The final day of a con always comes much too soon. After what felt like a literal SECOND of parties and panels and pitiful amount of sleep, the final day of VidCon reared its ugly head in a mocking tone, one that shouted directly in my hungover, sensitive ears, “Kristina! You haven’t even explored the Expo Hall yet!”

So Saturday was a blur. I had a signing at 10am, which I had to forcefully roll myself out of bed for. This is why all dresses and skirts and high heeled shoes were left in the suitcase in favor of flats and denim jeans. Don’t get me wrong – my signing was lovely. Two hours of meeting people who watch my videos, who enjoy Job Hunters, who wait with bated breath for the next episode of Dokapon Kingdom – I live for that. But there was a giant mechanical shark that could literally chew its way through a chair in the Expo Hall, and I hadn’t even gotten to see it yet.

Immediately after my signing we gathered the Job Hunters cast and hung out at the Wyrd booth for another hour – taking photos with fans and playing our Season 2 trailer on loop for anyone that’d missed it at the panel. THEN Joe and I played Jetpack Unicorn with a kickstarter backer named Cate Neuhauser who was so good at our game that it made us look bad.

Then, around 3pm (when the Expo Hall would be closing in a mere two hours) I finally, finally got to walk around, check out the booths and get free swag. I blazed through that room with the determination of a shopper on Black Friday. I called it the “photo both tour”, collecting as many silly photos with my friends as we could cram in these final hours. Not to mention a quick pitstop in the ball pit, as well as a small detour in some sort of robot music video.

I’ll be doing another post soon about my VidCon swag, so never fear! All aspects of this con will be covered on my blog! I had such a great time, and the Expo Hall this year really pulled out all the stops. I’m so impressed with how exponentially this little con grows each year, and I’m so happy I’ve been there every year to see it firsthand.

This is a super cheesy thing to ask, but if you attended VidCon 2013, what was your favorite part? The main stage? The concerts? The vendor room? Or was it something VidCon couldn’t plan for and put on a schedule, like meeting a certain YouTuber or getting to spend time with friends you don’t see very often? For me it’s meeting the people who watch my videos. The yearly reminder of why I do this is so special to me, and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

This was my favorite outfit of VidCon this year – hence why I saved it for Friday, when I had both the 5AG and Job Hunters panels. This is my brand new galaxy skirt from ModCloth.com, as well as one of my favorite slouchy black blouses from non other than Target. Completed with a cute little golden grenade necklace given to me by my friend Liz (not sure where she got it, but here’s a similar set of pendants on Amazon).

The first panel of the day was the Job Hunters panel. We showed a special VidCon exclusive trailer and then had a talk-back/Q&A with a roomful of lovely fans.

We’ve had a VERY tight lid on pretty much all information about Season 2, so the panel was both hilarious (“We can’t answer that. We can’t answer that either”) as well as a bit relieving when we did decide to reveal a few choice details. The biggest of which is that Season 2 will not only have 12 full episodes, but it will also have 12 additional “mini-sodes” that will take place on the train recruits take to and from the arena each day. Oh yeah, and we showed the trailer a second time – though that was mostly because even most of the cast and crew had never seen it before that panel, and we were all very excited.

Next up was 5AG!

The Fiveawesomegirls panel was seriously the most fun I’ve ever had on a panel. We sat in day order, we answered questions – but mostly we spent our hour reminiscing about the three years we spent making videos together, rehashing old stories, talking about what it was like behind the scenes, and laughing. It was so, so lovely to see the faces of our diehard fans in the audience, knowing many of the people in the room had been watching our videos since 2008. It was all very surreal, very nostalgic, and very positive.

Friday of VidCon also contained the fantastic Women of YouTube meet-up hosted by Laci Green, Rosianna and Lex Croucher. What a wonderful idea, to have a roundtable discussion out on the grass; it went so excitingly well and I really, truly hope VidCon takes notice of the lengths female content creators had to go to just to be able to hold a pseudo panel.

Closed out the night with a Fiesta Movement party up the street and had a great time catching up with some of my fellow agents. I had some spinach and artichoke dip that was, if I dare say it, the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. All in all, Friday was a pretty stellar day.

Note: This post may contain affiliate or referral links.

VidCon is just around the corner, so I figured now would be a good time to give you all the low-down on what I will be doing there! I’m on a couple of panels – but I’ll mostly be hanging out, frequenting a couple of relevant booths, and saying hello to friends and fans alike! Just a warning… I’ve heard there will be something like 10,000 people attending this year – so please, feel free to say hi if you see but, but if I seem tired or in a hurry, just know I am doing my best to meet everyone and do everything!

These are my official panels/events:

1. Job Hunters Sneak Peek + Talkback / Friday, 11am-12pm
We’ll be showing some ACTUAL FOOTAGE of Season 2 (this will be the first time anything from the new season will be shown publicly) as well as doing a Q&A/talkback with all of the main cast. There also might be some other fun surprises or giveaways, so don’t miss it!

2. Fiveawesomegirls Reunion Panel / Friday 2-3pm
Seriously. Myself along with Lauren, Kayley, Hayley and Liane will ALL be in the same place for the first time since 2009, rolling dice and talking about 5AG! For those diehard fans out there who always wanted us to bring back 5AG.. this panel is for you. Bring your friends and your cameras, because YOU’LL be interacting with us at this panel as well as watching us speak!

3. italktosnakes Signing Line Appearance / Saturday 10am-12pm
I’m not sure exactly what this will look like, but I’m they’ll have me sitting at a table, and people will be able to line up to come say hi, chat, and have me sign things? If you definitely want to make sure we meet at VidCon, this is probably your best bet. Please stop by!

I will also be hanging around the Wyrd Games booth (#617) in some of my down time, both to help promote my new game Jetpack Unicorn, and because that’s where Job Hunters merch will be. Speaking of Job Hunters merch, we miiight have badge ribbons this year, so be on the lookout for myself or other actors from the show if you want to wear your Job Hunters pride right on your VidCon badge!

We’ll ALSO have some sweet Safe House and Maewin themed postcards on hand at the Job Hunters/Wyrd booth… for just $2, you’ll be able to write to a friend at home and we’ll do the sending of the postcard for you! It’ll be like you’ve joined the hunt!

And now, I’ll just leave you with this adorable graphic Lauren Fairweather made to promote the 5AG reunion. It’s going to be a BLAST.

I can’t wait to get down to Anaheim, but there’s so much to do before then! Are you going to VidCon? If so, what are you most excited to do there?