Ever wonder what it’s like to create a complex, large video game event from scratch? Or, what might you do if you bought a game expo? How would you build it, launch it, grow it, make it your own kind of an event in one year?
If you asked an event planner that second question, they’d probably agree that it’s no simple thing to accomplish. But it can be done, and that’s what this recent YouTube documentary from Phoenix Resale and PixelGameSquad explores in some detail.
In 2023, the SoCal Gaming Expo was sold to four buyers, all of whom had never run a gaming event in California before. But they didn’t just want to only launch it, they were aiming to make it the largest gaming expo in California, featuring a three-day length for thousands of attendees, hundreds of vendors, athletes, cosplay, (oh, and the Tetris World Championship) and more. The SoCal Gaming Expo was held on June 8-9, 2024 at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.
The 50 minute-long video has a polished documentary feel, with slice-of-life moments, interview snippets of the process — from planning and organizing ahead of the SoCal Gaming Expo event, to executing the event from the unloading, managing and multitasking through the hectic days of the event itself, to the teardown at the end. There’s moments of excitement, joy, conflict, stress, and more. In watching the video, event planners might see themselves in the experiences of the organizers. Event attendees may learn a little more about the behind-the-scenes process how an event is planned for, launched, and run. At the very end, like any good cinematic-like story, you can find out how the journey ends, whether the organizers met their objectives or not.
Feel free to let us know in a comment below if you may have attended the SoCal Gaming Expo, and some thoughts about what you might have experienced if you did!
Whether you are an event coordinator, press, or general attendee, if you have an event video to share with us, please let us know and we’ll be happy to feature it!
