Yes and no If they’re claiming it’s a couple hundred dollars of product but in the grand scheme of things it’s a bunch of samples that add up to like 200 dollars then it feels like ✨a scam✨
I like to imagine that someone, somewhere is watching all of Swell's videos, furiously taking notes like "curtains! yes! vinyl decals! museums... are things!" so they can create the perfect convention.
Not to mention that there are also people who simply don't have tiktok - same thing goes for every other social media and companies only having the information available on there instead of a website. I'll never understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to shrink their reach like that
It's giving job fair where every recruiter just tells you to apply online 😒 Like, what was the point of purchasing your booth space when this could have just been a social media ad campaign? It could NOT have been the cheaper option
@@WhoWantsCake0oh my god I remember having to go to my college’s teacher job fair (you literally had to attend to graduate even if you already had a job lined up) and having that issue. I went in with the plan to apply to every district within an hour radius of my home, which was a TON, only to be met with a literal dozen bored bottom-rung HR people who wouldn’t even make eye contact with me as they grabbed my resume and said “fill out the iPad” and then went back to their phone. On the plus side I ended up taking a job in rural Alaska that day because they travel all over the nation recruiting and actively talk to everyone gutsy enough to strike up a conversation. Changed my life
Woof those florals are FIGHTING the good fight against that Brutalist/Industrial architecture. It's like a bunch of Taylor Swift fans dropped in the middle of a Gwar concert.
If a brand said “just follow us on tiktok” I’d nope out cause I don’t have tiktok. Like you need to have your information accessible to everyone not just on one app
Only have 1 app to follow them on isn't at all viable to me. Not everyone has a tiktok nor wants to get it to follow 1 account. A Con should have multiple social medias to cover as many bases as possible.
it's extremely annoying how many companies across all industries do that kinda thing. it's either tiktok or instagram, never like, "hey, here's our website". that you need to use their very own mobile app, bc people don't already have too many of those
This, so much. The amount of times I've met businesses that tell me to follow them on tiktok/instagram in order to learn about them is insane. I don't have either!! Just talk to me or give me a website!!
"omg, I viewed this video from a random youtuber, they exactly have the same experience like you, did you pass by them in there somehow? that's amazing!!!! wait, lemme show you the video, maybe you remember seeing someone like this!!!"
The way the floor is laid out is.... fascinating, truly, to me. I know that there's many, many ways you can make a building and I haven't been in every con center on earth but I have been in both mid-construction buildings and several con halls. This location looks like a building that never got a fitout or tenant, not that its really meant to be a con center with the sheer amount of columns everywhere and the lighting being super minimal. The VIP lounge looks more finished but imo, still like it has a bunch of temporary systems. (The fact that you can see a sprinkler head in full view protecting under a ledge but the floor looks smooth/polished is making me think that.) At 22:60 the column looks like it says "10 D FULL HEIGHT CLEAR [idk]" alright yeah, I'm fully convinced this building isn't even brutalist, it's just straight up unfinished lmao. Don't get me wrong, I love a good concrete structure (Jakob K. Javits center my beloved-) but maybe there is such a thing as 'too industrial' of a vibe.
exactly. brutalism has style, even when the concrete's so old it's already rotting. whatever this here is, it looks extremely unfinished. I mean look at the floor, and whatever is going on with those columns at 6:11 and 7:17, this has construction site vibes
@@spacecat85 i'm sobbing. i live in a developing nation (we really say minimum monthly wage is, like, US$100) and the parking garages i have been parking my old ass (but lovely) car into are BETTER, lol. i park for 10-20 cents (50c tops), and there are signages, the structures are completely finished, the numbering are informative and helpful, and the lighting is generally decent. good GODS. and ppl paid $29 to enter this "parking garage con"? i can't.
tbh she doesnt even have to change the existing name, it fits already as is i think she talked abt giving advice abt this type of thing at the very least before. idk if she wouldnt be overworked with this, too, it feels like its a very time-consuming thing 🤔
@@sylahjane Collab with someone? Find a TH-camr starting a new con and Swell can collab with them as the event design consultant, I think that would be fab! Especially if it's on a completely random topic, just to keep on-brand 😂
@@tifinity "on brand" would be her collabing with someone, GOING to a convention & REVIEWING it Not actually setting up a convention herself, you new here??
Honestly I wonder if they were going for a NYC fashion vibe. That juxtaposition of hard brutalist architecture with soft, feminine set pieces/fashion was such a mainstay in the 90s/early 00s fashion that they may have done it on purpose.
Looking at past street view images, it was a former Macy's that has been divided into rentable space. It was never really meant to be a convention space, but bare space for a tenant to outfit as desired. On the aisle carpeting side, it is likely a cost savings or an attempt at greenwashing to promote sustainability by saving resources on material and cleaning.
