Collaboration Panel at Summer in the City 2016

The Collaboration panel took place on Saturday at Summer In The City 2016. It featured creators including Hannah Witton, Niki and Sammy, and Jon Cozart. It was chaired by Steven Bridges.

The panel took place on the main stage and was mainly focussed on the successes panellists have had in collaborating, mistakes made, and the methods that vloggers use to make collab videos happen. The panel was chaired by Steven Bridges and featured Ricky Dillon, Niki and Sammy Albon, Josh Pieters, Hannah Witton, Jon Cozart, and Alexis G Zall.

When discussing how to make a successful collab, panellists such as Ricky and Hannah emphasised the importance of knowing the other person, with Hannah saying that she and her guests on her series Drunk Advice normally chat for one or two hours off-camera before filming. She also said that she likes to “utilise the skills and the knowledge and the niche of the other person”. Sammy agreed and added that having chemistry with the person as well as having “a way of exploring things you don’t normally talk about” can make a successful collaboration.

On the topic of initiating collaborations, Jon spoke about his collaboration with Thomas Sanders, revealing that they already had an interest in each other’s content. Josh said that he thinks the process can be “more of a natural thing”, elaborating that he varies whether he thinks of an idea or a person to collaborate with first. Hannah agreed, saying: “There might be someone whose content I admire or a friend who I’ve not collabed with yet… but I hate forcing it.” The panellists also agreed that having a format, for example Hannah’s Drunk Advice or Ricky’s challenge videos, can help since the other person would likely already be familiar with the idea.

Photo By Jon D Barker

Discussing possible faux pas and mistakes when making a collaboration, Hannah mentioned that sometimes her viewers don’t like someone she has collaborated with, and she has to find a balance between respecting her audience and the benefits of having the person in a video.

When asked about collaborating with people they don’t know, Ricky emphasised that he would prefer to get to know them first. Sammy mentioned his and Niki’s collaboration with Ed Miliband, saying that “sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you can’t get to know them”. Hannah said that a lady who runs a body positivity campaign emailed her and from that they were getting to know each other before they collaborate, mentioning that she is writing a chapter of Hannah’s book and describing the relationship as “a good fit”.

On the topic of the format of collaboration videos, Steven said that often a video would be made for each creator’s channel, however the panellists agreed that they do not like to assume that the other person would want a collaboration on their channel, with Hannah saying that “you should never assume it’s going to be a cross-collab”.

Photos by Jon D Barker.