or two post the George Floyd incident. At least one trade show I used to go to had a 20 plus year run there halted the immediate year after and moved to TN. You have to remember that incident had and will have a lasting effect on insurance rates for hosting events in Baltimore for the foreseeable future.
Thanks for tearing Baltimore Vidcon a new one, Swell! Have fun and be safe!
Wait how did you comment six hours ago when this vid is 13 mins old? Or is my phone glitching
@@skunkjo3195 its showing 6 hours ago for me too
Must be a Swell Simp. They get early access.
@@skunkjo3195 Probably early access for patreons or smth
@@Swell_Simps_United aka Patreon subs for those who don’t understand lol.
I love Baltimore. I went to college there and it’s a very charming city with a lot of corruption from the government but also a lot of amazing people. That being said, I wanted to go to this vidcon just to meet Amanda but there was literally no other reason for me to go and it just didn’t seem worth it to buy a ticket for just a chance to meet one of my fav creators. Vidcon needs to offer more!
I was expecting the "it’s a very charming city with a lot of ..." to follow up with "parks, museums etc". Did not expect corruption :D I do remember the mayhem with the local police forces from a few years ago, though.
@@draakonikihv Some neighborhoods are charming and full of college kids looking for cheap rent, museums are decent, downtown is not very safe to walk around at night, but fells point and federal hill have lively bars (at least they were when I lived there). I keep telling people Baltimore has a lot of potential.
@@draakonikihvOh the government corruption in Baltimore is NEXT level. Plenty of officials unnecessarily making six-figures yet there was a study released around Feb 2023 that found something like in 21 schools none of the 7th graders could pass elementary level reading comprehension or basic math exams.
@@brijmsnhow long ago did you live there? Fells Point and Federal Hill ain't so safe as it used to be.
Glad you are talking about the importance of proper safety. Have found out once at a con I was in room next to a creator I follow, and I was confused as heck why they were not at least on a floor that wasn't for regular attendees (as they were an invited guest speaker). It felt really strange to know that the people in charge of security for the invited guests had overlooked this.
now I really want a PBS sponsored party. The idea of Terry Gross communicating with the Voros twins sounds hilarious
Otakon used to be the BIG EVENT for Baltimore con center until it moved to DC years ago and I heard they were really trying to get Otakon back/other big events to come
Otakon moved because it outgrew the Baltimore con center. I remember otakon being so cramped there >_
Ohhhhh. I left a reply on a different comment about Otakon being here in years past. I never knew why it left. I'm glad i saw this comment
@kandyappleview yeah. Space was such an issue that they would really push getting your ticket as early as possible, and had a count down on the top of their website over how many tickets were left before they hit max capacity.
don't forget about Bronycon, I remember walking past the convention center to go to baseball games and just being surrounded by grown men who were all covered in My Little Pony merch lmfao
@pastelsheeepy Yeah? Me too.
I was at Baltimore on the Industry track, and as a micro-creator (I finally broke three digits of subscribers! Woo!) I was hoping for more chance to meet other creators and find out if anybody was interested in collaborating. On my feedback form I made the point that there's not a lot of encouragement to mingle and meet other creators -- it looked like it cliqued up pretty quickly. We loved the panels, though, and a definite highlight was getting to tell you "We loved you on the creator panel!" on the run as my partner and I were leaving the Sune booth. I was scheduled to be at your meet and greet, but our budget was blown by Sunday morning and we didn't have money for another night at the hotel or for parking. In fact, I was scheduled for four meet and greets and missed all of them, because the ones that weren't Sunday afternoon had the creators pull out right before the event. But I loved getting to see you speak live!
I’m from the Baltimore area; based on the comments I was expecting a lot of negativity about the city from the video but most of Swell’s commentary was about the event itself. A lot of us need to stop projecting our own prejudices and biases about the city onto others. It’s clear a lot of the people commenting are the suburban nimby types who haven’t set foot in the city in a decade. I hope the conference organizers can get themselves together and plan a better event for the city. Contrary to some of the naysayers, there are a lot of cool events that happen in the city every year that are successful. This can be no different. Of course there are issues, but these days everywhere has problems.