Thank you for actually doing the research! I was scratching my head at every shot of those unfinished concrete floors and random pillars in the middle of the space like 🤨🤨🤔🤔🫣
I went to BeautyCon in 2016, so like peak Beauty TH-cam era lol. It was at the LA convention center and my mom and I got VIP for a girls day. It was great, the goodie bag was great. They had a lot of demos and stages with performers and talks etc, definitely felt like a convention. There was also more of a variety of brands, I remember they had a Nike thing and some different clothing brands and local businesses had booths. That being said, we stayed for maybe 2/3rds the day and left. We felt like we got everything we needed and while we had a nice time it wasn’t really something we needed to do again, but also we do not work in beauty so there’s no real reason to. Just interesting to see how it’s changed and how small it’s gotten.
If you're talking about the international terminal, that corner is actually a rotating exhibit! My mom volunteers there as an info person, so she's seen it a bunch and I've flown out from there and gawked at guitars and keyboards before Man tho now i wanna go and find this exhibit, flight attendant fashion sounds really interesting...
Love the interactive idea of having the beauty space where people can try on and apply their own products etc. This would be such a good space to create organic interactions amongst your attendance too and truly build a sense of community with a shared interest. Love your ideas and where your head is at!
I paid around $500 per ticket for the second tier VIP when I first went. I had fun but you had to hike up two sets of super long stairs to get to the VIP lounge and I tried my best to find the "beauty room" that I assume was for pictures, but I never did find it. I loved that there was a coat check in the lounge so I could shop and drop off bags and have a place to just sit and decompress. I wasn't a fan of the fact that a lot of venders weren't set up and ready for shopping when we were let in and only opened right before GA came in so that defeats the whole prepose of early access. My male presenting partner was also mostly ignored, and they had a hard time getting assistance at most of the counters for whatever reason that was. There was no security outside of the location, so I got bombarded by people asking to buy my access bracelet every time I left and came back so that was super irritating. Alot of people were complaining that the only difference in the top and second tier VIP tickets was a two-night stay at a sort of nice hotel with access to the sky bar. It was never mentioned that some of the talent showing up to the CON were also staying there and would be going to an event to the sky lounge, so a bunch of people missed out on that if they simply aren't drinkers. The second time I paid over 1K for the same level ticket when I went by myself. There was so post to be an attendant helping you get in and orient yourself, but they walked off while I was going through security, and I never saw them again so once again I never found whatever that beauty room was. Both times the venders weren't paying attention to VIP attendees with the ability to skip the line and most of the time there was no designated area for us to skip the line, so I ended up standing there asking where I'm so post to go and was mostly ignored when I tried to ask. Once again, a lot of venders weren't even ready to take orders when we got early entry. The VIP lounge had catered food, which was never mentioned, and it was set out I kid you for literally like 15 minuets then all the food was gathered and taken away. The coat check was limited to only bairly hold one bag so I ended up having to leave to drop off my stuff to my hotel so that was super annoying. I feel like I never truly got to enjoy the swag bags because I always saw full size bottles and truly high dollar items like the Clara sonic and what not, but my bag was all samples and travel sizes. I liked getting the $100 in beauty bucks so i was able to buy a second swag bag that came to about a $200 value but the second year there was no swag back in the Beautycon store and I wasn't interested in cheap hoodies and water bottles. After the way they treated Sierra Schultzie and seeing the complete disrespect and non-apology from the owner Moj Mahdara just made me not want to support this even at all anymore. Sierra literally had video proof that she was snubbed the entire time as a creater that was freaking asked to come and Moh had the nerve to go on Instagram live just smiling and laughing at the entire situation. At this point you couldn't pay me to attend.
Yes, I remember that. Sierra was an INVITED and ADVERTISED VIP guest, yet they treated her like one of the fans who paid for general admission. She had every reason to be insulted about her experience.
As someone who has actually been to a beauty product convention, this is WILD. Actual beauty conventions are so well coordinated and most importantly, funded.
19:10 - waiting for Swell's swerve into Convention Management once she hits like 40 or so and has all of the experience of everything and will be highly sought after :D
The concrete beam thing happened to me as a young child, we scrimped together money to see Disney on Ice and got seats directly behind a giant concrete support beam (this was back when you booked these things over the phone, you didn't get to see any seating maps). It was the only thing I remember about the event because we couldn't see ANYTHING. Now I imagine someone in their teens or 20s scrimping together money for this convention, only to find they've found the last bench seat... behind a concrete support beam.
Can you imagine being handed a big pallet of assorted silk flowers and told to make that 50 car garage look 'beautiful?' Beauty, almost no matter what your individual taste in aesthetic is, requires light, bright, and airy. Space and light are huge; that's why department store beauty counters are infamous for their light, bright, clean decor. Stained dark concrete under a low ceiling is ... certainly a *choice*.
Just easy big string lights would have made this place pop, vines on the pillars string lights on the ceiling. 😭 Like it could have been so good. The space isn’t horrible.
