As a creative at WRG (a division of The Creative Engagement Group) I jump at the chance to attend events.
Seeing through the eyes of a delegate helps me approach my work with empathy for my audience. I’m reminded of what the event experience is like, how it makes you feel, and what I can do to make it better. And it makes me love my job more.
After a year and a half of virtual events attended from your desk, imagine going from 1 to 10,000 – as in, how many humans there are in the room.
The crowds. The connections. The energy!
I’ve seen no greater hustle and bustle than an event where some attendees are literally sporting bustles. Add to that four-foot pigtails, giant foam hammers, and mechanical wings made feather-by-feather and filled with fairy lights, and you’ve got Comic Con.
There’s a feeling of freedom that cosplay brings. At Birmingham Comic Con 2021, thousands of people exuded that feeling – free from quarantine, and free to indulge in all the nerdy things we love.
Here’s what I think event professionals can learn from Comic Con…
Being inspired by what you love is magnetic
My group went as three leading ladies from Studio Ghibli films, which we rekindled our love for in 2020 with our virtual film club.
Any time someone recognised our trio, they gravitated to us and either matched our enthusiasm, or outdid it. A teen told us they grew up on Ghibli; it meant a lot to them. Another kid took a picture with me and exclaimed to his mum, “I got a Kiki!”
Interactions like this happened all around, all day – people magnetically drawn together by shared interests.
When producers and creatives share ideas, we create a virtuous circle fuelled by things that inspire us. It might be technology, a piece of art, or a film.
Be inspired by what you love and share it at work. It may be the seed of your next big idea.
Shipping beats perfection
For many, Comic Con arrives after a late night (or five) of crafting. By open doors, cosplayers have reached peak stress levels before finally ‘letting go’ of their creation and wearing it at Con.
Our first conversation was with someone cosplaying Anastasia from the Warner Brothers cartoon. She’d been up late fighting with her sewing machine and gave up on hemming her dress. She was pretty down about it.
We assured her she looked like a princess, but we also empathised. The making process tends to drain the joy out of your original plans. As my friend (cosplaying the wild and intimidating Princess Mononoke) put it, “By the time the dress is finished you hate it!”
Event planners work through similarly stressful processes, especially with the uncertainty around COVID implications. There is only so much you can plan for an event before you have to ‘wear the dress’ – and when you reach that point, you can’t let an unfinished hem ruin your day.
Offer more than one way to show up
There’s a million ways to cosplay. You can be screen accurate… or you can have some fun.
Some take their favourite character and ‘gender-bend’ them; an anime girl with a beard, curvy Pyramid Head, or femme Harry Potter. Others mix parts of their own identity with the character; Rapunzel with silk flowers in her braided hijab instead of a wig. Cosplayers interested in a specific historical era can transport characters to another time; the Avengers’ Captain Britain in Edwardian dress.
You can pull out all the stops if you want to – or not! You don’t need a full suit of foam armour to make people smile or to be memorable. Case in point: one guy’s interpretation of Loki with just the antihero’s horns and a green t-shirt that says “LOW KEY”. For the self-conscious and socially anxious, you can be the Spirited Away character No-Face. You hide your entire face and body, and don’t speak. Everyone who recognises No-Face will understand, and they’ll want a photo with you.
This choice is embedded in the culture of cosplay. Take a page from that book and think about what the different segments of your audience need from a live event these days – can you enable and encourage multiple ways to participate?
Under the capes we’re all just people
As much as we love the costumes, something fascinating is happening behind the mask. It’s empowering to be a character you love, for a day. In the eyes of the two-year-old who wanted a high-five, I even got to be someone else’s hero for a moment.
It may sound counterintuitive, but I’ll say it: dressing as animals, supernaturals and cartoon characters has a way of bringing out our humanity.
The essence of that humanity is raw enthusiasm. You see it in the cosplayers and the plain-clothes attendees, and you see it in the halls of the NEC almost every day.
On the same day, the Classic Motor Show was hosted in another hall down the ‘lane’ of the NEC. The two expos created an interesting collision of subcultures at the Wetherspoons on the venue’s main drag. Petrolheads at one table, cosplayers at the next. Everybody was there for something they love.
And for all of us who love events – the joy of a gathering – we’ve sorely missed ‘in real life’ meetings. So have attendees.
Let’s make sure, as we return to planning live events, that we remember what we do it for. Don’t lose touch with the human experience.