Seattle Online Broadcaster Org Hosted its First VTuber Meet and Greet
Seattle Online Broadcasters Association hosts its first VTuber meet and greet at Sakura-Con last March. Here's what they have learned in organizing this activity.
The Washington State Convention Center got a huge presence of anime fans last month, as Sakura-Con was held during the last weekend of March.
One of the activities inside the event was a meet and greet with VTubers hosted by the Seattle Online Broadcasters Association (SOBA). SOBA is a non-profit supporting creators in the Seattle and Pacific Northwest area.
Several VTubers participated in the meet and greet, and some of them were present in-person:
- Friday, March 29
- Saturday, March 30
- Sunday, March 31
Community organizer and SOBA Senior Director for Creators Kenley Cheung shared to VTuber NewsDrop their experience organizing this kind of meetup for the first time.
"We have a significant number of VTubers in our community, so we reached out to our community members and other VTubers to see if there was interest in doing meet and greets," Kenley said.
SOBA hosted Twitch leadership such as Dan Clancy, Mike Minton, Angela Hession and Mary Kish at their PAX West meetups in 2022 and 2023. They also advocate for legislative changes to protect creators, and have raised over $20,000 for charitable causes.
It's a no-brainer that SOBA's prior experience will help them plan this first VTuber meetup, as it only took less than a month for them to execute this activity.
Sakura-Con first reached out to SOBA's Senior Director for Events John Higdon-Graves (Aperios) with an offer to set up a table there.
Aperios went on to handle most of the on-ground logistics in building the organization's presence at the con, keeping in touch with the event's leadership and staff in the process.
He and Kenley, together with members Hikons, Geekosaurusrex, Tunaaapunch and Insaneintherain, volunteered to make the experience as smooth as possible during the Easter weekend.
The VTuber Meet and Greet, in Photos
Kenley provided to NewsDrop several photos following the weekend event, describing their Sakura-Con debut in color.
Lessons Learned in Organizing a VTuber Meetup
As we browse through the photos Kenley shared with us, we look back at the lessons they learned throughout this activity:
- There is a need to focus on bringing VTubers with a diverse set of backgrounds and communities.
- Convention attendees that chatted with the VTubers come from a variety of backgrounds, from members of their communities, folks aware of VTubers, and folks who aren't familiar at all.
- There were kids with families that enjoyed talking to the vtubers at their booth.
To those who want to follow SOBA's footsteps, Kenley has a few pointers to take note of before the activities start:
- Test your hardware and internet connection.
- Use this opportunity to show the broader community what VTubing is and who they are!
- Have fun!
In closing, we asked Kenley what makes community organizing worthwhile. He answered it, simply: "Building a better place for all creators, including VTubers."
Photos: SOBA / Kenley Cheung