5:10 honestly o don’t think it’s a bad idea to have both; it’s a visual cue that they are vip AND haven’t yet gotten their bag, so non-vips aren’t able to waste their time. i feel like that is more streamlined honestly. plus, you always know exactly how many people and who haven’t yet gotten their bags.
yeah honestly?? 5 dollars for both in LA of all places is pretty cheap. I've seen water bottles labeled 8 dollars at a hotel outside LA, and I think a gorillaz fest in anaheim had similar prices, around 5-7 dollars for drinks and that was 6 whole years ago
Thanks for the example! I feel like some of these convention designers/founders try to excuse their poor planning with the old "it's a new space for us, we're going through growing pains, stick with us while we learn how to utilize our space to the max" excuses. And it's just getting so tiring hearing the same thing over and over when other cons are not having these same problems in 2024
When she gets so invested in the con that it becomes "WE should do this thing next time". Amada becoming Beautycon's advisor whether they like it or no.
Connecting a few of Swell's ideas - a vintage "powder room" style set up would combine a place to touch up your own make up, a cool setting for influencers to demonstrate how they do their own makeup, and a thing for people to do. Plus extra seating and another photo opp at the same time.
I’ve been to the LA textiles show a few times, I believe they’ve since moved venues but this looks like that- super bare bones but a few cute photo ops set up- but the point of that is to walk around and connect with vendors in the industry and hear a few small talks, it’s a professional business day so it’s fine. I’d be shocked too by the space, so different than Anaheim convention center and the energy vidcon brings
I haven’t watched the whole video yet… but imo I think there’s a difference between an industry trade show / convention and something like Beautycon that’s open to the public. I expect bare-ish bones when I go to a trade show for work. IDK. I think I’m agreeing with you but wow this Beautycon setup is messing with my mind.
The way that you give advice on what should have been done differently... I would love to see you do videos on "dead" conventions that weren't necessarily just one-hit failures. An autopsy or postmortem, if you will. You could cover a convention without needing to travel, just falling down delicious, drama-filled internet rabbit holes. There's one in particular that I went to multiple years in a row that vanished in infamy once the fan-visible varnish shattered. I still have VIP tickets that I won in a raffle they donated them to that were never used because they crashed and burned that quickly that year.
I do have genuine leather bags from other brands kislux I get what I want without paying exorbitant designer prices. That's the point. It's not about the superficial, it's about getting what you like at a price you like.
As a person who doesn't attend many beauty-related events, but attends industrial manufacturing related events... this looks like an industrial manufacturing fair, except even less welcoming (there's at least carpet at these, lol)
The main issue with this and so much now a days is this: PEOPLE WANT OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY WITHOUT HARD WORK AND EFFORT TO HAVE EARNED HAVING IT. Something for nothing. Poor work ethic. No societal morals.
Honestly if they'd put the brand booths on one side with a cute pink carpet and the insta booths on the other side with a purple carpet and then the bar in the middle it would have been SO much better
I’m so mad that you were behind me during the Founders talk and I didn’t realize 😢😢😢😢😢😢 if there was someone I would have wanted to meet, it would have been U girl
14:03 I was very confused for a moment and decided to Google summit. That led me no where, so I Googled business summit, and now I know a new meaning of Summit 👍🏼
I think the venue was good if the stalls fit it. There's no problem with the brutal architecture but the stalls just did not match. If they had different sections that were styled to different sorts of beauty products it could've been great.
I saw Law speak at Culture Con last month (which ruled and I need to bring you one day) and got a copy of his book there! I'm happy you got to see him!
I never followed a youtuber on spotify as i'm usually ok with videos and rarely any do so, but I see your layout on it - your reasoning is very considerate and I love it - cool video though and I like how you review things you don't have to show us. I find it v entertaining and I like your humor!😊
Hey Swell did you know the convention industry set it's own regulations for COVID safety including booth measurements and all that? It's possible they are still using it for events.
The industrial thing is not unhead of for 'con' events. I took a group of students from a uk college to hair con last summer, and it hosted in an identical venue to this plus loud rave music playing.
@@nerdgirl7363 Not Rhinebeck,surprisingly, it was the one in Springfield MA (I am going to make it to Rhinebeck someday as I have friends and family in the area I just need to plan for an overnight)
They definitely had the money for something on the floor considering the brands that were there paid to be there and the brands in the gift bags most likely donated the products. Also, It looks like there just wasn't that many brands present.
I used to work at a beauty supply wearhouse. I never went to this one, but we'd go to industry events, do set up, take down, inventory, blah blah blah. Lots of demos and what not. Anyways, given that these sorts of things generally appeal to working professionals looking to learn, I'm not surprised booths were a little iffy about giving product info. As depending on the product line, they might only be set up to sell (or provide catalogs to) licensed professionals. It does sound like they need to figure out what their audience is, as only allowing professionals will attract different vendors and sponsors compared to for everyone. Especially in something that is (at least in Canada, dunno about the States) a protected trade.
