Virtual Conventions. Virtual events where people can meet their favorite celebrities or get a personalized recorded message, or even an autograph. It seems to be the new norm, at least for now. I have attended four virtual events since April. All of them for the same actors, my favorite four guys from the Vampire Diaries Universe.
Three different companies. Three different types of events. Three very different reviews.
The first was through Cast 4 Good. A company created by Todd Krim aka Mr. Charity in Hollywood circles. Todd is famous for being the entertainment industry’s go-to person for charities looking to connect with celebrities, and vice versa.
Using a platform called Looped, Cast 4 Good had the cast of the hit CW show, Roswell New Mexico, doing a group chat and individual chats benefiting Feeding America.
I purchased a ticket (well two, shh) for one of my favorite people – Michael Trevino who plays Kyle Valenti on Roswell, New Mexico, and is more well known for his role as Tyler Lockwood on The Vampire Diaries.
The event started with a group chat, where fans could chat with each other while the actors talked about their roles in Roswell, and what they’ve been doing during the Corona pandemic. After the group chat the one on one videos began. I love getting to talk with Michael. I’ve known him for eight years, and am one of the two admins on his Official Fan Page “Real Team Trevino” so it’s always fun to chat with him.
What I liked about Looped and Cast 4 Good, is that the proceeds went to charity, as well as the fact that you got sent a video copy of your chats so that you could keep the memories. I also loved the fact that you were told you were this number in line.
The second event was through a European convention company called Dream It Conventions. They specialize in conventions for TV shows such as Reign, the Norwegian series SKAM, and more.
Their event was several celebrities from different fandoms – Wizards of Waverly Place, Teen Wolf, SKAM, Game of Thrones, and The Vampire Diaries. Their event featured panels, a group meet & greet with up to 30 people, and private one on meet & greets.
I, of course did one of each, with one of my other favorite people. Vampire Diaries star Steven R. McQueen is another one of my all-time favorite people, like Michael Trevino. I haven’t talked to Steven since last September, and getting to chat with him is one of my favorite things to do at conventions.
Dream It’s event was amazing. I was able to get two screenshot photos that Dream It’s moderator took at the end of the meet & greet, which were emailed to me a few days later. I wish they would allow you to video tape your one on one or get a copy of it like Looped did, it’s the one drawback. They, however, do send you a photo that they take at the end of your chat.
The third event was put on by convention company Wizard World. Famous for their comic con style events all over the country that allow you to meet some of your favorite actors. I’ve actually attended one of their events back in 2016.
Yes, I was able to talk to all four of my favorite guys – Steven R McQueen, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig (who I haven’t talked to in three years), and Nate Buzolic. That is always amazing.
I got one on one videos with all four of them, as well as recorded messages from all of them. I love talking to all four guys. They’re all different in their own way, and I have the most amazing friendship with them that has grown so much in the last eight years.
Wizard World, unlike Dream It, does not give you a screenshot photo, but sometimes (and I use sometimes very loosely here) allows you to take a photo on your side. I was never told by the handler in my meet & greets that I was allowed to do so, and it takes up time out of your short two minutes (which is not a long time to say much of anything).
Also, unliked Looped, they do not give you a recorded copy of your one on one message, only the Recorded messages.
From what I experienced, and what I was told by friends that did the Wizard events, the zoom chat room is a semi-disorganized mess.
One girl who had multiple one on one chats, was told to leave one chat room and go to another, and then after she left she was told to come back (in the first room), however when you leave one chat room you can’t see what they’re typing.
Also, you have to stay glued to your computer and hopefully not miss your name before you’re brought into the chat room. I also know people who had Ian Somerhalder’s video chats (who was massively OVERSOLD in my opinion) that kept getting rescheduled upwards of over five times before they even got their one on one with him.
What I like about Dream It is they don’t oversell their one on one chats. They have a set amount and then when they’re sold out they’re sold out, which is a good thing and a bad thing as you have to be the first to get it, but it also doesn’t overwhelm the celebrity and cause schedule disruptions for those who spent hours waiting for a chat to find out that it is going to be rescheduled (most of us have lives and jobs you know).
Also some of Wizard’s pricing was a bit … much. I understand paying celebrities a certain fee, and that you have to make some kind of income, I do. I’ve worked on that end of the convention scene. But some of the actors they got (I won’t name names because what would that do) were priced much higher than they typically are at normal face to face conventions for let’s say an autograph or a photo op.
I’ve been attending conventions since I was twenty, back in 2007 when I went to my first convention. All three of these events have things that I love and things that I didn’t quite like. Everyone has opinions about conventions, about events, about everything.
If I ran my own virtual event? Well here’s the things I know I would definitely do.
1. Longer one on one meets with celebrities. Two minutes isn’t a lot to say much of anything, especially if you don’t speak the same language and need a translator. Yes, it might mean that you can sell less one on one’s or have to do more than one day of events?
a. I know one event I did last year through CONECTR app, allowed you to talk as long as you wanted to, as long as you donated. It was $10 for two minutes and after that it was so much a minute and it all went to charity.
2. Send people copies of the video chat that they have with the actors. Moments like these are one in a million for some people, and its amazing to be able to watch the video again and again.
3. Have the moderator of the panel actually take a picture at the end of the meet & greet that doesn’t take from the time of the one on one and then send them to everyone via email.
a. I loved that Dream It Conventions did this. Getting the photos in the email was amazing, and they managed to take two, one that I was so glad they were able to capture.
4. Make it so that instead of sitting in a chat room and having to constantly watch for your name being typed you’re given a spot in line and you can see your number change so that you know how much time you have left before you’re on. Having to watch for your name with no indication of how long you have can be very stressful.
5. Panels should be free, I believe. Wizard World did one right by this. They made the panels free. Dream It didn’t charge too much for their panels, so they’re not that bad.
6. A percentage of the proceeds being donated to a charity of the celebrity’s choice. I loved that CONECTR and Looped did this. I believe Dream It has started to do it.
7. With autographs you get a shoutout video of the actor signing your autograph and a small shoutout.
Virtual conventions will never replace the in person interaction that you have with celebrities at a convention, but they are a brief distraction from the insanity that has become our new reality.
I hope that we are able to go to actual conventions soon, I miss everything about them, except for maybe the drama.
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