Pathing to a Career in Esports
- Charlotte
- Apr 25, 2018
- 3 min read
Ohio! My lovely unicorns. This past weekend The Mixer Studio at Microsoft's NYC Flagship Store had held an esports academy workshop. The purpose of the workshop is to inform people of the gaming community on what measures to improve their brand, how their brand can lead to a career with esports organizations, and we even discussed how to propel yourself as a competitive player if organizational work isn't your forte. Our first presentation was from ESL. ESL is a leading global provider of esports content. They company has rapidly grown. We were introduced to the many layers of ESL's composition.
ESL is a formalized company. They are comprised of several different elements. As you can see in the image above there are 6 key parts to the company.
League and & Event Operations is the front-line staff at events. Content Production is the amazing editors, clipping replays, and directing the cameras during each event. The Strategy & Consultancy staff often create the show, direct the shots, and work with the clients such as Nvidia, AMD, etc.
The Content Marketing Network manages content being pushed by influencers and organizes the marketing strategies for the whole organization. Data Technology Services is the team that tracks metrics and supply the data to potential sponsors. And lastly, Media Sales is the financial workhorse that utilizes all the content, all the metrics, and works with clients to develop a working business relationship.
A sample of the metrics captured from live events.
The second presentation consisted of a professional esports player and a variety streamer on the Mixer network. They both expressed the importance of building an audience. But the key to success? It's audience retention. And if you think about it, being a content creator - whether it's YouTube, Twitch, Mixer; is similar to other services. Your goal is to create quality products and keep your audience, clients, or customers engaged and coming back.
So what have I learned? I learned more about where my goals should be. I've thought about my goals in terms of my capabilities. Then what is it that I want? Well, I want a regular audience of people that appreciate me, my work, and who wants to interact with me online and at events. A steady audience of a thousand people is considered very successful. Learning how to nurture and build an on-going relationship with your audience is essential to success. It doesn't matter if you have a million followers - if they don't return to your content then you aren't impacting the gaming community. I'm glad they stressed this detail, because it is easy to be caught with rose-tinted glasses. I will be devising a strategy on how I plan to achieve my goals. With all this information prepared before me, I understand that the level of success that I desire will eat a lot of my free moments. No more sleeping on the train. That could be used to generate blog posts (like this one).
A sample of me being a fat butt. (My second sandwich)
The rest of the academy was food, a panel discussing colleges who offer esports teams, and some in-house League of Legends matches. Some people have played LOL and some haven't - so take the following screenshots with a grain of salt. I did fairly well, got every first blood in all the matches! I haven't touched LOL in over 8 years, but I've been regularly dabbling in mobas ever since. This was an informative experience and I've got a lot of work to do. The first major step will be getting a new PC. Here's some screenshots of the post-academy hangout.
That's all I have for you today my lovelies. And of course if you see me at any events, feel free to come up to me and say hi. See ya! Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @loveyalottes
And on Twitch @LittlesTV
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