Lmao I was thinking Zoe Laverne. It’s horrible there’s so many people that have solicited minor fans still have an audience willing to see them…but not surprised.
Okay, but talking about the price of soda - I was recently at a travel convention in Vegas (one where people are expected to essentially be in meetings most of the way) and the price of a can of soda there? TWELVE F***ING DILLARS!! I hate Vegas so much for shit like that.
I went to Polish & Beauty Expo last year as a big nail polish girlie, and i'd love to see you check that out- but if you aren't into indie nail polish, i don't know what you would think about it.
It's giving 'unpermited pop-up flea market in illegally converted warehouse'.
🤩💯
Except that actually sounds kind of enticing tbh
All the talk about concrete made me disappointed the concrete convention is called World of Concrete and not *CONcrete*
'crete con
missed opportunity!
I hate when an event has the opportunity to have a punny name but doesn’t do it 😭💔
Hmm but how would you ever handle SEO for that? Web crawlers ignore capitalization 🤔🤷🏼♀️
When I went last year, I refused to call it anything but Concrete Con 😂
Petition for those of us who would LOVE the full bag haul video
came here to say this!
I feel like she should have included that in this video. 🙃
Yessss pls!!
@@kittydollkori Tbf it would've taken like an hour and doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of reviewing the event but I can't help being curious
Yes and no
If they’re claiming it’s a couple hundred dollars of product but in the grand scheme of things it’s a bunch of samples that add up to like 200 dollars then it feels like ✨a scam✨
I like to imagine that someone, somewhere is watching all of Swell's videos, furiously taking notes like "curtains! yes! vinyl decals! museums... are things!" so they can create the perfect convention.
I think about that every time she does one of these
God I hope, cons have been lacking
I learn so much marketing things from Swell
You’re actually getting college credit with each video and working towards a degree in Con science
She's definitely setting up a future as a event consultant
Based on the footage you shared I 100% would have believed if you'd ssid this was held in a parking garage.
I thought it was based on the thumbnail, i think its the concrete beams
The lack of ceiling is yeah… parking garage. I’d roller skate there.
Even the parking in Vegas is more interesting than that.
I don't know why brands would ask people to follow them on tiktok to learn more about them while you're at a convention? Like im there just tell me??
Not to mention that there are also people who simply don't have tiktok - same thing goes for every other social media and companies only having the information available on there instead of a website. I'll never understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to shrink their reach like that
It's giving job fair where every recruiter just tells you to apply online 😒
Like, what was the point of purchasing your booth space when this could have just been a social media ad campaign? It could NOT have been the cheaper option
@@WhoWantsCake0oh my god I remember having to go to my college’s teacher job fair (you literally had to attend to graduate even if you already had a job lined up) and having that issue. I went in with the plan to apply to every district within an hour radius of my home, which was a TON, only to be met with a literal dozen bored bottom-rung HR people who wouldn’t even make eye contact with me as they grabbed my resume and said “fill out the iPad” and then went back to their phone.
On the plus side I ended up taking a job in rural Alaska that day because they travel all over the nation recruiting and actively talk to everyone gutsy enough to strike up a conversation. Changed my life
Additionally, I'm not d/l that hell-app for ANY reason.
@@hardyharhar8857 The moment I have to go to TT is the moment I disengage.
Woof those florals are FIGHTING the good fight against that Brutalist/Industrial architecture. It's like a bunch of Taylor Swift fans dropped in the middle of a Gwar concert.
I'd watch that movie :P
the flowers were in the trenches, fighting for the name of Beautycon. clap for the icon that was the florals (lol).
If a brand said “just follow us on tiktok” I’d nope out cause I don’t have tiktok. Like you need to have your information accessible to everyone not just on one app
Only have 1 app to follow them on isn't at all viable to me. Not everyone has a tiktok nor wants to get it to follow 1 account. A Con should have multiple social medias to cover as many bases as possible.
it's extremely annoying how many companies across all industries do that kinda thing. it's either tiktok or instagram, never like, "hey, here's our website". that you need to use their very own mobile app, bc people don't already have too many of those
This, so much. The amount of times I've met businesses that tell me to follow them on tiktok/instagram in order to learn about them is insane. I don't have either!! Just talk to me or give me a website!!
@@ShadeadderSAME SAME SAME SAME this is why the ones with legit, polished websites are more trustworthy to more people.
As always, Swell tells me about events I didn't even know existed so I can go tell others about them
"omg, I viewed this video from a random youtuber, they exactly have the same experience like you, did you pass by them in there somehow? that's amazing!!!! wait, lemme show you the video, maybe you remember seeing someone like this!!!"
The way the floor is laid out is.... fascinating, truly, to me.
