ChristmasBrains! – The Inevitable Post Mortem

Merry Christmas and goodwill to all for the inevitable dissection of this, the most festive of VideoBrains.

Because it’s christmas, I don’t really want to mention the patreon. Let’s just pretend it never happened. There are also January Tickets available, with the lineup fully announced.

A terrific set of talks at #VideoBrains this evening. Here's a split second look at all of them. https://t.co/6fckqcyNVV

— Bat-thew Reynolds (@Crazyreyn) December 15, 2014

What Went Well?

I'm always having too much fun at #VideoBrains to tweet while it's happening. But it really is good. You should come to the next one.

— Caithulhu (@caiwingfield) December 15, 2014

.@failnaut absolutely never fails to increase my admiration and respect for him tenfold everytime I hear him talk. #videobrains is excellent

— Lex Robots (@lexicobob) December 15, 2014

I'm drunk as fuck and want to try game development again. THANKS, #VIDEOBRAINS

— DARK HEADLESS (@Markatansky) December 15, 2014

Free games. Free magazines. Smart talks. And even the #Videobrains entry bracelets are good. pic.twitter.com/xxw6o30y5X

— Joe Martin (@JoeThreepwood) December 15, 2014

It was all so nice!

Spilt Milk Studios, Chucklefish, Gamecity and FiveoutofTen all donated goodies to give away, and a lot of the audience really got behind the baking thing and brought along some pastry.This is good because I:

• Can’t bake
• Like eating baked goods
• Set VideoBrains up entirely for the purpose of people bringing me food.

I actually only got to nibble on a few of the treats on offer, but general consensus from the audience and the twitters is that everyone brought incredible and delicious baked stuff.

The talks were great, although I’ll refrain from commenting on my own one – my first at VB. I was a little nervous, but I’ll let the video speak for itself when it shows up.

Anyway, everyone seems to have had a great festive time.

What Went Badly

I made a particularly poor joke that has been playing on my mind since the event. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, but I think I let the manflu/personal issues I’ve been carrying around all week get the better of me.

Everything else was great. We finished on time, people really enjoyed some of the diversions and it was the fullest it’s ever been. Still. That joke. So awkward.

Things To Consider

We’re still weighing up a few things with regards to pricing. For January we’re still offering the free drink but we’ve opened up a new ticket type that includes the cost of the EventBrite fees. This just allows people to help us out with the cost of the event a bit.

Honestly, having run two quite successful events within three weeks, the VideoBrains team are winding down now for the Christmas Season. Videos will emerge but otherwise we’re all just relaxing for a few weeks before we come back and deliver January.

Thanks

All of our speakers and everything involved, basically.

Further Reading

Some other great blogs and things surfaced in the wake of VideoBrains, I wanted to share some and I’ll edit any more in as they’re brought to my attention:

http://laurakbuzz.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/youtube-lets-plays-and-the-video-game-literacy-issue/

http://practicetheoryplay.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/videobrains-christmas-event/