I agree with all of your points. I was glad to see there was a little more for featured creators and that UA-cam actually did throw an event. I was also really disheartened by the lack of a Creator track, but grateful that I got to meet you, Annamarie and so many other wonderful people regardless. (And glad your editor was able to use some of my terrible footage from your panel, lol. 💖
Something I shared in my video that you may not be aware of, is that people who signed up for meet-n-greets were forced to pick 10 creators, so some creators were told, just like you, that “X amount of people signed up to meet you,” but some people might have chosen those creators at random and then bailed on them because they didn’t actually want to meet them and just needed to fill a list. So you had some creators expecting a certain number and then no one showing up to their meet-n-greet. 🤦♀
I really hope they take all the feedback, because I'd love for an East coast VidCon to be successful.
just wanted to say i really appreciate you always adding awesome and accurate captions to your videos swell!!! i'm hard of hearing and your content is awesome for me because you specifically don't have auto-generated captions. i really appreciate it :)
23:46 it’s interesting that they would say they partnered with Baltimore tourism bc that wouldn’t really address attracting locals
I’m really Happy to see events in Baltimore again, all the events I used to go to where either cancelled or moved to DC. the public transit Maryland has makes it pretty accessible for a tone of people. The city needs more things to happen that aren’t sports so bad
The city is amazing if you get to know it I promise, I hope one day they partner with more local businesses
Thank you so much for giving a true review. I have lived in Baltimore 8 out of the last 10 years. I know the Hyatt and the Hilton have contracts with the convention center. I also have had my Hundai stolen from outside my house in an area slightly North of downtown. Sorry it all went down the way it did.
I am just over an hour from Baltimore and when you shared you would be a featured creator I knew I needed to consider attending. Unfortunately it didn't look worth the price between finding a babysitter, the lack of activities at the con, and driving down. Maybe next time if you are featured again!
As someone who worked guest relations at a Baltimore con for years, yeah, we had a party on the night before, and organized dinners every night. Of course, half the guests were from Japan, so they were less likely to figure that stuff out themselves.
Ah, Otakon staff. I left staffing way before the move, but I do NOT miss the Baltimore convention center. At all. That building was a nightmare.
I have lived in Maryland my whole life. Didn’t know about Vidcon Baltimore and my friends who work in the city were surprised it was happening. I’m so glad I found out from you that it was happening and got to go out and meet you! Swell is definitely the same in person as in videos as everyone else can attest. I just wish UA-cam put a banner on their website that said “All new Vidcon Baltimore”. It was a pretty empty event so I just hope if it happens next year, it’ll be bigger
Baltimore is actually a huge multicultural hub between MICA, Baltimore School for the Arts, the Hippodrome, and Artscape, so Vidcon is a great way to get people to realize there's more to the city than the Wire😊
It's too bad they didn't have more things planned or suggestions for things to do while they were there, I feel like that was a missed opportunity
This is less a comment about vidcon, and more about places not inviting you.
I used to work in conventions, and I would have LOVED feedback like yours for our events. I find it so bizarre that events aren't inviting you, because consultation is quite a bit more expensive than a guest. Hahaha
Events, not inviting Amanda is weak. Invite her, get her feedback, and IMPLEMENT IT. She's a huge asset to you. Yes, you're gonna hear things that hurt because I'm sure you tried, but it's good to get this level of feedback. Do it.
Right? It's nuts that events like this don't take advantage of advertising etc. They're literally just losing money
Speaking personally, I enjoyed myself (it was so nice to meet you and Hassan!), but I'd be lying if I said I was particularly impressed with the event in terms of planning/promotion and things like usage of the expo hall, etc. I totally second having a sort of dedicated artist alley space, there were several people I talked to saying the same thing.
I went to school in Baltimore (and still live here after graduating), and yeah, I was surprised to see so little advertisement. There's an art school just up the road (only a few light rail stops) from the convention center filled with people I know for a fact are obsessed with this channel (hi other MICA people!). It seems like an obvious step to work with schools to sell more tickets (something I know other cons in the Baltimore area do), but maybe that's not the demographic VidCon is going for here, I dunno.