I know that there's many, many ways you can make a building and I haven't been in every con center on earth but I have been in both mid-construction buildings and several con halls. This location looks like a building that never got a fitout or tenant, not that its really meant to be a con center with the sheer amount of columns everywhere and the lighting being super minimal. The VIP lounge looks more finished but imo, still like it has a bunch of temporary systems. (The fact that you can see a sprinkler head in full view protecting under a ledge but the floor looks smooth/polished is making me think that.)
At 22:60 the column looks like it says "10 D FULL HEIGHT CLEAR [idk]" alright yeah, I'm fully convinced this building isn't even brutalist, it's just straight up unfinished lmao. Don't get me wrong, I love a good concrete structure (Jakob K. Javits center my beloved-) but maybe there is such a thing as 'too industrial' of a vibe.
It looks like a parking garage... and I agree, it definitely appears unfinished.
exactly. brutalism has style, even when the concrete's so old it's already rotting. whatever this here is, it looks extremely unfinished. I mean look at the floor, and whatever is going on with those columns at 6:11 and 7:17, this has construction site vibes
@@spacecat85 i'm sobbing. i live in a developing nation (we really say minimum monthly wage is, like, US$100) and the parking garages i have been parking my old ass (but lovely) car into are BETTER, lol. i park for 10-20 cents (50c tops), and there are signages, the structures are completely finished, the numbering are informative and helpful, and the lighting is generally decent. good GODS. and ppl paid $29 to enter this "parking garage con"? i can't.
SWELL PLS UPLOAD THE BAG HAUL IM LITERALLY BEGGING
SAME 😭😭😭
the "no plans to date for the next couple of years" is so real 😭
That's me rn too 😅
the next 4 years to be exact
@@lillianlillian 4B+ for life but also married to a woman so 🤷🏼♀️
@@FigmentForever this!
i dont care if it's on the second channel, a third channel, or even vimeo, i NEED the full video of the bag haul please amanda
SAME
I wonder if Amanda has ever considered venturing into the event coordination sphere? She can call it Swell Events.
Based on this comment alone, I refuse to believe that objectively, you are anything short of a genius 😂
tbh she doesnt even have to change the existing name, it fits already as is
i think she talked abt giving advice abt this type of thing at the very least before. idk if she wouldnt be overworked with this, too, it feels like its a very time-consuming thing 🤔
She makes her money attending and reviewing the events and why would she want the enormous headache of running one
@@sylahjane Collab with someone? Find a TH-camr starting a new con and Swell can collab with them as the event design consultant, I think that would be fab! Especially if it's on a completely random topic, just to keep on-brand 😂
@@tifinity "on brand" would be her collabing with someone, GOING to a convention & REVIEWING it
Not actually setting up a convention herself, you new here??
Honestly I wonder if they were going for a NYC fashion vibe. That juxtaposition of hard brutalist architecture with soft, feminine set pieces/fashion was such a mainstay in the 90s/early 00s fashion that they may have done it on purpose.
I don't think they pulled it off. That could've been so cool.
@ I agree I don’t think they pulled it off, but I have a feeling that is what they were going for and one of the reasons they chose that venue.
Imagine if they’d sprung for flowers, curtains, and carpeting!
Looking at past street view images, it was a former Macy's that has been divided into rentable space. It was never really meant to be a convention space, but bare space for a tenant to outfit as desired. On the aisle carpeting side, it is likely a cost savings or an attempt at greenwashing to promote sustainability by saving resources on material and cleaning.
Thank you for actually doing the research! I was scratching my head at every shot of those unfinished concrete floors and random pillars in the middle of the space like 🤨🤨🤔🤔🫣
@@dilbertc1 thank you thank you thank you
You confirmed my theory that this was basically future tenant space/awaiting fitout.
I went to BeautyCon in 2016, so like peak Beauty TH-cam era lol. It was at the LA convention center and my mom and I got VIP for a girls day. It was great, the goodie bag was great. They had a lot of demos and stages with performers and talks etc, definitely felt like a convention. There was also more of a variety of brands, I remember they had a Nike thing and some different clothing brands and local businesses had booths. That being said, we stayed for maybe 2/3rds the day and left. We felt like we got everything we needed and while we had a nice time it wasn’t really something we needed to do again, but also we do not work in beauty so there’s no real reason to. Just interesting to see how it’s changed and how small it’s gotten.
Not me looking up “beautycon goodie bag haul” after watching this and every video is from 2015 / 2016 💀
The absolute peak of beauty before Jeffree star and his cronies destroyed it 😔
@@roseolivas08😭😭😭
That event looks depressing with all that concrete. But this video was uplifting and brought me joy, thank you Swell
18:13 the san francisco airport randomly has a great example of this, with a museum exhibit of flight attendant outfits through history
If you're talking about the international terminal, that corner is actually a rotating exhibit! My mom volunteers there as an info person, so she's seen it a bunch and I've flown out from there and gawked at guitars and keyboards before
Man tho now i wanna go and find this exhibit, flight attendant fashion sounds really interesting...
it's like the designer said "give me a DMV set inside a club you might've found Buffy Sommers dancing in in 2002."
