By David Doub Please describe your background from Funimation to E-Sports to HomeCon I've grown up as a fan of entertainment and believe, like many others, that it shapes who we are as a person. This brought me to working at Funimation for about 10 years in marketing and events, social media, and business development. In the past few years, I've transitioned to esports as a new challenge in another emerging market. Eventually I became VP of Events at Envy Gaming in an effort to build out new local experiences for fans and launched the first ever home game in esports history showcasing the Dallas Fuel to 9,000 attendees over the weekend at Allen Event Center. Now, I’m taking on a side-project putting together a first-of-its-kind online fan convention called HomeCon. Could you describe what exactly is HomeCon? HomeCon connects individuals who are respectfully staying at home to an online event community that’s bringing a brand new face to the world of pop culture conventions. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend live virtual panels with the stars of their favorite shows via Twitch.tv/homeconofficial —and they will be able to book video chats with celebs in intimate one-on-one video settings. How did HomeCon come about? Paul Amos reached out to me about 2 weeks ago about an idea he and Lost Girl cohort Rachel Skarsten had discussed about providing some sort of experience for fans to see and meet their favorite actors during this social distancing era. Having worked with both of them in the past during my stint at Funimation and considering my experience with fan engagement and events, Paul thought I’d be a good fit to brainstorm and develop this new way of connecting fans with talent. What is your involvement with HomeCon? I’ve done a little bit of everything. Event strategy, live production, business development such as securing a Twitch partnership in under a week, and helping to build a team of amazing people with incredibly diverse skill sets to get HomeCon off the ground. I’m also hosting a handful of the panels with talent from Lost Girl, The Expanse, Shadowhunters, and Lucifer. What were some of the challenges in getting an event like HomeCon starter so quickly? Time, technology, and communication. Trying to get this out the door as fast as possible to satisfy the needs of fans who are lacking this type of engagement due to conventions around the world getting cancelled has been a challenge. No single platform or service really satisfies all the needs fans have to get the best experience, so we’ve had to work with multiple partners like Twitch, Zoom, and Acuity Scheduling. Getting the word out to these groups of people, finding the right talent, and making sure everyone understands how the event will work has been no easy task. Where do you see HomeCon gong in the future? Is this a one-time thing for a unique time or is their plans to grow it? The future of conventions and events will be impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic forever. While what we’re exactly doing with HomeCon may evolve, we think this could be a long-term recurring event with many different iterations that address the needs of the various fandoms. What are some of your favorite parts of HomeCon? Rallying together as a team has been amazing. This has been a truly humbling experience to see how passionate everyone is-- actors, fandom, and production team alike. There’s absolutely no way this could have been possible without the unique combination of individuals and incredible support we’ve received. Who are your personal favorite guests for HomeCon? Who are you geeking out over? Being on the hosting and production end of this, I try to be as professional as possible in every interaction - or else I wouldn’t get to do this again. Though, my personal favorite franchise over the past few years has been The Expanse. What are some of your personal favorite conventions? Every convention has its moments. I like them for very different reasons and my preferences have changed as my life and priorities change. Last year was actually the smallest amount of conventions I’ve attended in the past decade, due to focusing on producing our own events for Envy Gaming. Though, I still managed to make it out to some of the big ones like E3, DragonCon, PAX East/West, Anime Expo, and BlizzCon. I can definitely appreciate a more intimate convention also. Any cons want to invite me out as a guest? What are some of your favorite convention memories? Too many to really recall. With going to maybe 10-15 cons a year for about a decade, I could do an entire interview just on this. Being a nerd during these challenging times, is there anything you’d like to say to all your fellow nerds out there? Just keep doing what you love. While we can’t congregate physically, there are endless options to share and experience our fandom digitally. But be cordial online and let other people enjoy what they love too. https://linktr.ee/homeconofficial |
AuthorNorth Texas Nerd is a site for news, reviews, interviews, and opinions about all pop culture and geeky things happening and being made in North Texas. Archives
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