SitC

Some of you may know that I am one of the organisers for the largest YouTube gathering in Europe, Summer in the City, which will be taking place next weekend between the 6th and 8th of August.

One of my bigger jobs is that of editor of the SitC Publication, which is a guide/ magazine/ souvenir for the weekend with articles, information and pretty pictures. If all goes smoothly there will be a publication this year as well (touch wood) for which I have the great privilage of writing the forward. I thought I would give you all a little teaser of the publication by posting part of my forward here. Enjoy, and I will see you next weekend.

Nearly a year has gone by and my, look how we’ve grown. In twelve short months our little community has changed so much that some may even question the relevance of a gathering like Summer in the City for a community that is constantly morphing and changing.

For those of us that have been here for a while, YouTube has in many cases either had to take a back seat as our ‘real’ lives develop, or has grown to become our livelihoods and careers. I myself have spent the last year in China, so my life online has had to take a back seat. I have become somewhat detached from the core of the site; I’m not sure who everyone is watching, what companies have been cosying up to us lately and I have no idea where all the stars have gone. However, I have deliberately planned my summer so that I will be in London for this gathering, why?

At the beginning gatherings, I’m thinking back to 2007, were a way to geek out with people who had the same interests as you, with whom you shared hobbies, ambitions and idols. As time went on these people became not just our YouTube friends, but some of the most important people in our lives; our flatmates, our boyfriends and girlfriends, our support network for when we broke up with these boyfriends and girlfriends.

This process begins at every single YouTube meet-up. Whenever it is someone’s first gathering, they are meeting people that may become long standing features of their world. YouTube attracts a certain kind of person; we’re all a bit too nerdy for our own good, we all like meeting new people and we all like to show off a bit. No matter how much YouTube changes, no matter how commercial it will or will not become, whether you call them a Pogotribe, Nerdfighters or just plain YouTubers, this kind of person will still be coming to these kinds of meet-ups. For the foreseeable future, I will still be coming to these meet-ups, whether my channel lays neglected or not, because the people you meet at YouTube gatherings are often some of the most quirky, fascinating and loyal people you will ever meet.