I had fun at the Streamy Awards, but I had a media pass

I wrote this as a comment to Brian Lerner's post and wanted to share it here:

I had a really fun time at The Streamy Awards. A big part of it was that I was there blogging for Kodak and got a media pass which gave me both red carpet and behind the scenes access.


Streamys Red Carpet

I think you too should have had a red carpet experience, as should a lot more video creators.

I was able to get there early and shoot some videos of people when they were all happy and setting up. I was able to see excited friends walk the red carpet in expectation of the night.


Amanda Congdon on the Red Carpet

I was able to talk with lots of friends that I hadn't seen in a while. I was able to chat with people that web producers, content creators, and hosting providers. It was a really great time, like the hallways of an early vloggercon or SXSW.

This was during the pre-show time of 2:00 - 5:00.

I was going to be a great night.

I understood that the event was produced to promote 'shows' vs. individual people. It isn't the way I would have structured either the event of the organization, but that was their choice. People questioned my support, but I replied that I wanted to fly out from Boston to support promoting web video.

As the event got started, I got situated in the Press Room. That area was like a bubble. Removed from what was going on in the theater. We had a big screen with somewhat problematic sound, so the main focus back there was the winners coming through for photos and interviews. My focus for quite a while was on editing and uploading my pre-show video, and then editing an uploading photos. With a slow internet connection that whole process took some time.



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360 Degree HD Camera


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I sat in the theater at the start for the opening number, monologue and bit with David Wain. I'm a huge fan of Wain and found it very interesting to see that all the ad-libs were actually scripted and on the teleprompter.

I went back into the Press Room and was really disconnected from the drama, only to start seeing it show up on twitter feeds. People were offended. There was a disconnect for me at that point since I hadn't seen a lot of what went on, up on stage.

Later on I went into the theater again to take photos and that's when the technical difficulties were going on. The host was trying to fill time and I was thinking to myself that it would be a fun moment for me to get up on stage and start videoblogging what was going on. In the past, I have done something similar at SXSW, where there was a room full of videobloggers, but here, I felt like it was more of a show that was not to be interrupted.

It was a sit back event vs. being one that was participatory. This was not a bar camp, video camp, it was HOLLYWOOD.

That's when the streakers showed up and I was in the right place at the right time to grab a shot. I was standing right by the stage. I'm glad my shot was somewhat blurry.


Streaker at The Streamys

At 8:00 PM I started wondering how much longer the show was going to go on, then at 9:00 PM it was over and we went to the after-party.

That was fun, like the pre-show, where I got to mingle and talk with lots of great people.


iJustine and Amanda Congdon at the Steamys After Party

So for me, the events surrounding the show were the best parts of the Streamys event.

Maybe that's what the organizers should think about when looking at changes for next year's event.