The Bronze was way better tbh
Love the interactive idea of having the beauty space where people can try on and apply their own products etc. This would be such a good space to create organic interactions amongst your attendance too and truly build a sense of community with a shared interest. Love your ideas and where your head is at!
yes, i will watch a 30 minute video about a convention i had no idea even existed, glory to swell entertainment
I paid around $500 per ticket for the second tier VIP when I first went. I had fun but you had to hike up two sets of super long stairs to get to the VIP lounge and I tried my best to find the "beauty room" that I assume was for pictures, but I never did find it. I loved that there was a coat check in the lounge so I could shop and drop off bags and have a place to just sit and decompress. I wasn't a fan of the fact that a lot of venders weren't set up and ready for shopping when we were let in and only opened right before GA came in so that defeats the whole prepose of early access. My male presenting partner was also mostly ignored, and they had a hard time getting assistance at most of the counters for whatever reason that was. There was no security outside of the location, so I got bombarded by people asking to buy my access bracelet every time I left and came back so that was super irritating. Alot of people were complaining that the only difference in the top and second tier VIP tickets was a two-night stay at a sort of nice hotel with access to the sky bar. It was never mentioned that some of the talent showing up to the CON were also staying there and would be going to an event to the sky lounge, so a bunch of people missed out on that if they simply aren't drinkers.
The second time I paid over 1K for the same level ticket when I went by myself. There was so post to be an attendant helping you get in and orient yourself, but they walked off while I was going through security, and I never saw them again so once again I never found whatever that beauty room was. Both times the venders weren't paying attention to VIP attendees with the ability to skip the line and most of the time there was no designated area for us to skip the line, so I ended up standing there asking where I'm so post to go and was mostly ignored when I tried to ask. Once again, a lot of venders weren't even ready to take orders when we got early entry. The VIP lounge had catered food, which was never mentioned, and it was set out I kid you for literally like 15 minuets then all the food was gathered and taken away. The coat check was limited to only bairly hold one bag so I ended up having to leave to drop off my stuff to my hotel so that was super annoying. I feel like I never truly got to enjoy the swag bags because I always saw full size bottles and truly high dollar items like the Clara sonic and what not, but my bag was all samples and travel sizes. I liked getting the $100 in beauty bucks so i was able to buy a second swag bag that came to about a $200 value but the second year there was no swag back in the Beautycon store and I wasn't interested in cheap hoodies and water bottles. After the way they treated Sierra Schultzie and seeing the complete disrespect and non-apology from the owner Moj Mahdara just made me not want to support this even at all anymore. Sierra literally had video proof that she was snubbed the entire time as a creater that was freaking asked to come and Moh had the nerve to go on Instagram live just smiling and laughing at the entire situation. At this point you couldn't pay me to attend.
They were so rude to her!! It sounds poorly managed. :/
Yes, I remember that. Sierra was an INVITED and ADVERTISED VIP guest, yet they treated her like one of the fans who paid for general admission. She had every reason to be insulted about her experience.
As someone who has actually been to a beauty product convention, this is WILD. Actual beauty conventions are so well coordinated and most importantly, funded.
I read the title is the fall of Babylon and I was like man I know Amanda can be a little late sometimes but wow
19:10 - waiting for Swell's swerve into Convention Management once she hits like 40 or so and has all of the experience of everything and will be highly sought after :D
I will never stop loving the "That's it, that's my intro" intro. Iconic.
My friend who does anime cons as an artist and she brought up a good point that if the registration has HUGE line than the con is going to be rough,
The concrete beam thing happened to me as a young child, we scrimped together money to see Disney on Ice and got seats directly behind a giant concrete support beam (this was back when you booked these things over the phone, you didn't get to see any seating maps). It was the only thing I remember about the event because we couldn't see ANYTHING. Now I imagine someone in their teens or 20s scrimping together money for this convention, only to find they've found the last bench seat... behind a concrete support beam.
"The second day was a ✨race day✨. 💅" I fucking love you 😂🫶
After all the drama with Beautycon treating Sierra Schultzzie in like 2018 I’m interested to see what they’re like now…
Wait what?
Me: “oh the venue can’t be that ba….” 5:31
don't wear makeup but fully locked in to learn the diff btw a con and a summit 👁️👄👁️
Can you imagine being handed a big pallet of assorted silk flowers and told to make that 50 car garage look 'beautiful?' Beauty, almost no matter what your individual taste in aesthetic is, requires light, bright, and airy. Space and light are huge; that's why department store beauty counters are infamous for their light, bright, clean decor. Stained dark concrete under a low ceiling is ... certainly a *choice*.
