Summer in the City 2014.

So this last weekend I attended Summer in the City for the first time, and if you're looking for a quick summary: despite the expensive food (£5 for nachos! What?!), it was amazing. If you want a lengthier review, please read on :).

Let me start off by saying the organisers did a great job this year. The layout of things was excellent, and the ticketing system for the signings was a great idea. I didn't personally line up for any of the signings, so I wasn't there to know the disappoint of a line being cut off. Though, what would the alternative be? Wait for 5 hours to be told you can't meet the person you want to meet? I don't know about you but I'd much rather be able to do something better than standing around with that time. I can't believe how disgusting a couple of people acted at queues being cut off to be honest, and to those people who acted in that way I have to say this: If you view SitC as a giant meet and greet, you're going to be disappointed. Especially if you're only going to meet one person. There is so much more to SitC, enjoy it! My only recommendation to the organisers would be to maybe ticket the panel queues in the same way they did the signings so people don't waste their time. Saturday queues for panels were not handled so well at all, with people not knowing which side to queue up at and forming two queues, both of which were being let in, resulting in people who had waited longer than others not being able to see that panel. Though this was rectified by Sunday. Excellently handled there SitC! Regardless, I would still recommend ticketing.

Okay so lets talk about these panels shall we! I went to two each day, so lets discuss chronologically. The first panel I attended was the comedy panel, which as expected, was very funny. I don't do comedy in particular on my channel, but the panel was enjoyable nonetheless with some great advice and an insight into bigger comedy channels on YouTube. The second panel I went to was SprinkeofGlitter's 'GlitterTime' which was more of a QnA. May I just say I think I love her more now? In a room packed to the brim she made it feel personal and the community spirit was really alive. She was charming, funny and sweet. The next panel I went to was the one I had wanted to attend the most, and that was the mental health panel. The people on that panel spoke so well, I found myself nodding alone to everything they were saying. Tomska was in particularly relatable, he obviously found it difficult to be talking about such serious things, but when he did what he said was just so perfect. Gary C also raised some excellent points, I wanted to clap after so many of his sentences. The final panel I attended was the small YouTuber panel. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend! It felt like everyone in that room was not just a community but friends. The atmosphere was just amazing, with us all hugging each other, laughing together, joking together. It was so inspiring, and really quite helpful to those just starting out their channels. Jazza came in right at the end gave a very emotional speech, letting us know that SitC is here for us.

By far the best part of the weekend was the people. No, not Dan and Phil, who I am sure are lovely, if you can get past the 13 year old fan girls, but my friends. I got to meet so many people from all over the world who I have been talking to for various amounts of time which was incredible. Friendships were strengthened, and new friendships made. I cannot wait to see all of these people again.

Here's my video of the weekend:

Let me know about your SitC experience if you attended! I'd love to hear about it :).
Lots of love,
Kristi.
<3