Inside the YouTube convention where thousands of teenage girls queue to meet social media stars

Summer In The City

Business Insider/James Cook

Summer In The City is a giant YouTube vlogger convention that takes place in London every year.

This year, for the first time, the convention was held at the massive ExCeL Centre in London. There was even more room for screaming fans, and nearly 10,000 (mostly female) YouTube fans queued up for hours to meet British YouTube stars.

Here’s what it was like inside the giant event:

 

Fans had been queueing for hours before the convention opened its doors. Many had traveled from far away, and were meeting up with friends.

Here was the schedule for the day. There were lots of different talks, panels, and screenings.

This was the calm before the storm. YouTube employees worked to finish off the booth before the crowd arrived.

Gibson Guitars brought along a throne made of guitars. Lots of YouTubers posed on it.

There was a fairground ride that cost £2.50 to sit on.

Feminist T-shirts cost £15.

A small stage was set up so that YouTubers could perform.

Lots of people wore fancy dress to Summer In The City. The man on the left has a funny hat, and is talking to his friend who was dressed like a farmer.

Lots of YouTubers held meet and greet sessions in the middle of the event. Queues of teenage girls waited to hug their idols.

Former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband is still popular amongst teenage girls. There was a cardboard cutout of him on display.

There was even a nail bar.

Some Pikachus appeared and waddled through the venue.

Here’s the main hall. A YouTuber is taking a selfie with a fan in the foreground.

Lots of teenage girls were queueing for the “pun panel.”

There were some puns in the pun panel, but then twin YouTubers Niki and Sammy started dancing.

There were queues for selfies everywhere.

The video game area wasn’t very popular.

The biggest queues were in the meet and greet hall, where teenage girls waited to meet their favourite YouTube stars.

Fans waited for their chance to get a hug and a selfie.

Some fans gave gifts to their favourite YouTubers.

Here’s a look behind the scenes of the meet and greet hall. YouTubers took quick breaks to chat with each other (as well as to talk to their publicists.)

This timetable shows how long YouTubers held meet and great sessions for. Big names were there for three hours!

The press room was upstairs. There was a metal barrier and multiple security guards keeping journalists away from the YouTubers.

There were two metal barriers on the balcony to keep journalists away from the stars of the convention.

One room in the ExCeL Centre had been converted to a Pokémon lounge for YouTubers to hang out in.

There were more meet and greet sessions going on downstairs.

This guy wanted people to subscribe to his YouTube channel. He had gained two followers thanks to his sign.

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