Just easy big string lights would have made this place pop, vines on the pillars string lights on the ceiling. 😭 Like it could have been so good. The space isn’t horrible.
18:48 "Beauty sheet" is called a Face Chart, by the way. I'm a makeup artist and still had to think about what it's actually called. Love your videos
5:10 honestly o don’t think it’s a bad idea to have both; it’s a visual cue that they are vip AND haven’t yet gotten their bag, so non-vips aren’t able to waste their time. i feel like that is more streamlined honestly. plus, you always know exactly how many people and who haven’t yet gotten their bags.
I work at a concert venue and the prices are 5.50 for water and 6.50 for a soda. Please don’t get mad at workers over it we have no control about it 😭
yeah honestly?? 5 dollars for both in LA of all places is pretty cheap. I've seen water bottles labeled 8 dollars at a hotel outside LA, and I think a gorillaz fest in anaheim had similar prices, around 5-7 dollars for drinks and that was 6 whole years ago
the add gave me a good chuckle. thank you for making it known where you stand. it is very appreciated ❤
Thanks for this swell video Swell!
When I last did a beautycon type event it was mostly shopping with some panels, so this kinda matches what I would have expected.
They could have done a lot with beauty science too, like have booths for people to make their own products or learn about the processes
Your reviews are so lovely. I love getting to escape for a few moments to these random events. A welcomed change of pace ❤
EXPO Chicago is a great example of how to use a massive, industrial space advantageously.
Thanks for the example!
I feel like some of these convention designers/founders try to excuse their poor planning with the old "it's a new space for us, we're going through growing pains, stick with us while we learn how to utilize our space to the max" excuses.
And it's just getting so tiring hearing the same thing over and over when other cons are not having these same problems in 2024
When she gets so invested in the con that it becomes "WE should do this thing next time". Amada becoming Beautycon's advisor whether they like it or no.
4B & Feeling like a nervous mess but always happy to have a distraction, Swell ❤
😂
I wanted to see you open the goody bag RIP
I'm pretty sure that there are several actual museums that would have loved to come in and do a pop-up beauty museum with artefacts!
Connecting a few of Swell's ideas - a vintage "powder room" style set up would combine a place to touch up your own make up, a cool setting for influencers to demonstrate how they do their own makeup, and a thing for people to do. Plus extra seating and another photo opp at the same time.
I’ve been to the LA textiles show a few times, I believe they’ve since moved venues but this looks like that- super bare bones but a few cute photo ops set up- but the point of that is to walk around and connect with vendors in the industry and hear a few small talks, it’s a professional business day so it’s fine. I’d be shocked too by the space, so different than Anaheim convention center and the energy vidcon brings
I haven’t watched the whole video yet… but imo I think there’s a difference between an industry trade show / convention and something like Beautycon that’s open to the public. I expect bare-ish bones when I go to a trade show for work. IDK. I think I’m agreeing with you but wow this Beautycon setup is messing with my mind.
You offered SO many great suggestions and I hope someone from the staff watched this
My 16 year old self would've been devastated to watch this video back in 2014.
The way that you give advice on what should have been done differently... I would love to see you do videos on "dead" conventions that weren't necessarily just one-hit failures. An autopsy or postmortem, if you will. You could cover a convention without needing to travel, just falling down delicious, drama-filled internet rabbit holes. There's one in particular that I went to multiple years in a row that vanished in infamy once the fan-visible varnish shattered. I still have VIP tickets that I won in a raffle they donated them to that were never used because they crashed and burned that quickly that year.
I wanna see the haul so bad! Try out some of the stuff and tell us if it was worth getting.
I do have genuine leather bags from other brands kislux I get what I want without paying exorbitant designer prices. That's the point. It's not about the superficial, it's about getting what you like at a price you like.
As a person who doesn't attend many beauty-related events, but attends industrial manufacturing related events... this looks like an industrial manufacturing fair, except even less welcoming (there's at least carpet at these, lol)
The main issue with this and so much now a days is this:
PEOPLE WANT OTHER PEOPLES’ MONEY WITHOUT HARD WORK AND EFFORT TO HAVE EARNED HAVING IT.
Something for nothing.
Poor work ethic.
No societal morals.
Imagine thinking the majority of rich people actually worked hard and earned their money. In this economy? Couldn’t be me.
@ that ain’t got sh*t to do with my comment and I personally don’t care what you think. 😂
Honestly if they'd put the brand booths on one side with a cute pink carpet and the insta booths on the other side with a purple carpet and then the bar in the middle it would have been SO much better
Nothing depressed me more than a sad lookin con in a parking lot looking venue
I’m so mad that you were behind me during the Founders talk and I didn’t realize 😢😢😢😢😢😢 if there was someone I would have wanted to meet, it would have been U girl
14:03 I was very confused for a moment and decided to Google summit. That led me no where, so I Googled business summit, and now I know a new meaning of Summit 👍🏼
This is my first video of yours and I liked you talking from your hotel room! Felt like I was FTing a friend lol :)
Totally was not expecting the Lelo ad while listening at work😂😂 I shifted my hand to cover *things* while listening.
same lol
Would be interested in seeing what was in the bag!
