So, I am writing this as I am with my 17 year old son at an RTX convention (that is short for Rooster Teeth Convention). Rooster Teeth, other than the cool name, are some guys that started from nothing and played video games. While they were playing them, they would comment and make stories using the characters in the games. When playing some of the games where a player may have a helmet on, the Rooster Teeth guys can just move its body a little, or wiggle its head to imitate talking. Now, you can’t see its mouth, but you hear it talking and so it makes for a really easy way to make a video. It’s actually quite ingenious.
In fact, these guys have had over 10,000 people come to this convention. It’s like a giant Star Trek Convention, or Comic Con; thousands of people came in for one cause, dressing up like their favorite characters, and connecting. I am sitting in the “parents” session where parents are sitting all around me updating their Facebook, sleeping, reading etc. I have to compliment them, these people are certainly involved in their teen’s life which is AWESOME.
If you follow me at all, you know that I am looking to always learn. Whether it’s by book, by movie, or by meeting people, it’s just part of whom I am. Before we came, I actually looked at a map, and did a brainstorming session on to see whether there were people I wanted to meet while in Austin. But then I thought no, it’s a holiday weekend, so I will let it go. I will work on some books I am writing. So my son downloaded an app for this conference, and we started looking at the breakout sessions. (LOL for 17 year olds…… WOW) I decided to go to 3. One was building a community event for Rooster Teeth, RVB, and Storytelling. Sound like something a 44year old would be into? Let’s look deeper.
Building a community event…HMMM…Guinness World Records, Keith Ice Cold Lemonade, Kids nights…Sounds like something I already do. So let’s find out how they do it. So I am the definitely the oldest one in the room, and guess what – they do it like I do! Their goal is to connect people that like video games. To them they consider it a success when they get 20, 50, or 200 people, the same as I do. I was the first one up to ask questions during the Q&A time, and was not really nervous…but I asked some personal questions about their business – Where did they start? Where are they now? Then I was followed by a 15 year old; he was clearly nervous. His hands that were shaking and shuddering gave it away, as he just boldly wanted to state how awesome the panel was.
RVB – well, this was mainly so I could be with my son. It was a panel telling how they made the show Red VS. Blue- and I have to admit, it was cool.
Storytelling – the person that will be there is Chris Claremont. He was one of the comic book writers for X-men years ago. Storytelling is a huge component of what I do. Weather it’s for my team, my community, or those I mentor, storytelling is a way to get people to connect to what you’re talking about.