[Event Review] KPOPCON 2014 in UC Berkeley

On March 8 and 9, KPOPCON returned for its third year at  UC Berkeley in California.

This year’s theme was “[Be] CHROMATIC,” and means to embody the vibrant spirit and mission of KPOPCON by taking the colorful and diverse aspect of the K-pop community and unifying it with its enormous potential to create, to dream, and to be.

Veterans and newcomers to KPOPCON came together to celebrate the K-Pop fandom. As this was the event’s third year, attendance exceed expectations and registration had to be capped for the first day.

(Top left: Attendees pack the auditorium for the keynote presentation on how [Be] Chromatic. Top right: Waiting for a workshop session for begin. Bottom left: Stephanie (Viki) along with Javabeans and Girlfriday (Dramabeans) before their panel “Idols in Dramas.” Bottom right: H&M, the MCs for the performance night. )

The first day started off with the Keynote address which talked about the evolution of the event how to spread the passion for K-Pop. Later throughout the day, various workshop sessions were held, giving people a choice to carve out their own experience.

Some highlights included Kpop Kollective’s “The Chromodynamics of K-Pop,” which talked about ethnicity and culture in K-Pop, “Finding Your Creativity Through K-Pop,”  “Gender and Sexuality in K-Pop,” “Inspiration Through Reaction Videos,” and “Idols in Dramas” by Viki and Dramabeans. For those more into performing, there was “K-Pop Singing Techniques,” “Intermediate Dance : ‘Growl’ by EXO” and “Advanced Dance: ‘Know Your Name’ by Jay Park.”

(Dance  Workshop: EXO’s “Growl” by Dachirim.)

Sunday, the second day of KPOPCON, started off with “Running Fan” which was a mission based game across the college campus, following the inspiration of the popular program “Running Man.”

Following that was a fan meet with various fan clubs and sponsors such as 2ONEDAY + USAIAMHOTTEST, Cassiopeia-JYJCY, JYP Nationalists, KDrama, Korea Tourism Organization, USA ELF, Viki and Soompi. Trivia and talent contests on the main stage also provided entertainment for everyone.

(Supporting the event for the third year, we gave away various signed albums and posters!)

Watch the amazing performances from the end of Day 1!

Special thanks to the KPOPCON staff for making this event possible and for pictures.

Check out their website at http://kpopcon.com. You can also follow their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kpopcon.