Same
putting the beautycon photo op with the bright windowsBEHIND it is insane none of those photos are gonna look good
Do a product haul, please!!
I know carpet is expensive but I feel like it helps so much to let everything cohesive and helps with doing
It can be rented! :)
Event planners shout it with me y’all: pipe 👏 and 👏 drape
🗣️‼️
I think the venue was good if the stalls fit it. There's no problem with the brutal architecture but the stalls just did not match. If they had different sections that were styled to different sorts of beauty products it could've been great.
Just dropping love + respect for the new intro I LOVE it
I saw Law speak at Culture Con last month (which ruled and I need to bring you one day) and got a copy of his book there! I'm happy you got to see him!
I never followed a youtuber on spotify as i'm usually ok with videos and rarely any do so, but I see your layout on it - your reasoning is very considerate and I love it - cool video though and I like how you review things you don't have to show us. I find it v entertaining and I like your humor!😊
Hey Swell did you know the convention industry set it's own regulations for COVID safety including booth measurements and all that? It's possible they are still using it for events.
I hope this is the case, bc if that weird spacing was a purposeful decision.....yikes
IDK… I’ve been to a few trade shows (in CA) in the last couple of years and the booth and stage spacing was not as weird and dismal as this.
The industrial thing is not unhead of for 'con' events. I took a group of students from a uk college to hair con last summer, and it hosted in an identical venue to this plus loud rave music playing.
i'm sat
I just went to a fiber/yarn fest that had live animals and it was more inviting than that space
😭🤩
I see my fellow fiber arts girlies! Was it Rhinebeck or a different event?
@@nerdgirl7363 Not Rhinebeck,surprisingly, it was the one in Springfield MA (I am going to make it to Rhinebeck someday as I have friends and family in the area I just need to plan for an overnight)
@@moirad3504 I want to go one day too!
looks like it takes place in a parking structure 😭
22:48 the way I gasped.
They definitely had the money for something on the floor considering the brands that were there paid to be there and the brands in the gift bags most likely donated the products. Also, It looks like there just wasn't that many brands present.
For the love of everything that is beauty, can we please get Generation Beauty by Ipsy back? I promise I'll never complain again!
I used to work at a beauty supply wearhouse. I never went to this one, but we'd go to industry events, do set up, take down, inventory, blah blah blah. Lots of demos and what not. Anyways, given that these sorts of things generally appeal to working professionals looking to learn, I'm not surprised booths were a little iffy about giving product info. As depending on the product line, they might only be set up to sell (or provide catalogs to) licensed professionals.
It does sound like they need to figure out what their audience is, as only allowing professionals will attract different vendors and sponsors compared to for everyone. Especially in something that is (at least in Canada, dunno about the States) a protected trade.
0:52 in 2015? That must not be the person whose name rhymes with Rames Rharles then…
Of course not 😅 Wait but it is him right? Lol
Lmao I was thinking Zoe Laverne. It’s horrible there’s so many people that have solicited minor fans still have an audience willing to see them…but not surprised.
Okay, but talking about the price of soda - I was recently at a travel convention in Vegas (one where people are expected to essentially be in meetings most of the way) and the price of a can of soda there? TWELVE F***ING DILLARS!! I hate Vegas so much for shit like that.
That first look at the venue took me back to when I’d volunteer at health & job fairs.
this venue + the way they set it up is genuinely shocking 😭
It looks so small and empty with the way things are spread out over the industrial space.
26:48 consider instead doing an overveiw shot of all the products
I want to see the haul!!
Another video where I'm certain Amanda needs to be hired by these events to help plan it cause the Queen has IDEAS!
Yup. You’re Lelo ad was so amazing, I just subscribed😄
$5 for water/soda is a steal compared to Madison Square Garden where poopy Dasani is $7 and a giant ass soda is $7.50 😂
would love to see the full bag haul!
You should consult on these events. They need to pay you for your feedback.
I LOVE THE NEW INTRO IM SO HAPPY TO BE A FAN!
has ANY con every reached out to you for input???? cuz you're always so spot on lol
The way I named like five different people within seconds as guesses as to who it was in the beginning
The no carpet part is brutal for knees, hips and backs.
Beautycon should be paying Swell for this video!! Seriously, someone over there TAKE NOTES!
I went to Polish & Beauty Expo last year as a big nail polish girlie, and i'd love to see you check that out- but if you aren't into indie nail polish, i don't know what you would think about it.
straight up looks like you were in a parking garage. wildddd for a beauty focused event
Amanda should be a paid consultant for conventions