This first attempt at an east coast event seemed a little half-hearted, and that worries me. I wonder if there was a lack of faith in this event and/or location. I know Baltimore is probably an odd choice for a lot of people, and this iteration definitely could have been better planned/promoted/executed, but I truly hope this event gets another chance. I live here and love it, and Baltimore could really use an event like this.
(And on the note of whether or not in person you come off the same way you do in your videos, this was something that I discussed with the "con friends" I made waiting in line for your meet & greet, and we all agreed that you totally did - just so you know 😊)
👋 hello fellow MICA person! I genuinely have no idea if anyone else currently attending went to vidcon aside from me. I didn’t see anyone I recognized while there, and everyone I talked to about vidcon both before and after the fact had no idea it was happening.
@@AvivaKitty lmfao, hi Aviva! 👋 Yeah, it was wild to me how many folks were surprised it was happening. Definitely a bummer 😔
She was so lovely, right?!
Half-hearted. Quarter-hearted. 😐😑
VIDCON VIDEO TIME!!
4 minutes in and I see me!!!
Pizza
I do love the idea for adding an artist alley to vidcon. So many artists and makers are on UA-cam, TikTok, and Instagram. Having someplace they can be featured, even as venders, would be perfect.
I live about an hour away from Baltimore so I was excited that there was going to be an East Coast Vidcon and especially that it was so close to me. I was disappointed by the small amount of featured creators but decided to give it a try anyway. And God the expo hall sucked so bad. The boredom was just palpable. I hadn't booked a meet and greet and I wasn't super excited about any of the panels so I just left. I went to Blue from OSP's free talk at a local library and that was fun, but Vidcon itself just felt like a waste of money
Ooo I’m kinda jealous. I’m in NY and I debated going solely because of Blue and Indigo but I just couldn’t justify the cost. Was the talk at least exciting?
Thanks for the furry con mention lol! Deffo agree that the furry events are usually better organized than other fandoms. I've been doing cons of all kinds for over a decade now, and the furry ones always blow me away with how well put together they are.
You mentioned in your FWA video how you missed out on 18+ stuff, if ever you're down Anthro New England in Boston js coming up in January 2024! One of my fave furry cons, amazing parties (there's a dedicated party floor!), amazing crowd, and the Night Market is so so fun (last year's literally could barely accomodate everyone, it was just so popular!)
The fact someone actually said they didn’t think there would/could be any weirdo fans actually in existence or possibly present at the Con… sweet, sweet summer child. As long as the internet exists there will be creeps on there.
Ok, in fairness to them, there arent a ton of hotels that are in that general inner harbor area of city (as far as i know), so they were working with limited options. But they definitely could have put everyone in one, like you said.
As someone who live in the Baltimore county, if a few cars being stolen was the worst thing that happened, that's not bad given its Baltimore. Granted most of bigger issues aren't in the inner harbor area but still.
As a local, i can confirm there was no advertising, at least not that i saw. The only reason i knew about it was i follow Vicon on twitter. unfortunately i had work that weekend so i couldn't come.
Isn't the area around inner harbor pretty bad, with gang shootings and violence?
Car theft is the norm but shootings are too
@@erinaa9486 most parts of the city have problems, but at least from most of i hear about is more in east baltimore
@pastelsheeepy i trust you mean geography map
Thank you for your review of Vidcon Baltimore. We met both Saturday and Sunday at your panels and I was first in line at your Meet and Greet. I hope Hermes liked his dog treats. I have Vidcon's business card to email them for signing up to be on staff for next year because I feel like they need someone from Baltimore that has convention experience. I'm on the Trech staff and in the past the Accesibility staff for Balticon, the local sci-fi convention that happens Memorial Day weekend here in Baltimore.
This might just be me, but I think Virginia Beach would be a great place for vidcon. It’s used to have a bunch of people flood in at once for shore leave, it’s easily accessible to the east coast and already has a lot of conference space. It’s not perfect, but I think it could be great for mid- and small-size creators….
I find it shocking they didn’t give creators an itinerary with even vague information.
