It's the V3: Vision, Visibility, Voice Digital Media Conference (V3con)! And I'll Be There Too

I'll be posting up more on the V3 Conference later, but if you can make, you'll definitely want to get on out to this amazing conference.

The Asian-American Bloggers Conference is Back in LA!
The “V3: Vision, Visibility, and Voice” Digital Media event will gather Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in the digital space, and strengthen the reach of the AAPI online community

Los Angeles (July 10, 2012) – Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) digital journalists, bloggers, and social media communicators nationwide will attend the “V3: Vision, Visibility, Voice” Digital Media Conference (V3con) on Aug. 24-25, 2012 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. To kick off the event, an awards reception will be held Friday, Aug. 24, 2012 at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, Calif. The conference aims to showcase AAPIs in the digital space and build a stronger online community.

V3con, presented by the Asian American Journalists Association’s Los Angeles chapter (AAJA-LA), is the sequel to the Banana Asian American bloggers conferences in 2009 and 2011. The event has been expanded to include all forms of digital media, highlighting multi-platform AAPI communications in a one-day conference setting with interactive panels and workshops. V3con also will offer conference attendees unique “bloggable” experiences such as cooking and makeup demonstrations, tours of museums and historical areas near the venues, a bloggers showcase and much more.

"AAJA-LA is excited to bring to V3con some of the top names in Asian American journalism and highly influential communicators in digital media. The media landscape has shifted dramatically in emphasis, impact and resources with the rise of digital media. With this trend, AAPIs have emerged quickly and prominently on the digital media scene. V3 aims to highlight the vision, visibility and voice of AAPIs online,” said Joz Wang, creator and executive director of V3con and president of AAJA-LA.
Studies from the Pew Research Center found that 87 percent of AAPIs used the Internet every day, more than any other major demographic group. AAPIs also visit Twitter and WordPress more than other demographic groups. This data is reflected in the popularity of bloggers and vloggers online – of the 20 most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube three belong to AAPIs: Ryan Higa, with 5.2 million followers; Kevin Wu (KevJumba), with 2.3 million followers; and Michelle Phan, who has 1.9 million followers.

"We're not just going to wait around to get represented in mainstream media. We're looking for other avenues to get our voice out there. V3con is a place to share this vision, visibility and voice, and to strategize further on how to push the pedal to the medal at full throttle,” said Lac Su, author of "I Love Yous Are for White People” and one of the original founders of the Banana bloggers conference in 2009.
This year’s conference features YouTube sensations David Choi and Clara Chung; news anchors Frank Buckley, Susan Hirasuna and David Ono; Lela Lee of Angry Little Asian Girls; Phil Yu of Angry Asian Man; Jeff Yang, columnist for The Wall Street Journal; and film producer Teddy Zee. The panels will include topics such as AAPIs in mainstream media and on YouTube, food blogging, trendsetting in beauty and fashion, utilizing digital media in nonprofit and healthcare realms, anime and manga in the digital space, journalism vs. blogging, and covering sports in the social media era. It will also include an introductory workshop to various social media and blogging tools such as WordPress, Tumblr, Posterous and more.

V3con is presented by AAJA-LA, IW Group, Inc., and the organizers of the Banana bloggers conferences of 2009 and 2011. The conference is sponsored by Verizon Wireless, Comcast/NBC Universal, AARP, CBS, McDonald’s, Union Bank, and Wells Fargo, with in-kind donations from the Japanese American National Museum, Pacific Asia Museum, Panda Restaurant Group, Coca-Cola, Primo and Glaceau Smartwater.
More details, including program, speakers and registration, can be found online at www.v3con.com.