This year was my second year at Vidcon and instead of a community pass I wore a creator pass. I have been inconsistently making videos for my YouTube channel since the summer after I graduated high school and was consistently uploading four to five days a week last fall. In the last five months, however, I lost my motivation. I didn’t have anything interesting to say or anything fun to show off. I was in a rut.
So going into VidCon this weekend I wasn’t very excited to be there and I wasn’t sure what I would get out of the experience a second time around. But I kept my mind as open as I could and at the end of each day realized I was becoming more and more energized to be back in such a creative space as the online community. I listened to panels about how to tell your story online and watched people who inspire me share their creative struggles.
While completely different, each panel essentially reminded me that my voice does matter and that there is an audience out there who might need to hear what I have to say or see my perspective on the world. I have become inspired to jump back into making online video and I want to share some of the things brought me back.
So here is a list of quotes and other things that I learned at VidCon 2016:
- Prioritize self care
- Set boundaries in your relationships (with family, friends, fans, and the people you look up to)
- Having a YouTube channel is an investment
- “Nothing [and no one else] can do anything for you until you do everything for yourself” - Connor Manning
- Perspective is what makes a story unique and important
- “I don’t let the praise go to my head or the hate go to my heart” - Michael Buckley on YouTube comments
- “Simplicity can actually make something amazing” - Vincent Cyr
- “Boredom is a choice” - Mitchell Davis
- Think of your creative work (ie. your YouTube channel) as an extension of yourself so don’t allow other people to undervalue you (ie. partnerships and MCNs)
- Trust your own interests to be more universal than you assume they are