🤦🏽
If I had to guess why they chose Baltimore, it’s probably bc Baltimore Convention Center gave them a good deal bc they’ve probably been struggling since Otakon (the biggest convention the venue use to host) moved to DC.
i'm still miffed that the one time swell is insanely close to my vicinity was when i was literally in another country but glad you had a lot of thoughts!! wish more local businesses could have been involved as well and that you could have enjoyed more baltimore sights :// hopefully the concept of east coast vidcon(s) can be ironed out to be a lot safer for everyone and smoother for creators!
Amanda, you should really start charging these events a consultation fee for your feedback 💯
I hope she does!
@@nunphome, too!!!!
i think they chose baltimore so nobody would come and they wouldn’t have to pay for an east coast event ever again (joke) (i am from baltimore). in all seriousness i think they chose it because it’s kinda in the middle of the east coast? it’s also not as expensive as other places- that’s why small/niche cons like furrycon and bronycon are/were there. the fact that the meals were a struggle to figure out is so strange because if there’s one thing we have here, it’s RESTAURANTS. it’s upsetting that it didn’t go well because our city needs more events like this. another petty reason to critique it- they abbreviated baltimore to “BLT.” guys- nobody calls it that. bmore is the abbreviation. BLT is a sandwich.
Fr everyone should have gotten a complimentary crabcake! And the features creators should have gotten to experience eating steamed crabs (if they wanted to. I get that for some people it might seem gross).
"BLT"?????!!!! 🤦🏽 B'more. Even Balto. NEVER BLT. I want to know who's responsible, I really do. 😑
I have stayed at that hotel for an event the same weekend as a Baltimore Ravens football game. The team was staying in the hotel as well as all of us. They had an entire floor blocked off for them. If you tried to get to their floor, they had people there to stop you. The big name players were using the service corridors to get around. Some of them did come to the public areas and interact but had security with them.
I don’t know why they couldn’t have done that for the creators and guests.
Many events think that no one can hear the music unless it is too loud. I was at a festival where we were not paying attention to the dancers so they kept turning up the music.
I honestly agree with the hotel issue and its not just vidcon. A majority of all events I've gone to I know where the guests are staying because either I've seen the guests staying there or its obvious they would be staying at the only hotel right next to the venue. It's not say. I remember my friends saw Elvira at a con I was at and we were chilling in the hotel lobby and she was going up to her room. My friends swarmed her and the security basically said "Hey, meet her at her table". In a nice way, but still. There is no safe place for guests at venues. Guests need to be at hotels close by, but also far enough that people wouldn't think they would be staying there.
I live in the Baltimore area and had no clue Vidcon was happening until one of my favorite podcasters Emma Vigeland from Majority Report said she was going to be there. I thought the ticket prices for one-day passes were very expensive for what I'd be experiencing and unfortunately I did not attend. I love that it was in Baltimore. Baltimore needs this type of business and entertainment to help it thrive. It's a really wonderful city that has been rampaged by corruption, but the people of Baltimore are incredible and it's exciting to think that there could be a con like this in the area. It just felt all very last minute and they didn't include the community or businesses in Baltimore to be a part of it.
I live in Baltimore and work only a few blocks from the convention center and I had no idea this was happening!!
It’s a “first year event” but not run by first time organisers. Like this is VIDCON! They’re THE UA-cam convention. They should know how to do this by now
got so excited to see you put out a video on this con. I got blasted with Instagram ads about it and was really curious about how it was gonna turn out.
also THANK YOU so much for having subtitles on your videos. its something a lot of bigger creators look over and it means the world to see those who care enough to implement them. I have a much easier time understanding what's being said and absorbing the information when I have subtitles, so it's really appreciated to have them included and not just auto generated.
I've only just started the video, but I just wanted to say thank you. Your videos have kind of been a constant in my life over a very turbulent few years, and I'm always excited to see you've uploaded a new video!
Hi Swell, I'm so happy you got to visit my city!!! Hope you had a chance to walk around the inner harbor. Please don't ever change your intro!
