Stefanie Bautista 0:10
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef and educator who uses her passions and fandoms to help her students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

Ariel Landrum 0:21
And I’m Ariel, I’m a licensed marriage and family therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:29
And here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:33
Why? Because we are more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So Stef, what Disney Experience are we discussing today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:40
So it’s been a while since we’ve, you know, recorded and we’ve gotten back into the game. I know, as we always say, in our practices, mental health is number one. So we decided to take a little break for ourselves pay attention to what we need, the things that we need to do on our lives. But we went back into it full force with conventions. So it’s not necessarily a specific Disney experience. I think this is more of it encompasses everything that has to do with all geekiness all nerdiness anything fandom, definitely Disney is a big driving force in a lot of these things, because of all of its franchise acquirements. But conventions is our topic today. And we have done a lot of conventioning, haven’t we?

Ariel Landrum 1:27
Yes, yes. We have gone to a lot of conventions, I think maybe more you than me. Because I went to WonderCon and Comic-Con.

Stefanie Bautista 1:36
Yes. And I went to Anime Expo, which is one more than you.

Ariel Landrum 1:39
Yeah. And then we didn’t do Midsummer Scream because that’s always right after Comic-Con and I need like a break. And we are I know that both of us are going to try D23.

Stefanie Bautista 1:51
Yes, we are going to try with all of our minds and all of our Disney magic to do that. Because as you all have probably been seeing a lot of these in person conventions are coming back for the first time in 2022. So many people are eager, they’re willing to come back to the convention space to be with their communities, and also be with their tribes basically. And so what we’re finding is that a lot of these conventions are selling out. I know for myself, when I was preparing for Anime Expo this year, I did not realize that I was going to see many posts on Instagram saying they were sold out which is beyond anything that I’ve ever experienced before. I mean, for all of you con convention goers you all know that these things never sell out.

Ariel Landrum 2:35
I mean, with the exception of San Diego Comic-Con

Stefanie Bautista 2:37
With the exception of the big one. These almost never sell out. They’re usually still very niche communities that come together cosplay. But I think over the pandemic with the releases of so many platforms and so much accessibility to content. We’re just getting fans from everywhere. And it’s not a niche community anymore. As they say it’s cool to be a nerd now, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:02
It’s cool to be part of the geeky community.

Stefanie Bautista 3:05
It is it is so yeah, we attended quite a bit of conventions. We went into it. I know, both me and Ariel had been a little hesitant to be in the public space, especially since you know we are still in the middle of a pandemic. But we have been given some great opportunities, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:20
Absolutely. So So previously, before the pandemic, we would go to conventions every year, and on a different platform that’s been archived we actually went as press. And then even before that we were attendees. And even before that, I worked as a booth babe, which is somebody who passes out free things and stuff.

Stefanie Bautista 3:37
Ohh! Booth babe! Booth babe! I did not do that. I was always an attendee.

Ariel Landrum 3:43
So we have had many types of experiences of the convention. I think, the only experience that we haven’t had is being an exhibitor. I haven’t.

Stefanie Bautista 3:51
Yes.

Ariel Landrum 3:52
You?

Stefanie Bautista 3:53
But accidentally you were going to be an exhibitor this year at Comic-Con, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Yes. And the other new experience that we had at WonderCon. And Comic-Con was we were panelists.

Stefanie Bautista 4:03
Yes. And I feel for us, it was just like a dream come true. I never thought that we would be at the level at this stage of I guess, in our geekiness that we would be presenting topics that people really wanted to hear about connecting with people who think just like us and share the same passions and fandoms as us and having some really meaty and meaningful conversations that lasts beyond the 45 minutes that they allow us to have.

Ariel Landrum 4:32
Yes. Being a volunteer or working at a booth working it’s essentially a W2 two or 1099 job you have to apply. When it comes to being a volunteer you also have to apply but usually volunteers. If you particularly San Diego Comic-Con because it’s so big. If you apply early and get approved, then you get passes for the whole shebang. So you end up not having to pay but you have to be prepared to work you have to be Be prepared to answer a lot of questions about the convention floor where things are about the panel’s. Really good volunteers who get chosen again next year are ones that create that connection and do the deep dive to learn about the convention and its size and where to walk around. But when it comes to doing something like press, being a professional, doing a panel, that’s it’s a whole other bar, where you have to, like, fill out paperwork, do a proposal. And when we had done it for press, you had to prove that you had a following you had people reading your content, or if you’re a podcaster, are listening to your podcast, or, you know, watching your YouTube channel, if you were saying that you were public, like a publication of some sort, you have to prove that. So for anybody who wants to have a press pass, if you don’t already work at a…

Stefanie Bautista 4:35
Like an established publication…

Ariel Landrum 4:48
You have to be willing to put in the work to make your own which means consistency, because that’s usually what garners the most attention.

Stefanie Bautista 6:02
Yes, definitely. And with those different levels, it’s kind of like, as an attendee, yes, you want to have fun a little bit. But when you have a purpose there, it’s all of a sudden, a different game, you have to make sure that you’re working having trying to have fun at the same time. But also, knowing that you have a responsibility there and knowing that you have to have a game plan coming in. Because when you’re making that jump from attendee to either volunteer or attendee to even press, you have to make sure that you’re getting what you need to get done. Because as you all know, who do attend conventions, the day just slips by, and it goes by so fast, and all of the sensory overload all of just the people overload, everything just kind of ends up getting in the way. So I know for myself making the jump from attendee to at least press, I had to, like totally prepare myself in a different mindset. I know for sure, I didn’t want to be a volunteer, because I didn’t want to work. I wanted to have fun. I didn’t want to work. But this type of work was a little bit different, because then I could put my perspective on things. But I did run into the problem of gathering all that information into a digestible way. And putting all of those things because there’s a lot you’re looking at a lot of things, a lot of things are being thrown at you, you’re experiencing a lot of different like either panels, Artist Alley, all that stuff. And then to be able to condense all of that information into something that’s digestible is not easy for a lot of people to do. So, like Ariel said, there’s many different avenues to be part of what is essentially a convention, but you just have to find the one that works the best for you.

Ariel Landrum 7:42
And burst a little bit of a bubble. Just because you get the press pass doesn’t mean that you get access to all of the things. There are even tiers, if it is a bigger convention, like San Diego Comic-Con, sometimes press gets special seating, but at smaller conventions, they don’t get preference in seating at panels. And they don’t get to automatically interview whoever they want. Obviously, larger press publications will get access to celebrities to be able to do sit downs, and Q and A’s. Whereas general press that comes from like blogs or YouTube channels that aren’t well established, but are still enough following that they can get a press pass, you’re probably just going to be able to just attend for free, which you know, is a money saver. So it’s not something to sneeze at. But don’t step into wanting to do those th