It was awesome meeting you Amanda!! Great conversations we had on UA-cam stuff😄 Was very cool to be at the 1st VidCon BLT (we’re pioneers lol!), hopefully they keep improving it and keep it going😊
I live in Baltimore. Was in the Harbor that weekend. Had no idea this happened lol.
I live in Baltimore, had no idea there was a “vidcon Baltimore” and am disappointed that I didn’t get to see swell at whatever “vidcon Baltimore “ is. ily ❤
I live in Baltimore and have worked events at the convention center and had no idea this was going on.
I went to Baltimore once for like an hour and saw a woman get her purse snatched in broad daylight….the car jacking is so obvious I cannot believe that wasn’t planned for like WHY was the parking lots not guarded?? Wild
In Baltimore or just in general? cause just in general I belive too! People go to these cities with no awareness like hello if I have no money and I know a bunch of people are gathering somewhere that requires a good amount of money to attend...where am I gonna find money, huh. lol @@viewer6152
I was thinking the exact same thing. Convention center area is as good as it gets. God forbid you take a wrong turn, you’ll get to see the real Baltimore. I lived most my life in Maryland and avoid that city like the plague.
UA-cam doesn’t like commentary UA-camrs apparently. They never feature us in anything UA-cam related.
Pretty much once you posted you would be there and I considered it enough to look at the Vidicon Baltimore Site, I saw Vidicon Baltimore ads everywhere on social media.
Great video as usual! And it was lovely meeting you at VidCon as well! ❤
I want to add that for me personally it was very underwhelming and centered to kids as far as the fan side of things. Creator side, I had no idea the creators were just thrown in the mix without anything to do
Welcome to Baltimore!
I only knew about Vidcon Baltimore because of instagram adds due to a lot of my friends living in Baltimore but I was walking by every night for a different event and had no idea if it was going on.
Also would say 3 cars stolen is on the better side for Baltimore. There were regular issues with street robbing on my campus and around the inner harbor when I lived there in part from the city's inequal treatment of neighborhoods (inner harbor sometimes feels like Manhattan but my own apartment was next to multiple condemned, collapsing ones.) That being said, the people are wonderful but the government is shit at taking care of anything but that one small area. Forgive the Baltimore rant, it's something that's made me absolutely sad when I had to research the infrastructural issues of it and I just hope more money possibly goes to that if Vidcon stays there.
I had zero interest in doing the 1 hour trek to Baltimore for this. When you posted about it I actually considered getting a ticket. Ultimately it did not seem like there was a lot for me. So I didn't end up going. I am glad you had a fun time with it at least.
I’m from Baltimore and this video was my first time hearing about this. Horrible marketing on their part! I’m glad you got to visit Baltimore thougg, such an underrated city. I hope they get more events here
The way i didnt even know vidcon was happening
Same. Not Even One Word
I'm a 50 minute drive from Baltimore, and this video may be a month old, but I had zero idea there was a vid con in Baltimore at all until I found this video.
If they actually had ads up, I can promise you I didn't see them.
HARD agree with everything you said here. I was really let down with the whole event.. like I am a BIG con goer, but this was the most lackluster one i have ever been to. Not to mention the loose security in BALTIMORE???? I literally live here and could not imagine why the hell did they even think of putting an east coast vidcon here, it makes ZERO sense. I genuinely think they simultaneously over and under estimated what was going on, the creator pools selected seemed a bit random, and everything felt "glued" together.
It was nice meeting and talking with you and Hassan though, best part of the event!!
hearing how downhill vidcon has gone is such a bummer. I went to it years 2-4 and it went from an amazing time to an overwhelmed mess. hopefully they can get their shit together bc like you said, this is a huge opportunity to foster community. I really want it to be successful :(
I literally go to college in Baltimore and I was texting my friends to see if anyone wanted to go with me, and no one had heard of it! Definitely should’ve advertised more
'If it's James Charles I'm leaving' honestly same
Baltimore is relatively centrally located on the East Coast and is fairly cheap compared to other East Coast cities. Granted Philadelphia would also make sense for similar reasons if you are focusing in the Northeast as your main region. If you wanted to include more of the Southeast, I would go with Atlanta.
I'm not far from Baltimore and would have come, but I didn't hear about it until I saw your post. I saw no advertising about this, and I had committed to an event the week before so I didn't have the funds to come down. Baltimore is skipped a lot for events unless it's something homegrown, like Artscape. Don't know if it's the crime, the location, or the higher ups don't have the energy to bring more of these cons to the city.
I went to an art school in Baltimore so when you were like "Why is this here?" I immediately thought they'd be catering to students in the area. It's a big college city. Only...one of your Baltimore viewers only found out about it because you posted you were gunna be there? Exqueeze me? Their marketing team must have been on something if it was that poorly advertised to locals.
I genuinely think I’m the only MICA student who attended! No one else here had any idea it was happening. Nearly everyone I talked to about it here found out about it from me. The advertising was non existent.
Agree! I’m from Baltimore and didn’t hear about this at ALL!!
I truly want to know who the PR team was. 😑
Well if they only do it through the tourism company then they might not advertise locally. That's the only explanation I can think of, it's nuts! If the city has a lot of students then that's a HUGE advertisement opportunity which then goes in to spread by word. Maybe they did stuff online rather than posters etc for schools.
It's crazy that companies like these don't make the most of advertising. They're missing out
I live near Baltimore and got constant Facebook ads for VidCon Baltimore with the featured creators' faces, BUT they never updated the ads as they added featured creators. I saw the update that you were announced as a featured creator but they kept using the original ads so I would've never known off the ads alone
How do they not have an East Coast event, then not do a better job putting East Coast creators front and center? There's a lot of UA-camrs who operate on the East Coast/Mid-Atlantic. How do they not do their damndest to make it worthwhile for Rich Rebuilds or Milo Rossi or anyone like that to show up?
I wish i had known you were coming here! I might have actually gone to this one. I'm pretty close and I've never been to a convention other than when I worked at FoodEXPO East. That was a lot of fun and i came home with so many samples and a full tote bag of free organic seeds that I gave away to family and neighbors
Count me as another one who lives in the general area who had absolutely no idea this event was happening. I found out about it after it was over from seeing another creator talk about going.
I’m much older than the typical Vidcon demographic, so I likely wouldn’t have gone anyway, but I would have definitely considered it if I had heard about it at all!
I legit love hearing your point of view on these events, thank you.
I live in Baltimore and so does my boyfriend and this is the first we are hearing of it. Didn't see anything or hear anything and I work a retail job at the mall where there is advertising everywhere so that's honestly wild.
I stayed in that exact same hotel for Baltimore Comic-Con! Yeah, the elevators are very strangely shaped.
I live about 3 hours south of Baltimore in Central Virginia and Instagram pushed Vidcon Baltimore heavy toward me leading up to the event. I would flip through the marketing and I really never got a sense of who it was for - creators, fans, industry, etc. Then, looking at the creator list, I assume they were featured creators, I didn't know any of them, which further pulled my interest away.
Great video, great reflection on everything and great job on your panel…really enjoyed your session.
I'm hearing about this con right now, from you, and I live in Virginia.
As somebody from Baltimore I’ve been waiting for this.
Yeah I live an hour and a half from Baltimore and knew nothing about this. And I usually see/hear when stuff comes there that’s in my wheelhouse.
Local here. I saw tons of ads for Baltimore Vidcon down in the inner harbor by the convention center but that's a problem because no one even goes there anymore because the pavilions by the water are empty. There just isnt anything to do in that area anymore. All of the fun is in Harbor East and Fells Point.
There was a Baltimore VIDCON??? i live an hour away, and totally would've come to see you! how did i miss this???
As soon as I saw Baltimore in the title, I went, "Oh no." Lol The one time I wish I still lived in Maryland and still went to Cons. Baltimore used to draw in huge crowds for Otakon (anime con), so much so that it expanded into the Hyatt. Eventually it grew too big for the convention center and then Otakon relocated to DC. Next time you're in Maryland, definitely try an authentic MD blue crab cake.
I was vending at an anime con literally a block away and didn't know that vidcon was happening until one of the other vendors told me.