My KCON Adventure – Aspiring K-Pop Artist or Professional

GENERAL INFORMATION

KCON Check-in

The KCON Convention will be open from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM on June 23 and June 24. We encourage you do early check-in on June 22 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM. But, if you’re not available, you’ll be able to check-in anytime from 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM on June 23 and June 24.

If you have artist engagement vouchers, we can’t encourage you enough to check-in before the event starts either on June 22 or the morning of June 23 so that you don’t miss any of your engagements.

Hydration & Merchandise

Summertime in the East Coast is…humid and hot. This year, to help keep our fans hydrated, we added a water bottle to our merchandise lineup. With this KCON water bottle, you can use our water refill station to stay hydrated even after a ton of dancing. You can purchase your water bottle on site at the KCON merchandise booth located in the K-Culture Zone.

Get Your Updates!!

Onsite, there will be schedule changes, announcements of artist booth appearances, and important reminders. Please make sure to update the KCONUSA app (iOs | Android), and follow us on social media (Instagram | Twitter | Facebook) for realtime updates. It’s well-worth the minor annoyance of push notifications so that you don’t miss your favorite artist appearing by surprise at the convention.

Maps

Just to give you a more visual sense of where everything is at the KCON Convention, we’re going to share you the two maps of the K-Activity and K-Culture Zones. Hopefully, as you flip through all of the recommended programs below, you’ll be able to orient yourself even before the event starts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MY KCON ADVENTURE: Aspiring K-Pop Artist or Professional

If this schedule name sounded perfect for you, then you must be familiar with KCON already! Nowadays, it seems like everywhere you look there’s something related to Hallyu. We know that with Hallyu is only getting bigger, many of you have different reasons for coming to KCON–whether that be K-Pop, K-Beauty, K-Dance, or K-Food. If we were a fan interested in the music industry, below would be our ideal schedule.  We can’t promise everything (there’s a lot of stuff going on all at once!), but we’ll try our best to show you the KCON world in two-and-a-half days. Let’s KCON!

SATURDAY, JUNE 23rd

10:00 – 12:30 PM: Exploration Time

Convention programs won’t start until 11 AM, so you can use this hour to get yourself acquainted with the KCON Convention. Make sure your children don’t run because we don’t wish for them to get injured.

Here are the four main areas you will need to know:

• K-Activity Zone: This is the area where you can experience all of our convention panels and workshops, including our dance workshops. If there’s a panel you or your children are really excited about, you will want to get a seat early.
• K-Culture Zone: In this zone, you can find our market, sponsors, picnic area, and our stage. A lot of sponsors and vendors have great things to see, purchase, and/or giveaway, so it’s good spot to peruse before it gets busy! Plus, our official KCON Merchandise Booth is here. Get your merch (i.e. water bottle) before they sell out!
• Championship Plaza: This is the registration area and it’s also where the Information Booth & Lost and Found are located. If you’re coming with children, you are probably aware that things get lost all the time so you will probably want to know where you can go to find your lost item.
• Barnaby Health Hockey House (BHHH): Here is where all the artist engagements, KLUB KCON, and Red Carpet events will take place.

 

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Behind The Scenes with Ryan Jhun: Multi-hit K-Pop Producer

Whether you’re looking to expand your musical taste, or want to learn about trends in the entertainment industry, take this chance to learn from one of the best in the industry! Ryan Jhun is the creative force behind Marcan Music Production and is a hands-on producer, who has established an immense music catalogue with many top K-Pop artists in Korea. Ryan’s productions have become successful hits in Korea as well as the rest of Asia, and if you’re a fan of “Produce 101,” you might have noticed him as one of the guest producers!

 

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: How We Made It: Korean American Edition 

We brought together many talented Korean Americans to share their story of breaking into the respective industries. If your interests are more of the television variety, panelists Donna Kim and Ellie Lee have plenty of experience and insight to share with you. If you’re more of the K-Beauty persuasion, Nina Park, a career make-up artist, and Stevie Chong, our moderator and a Senior PR Manager for Glow Recipe, will join the panel as well! Sit back, relax, and engage with these professionals who are top in their field!

 

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM: K-Pop Journalism 101

Jeff Benjamin has been Billboard’s K-Pop columnist for more than five years. He’s written about K-Pop for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and NPR, while being asked to share his expertise with The Washington Post, CNN, USA Today and beyond. He has shared groundbreaking stories about K-Pop in America, including exclusives with BTS, CL, Seventeen, Psy, while hosting events with KARD and Kevin Woo. In 2017, The New York Times referred to him as “the most knowledgeable person in America about K-Pop.” If you want a career in journalism covering K-Pop, learn from one of the most respected journalists out there!

 

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM: Meet & Greet: eSNa

It’s time to “meet” and “greet” eSNa! The singer, songwriter and producer, who originally hails from LA,  has worked with some of the biggest names in Korea like Madclown, Hyolyn, Jo Kwon, Sane E, Mamamoo, Bastarz, Jun. K, among others. Plus! She’s released several albums of her own. How might you already know this triple-threat talent? eSNa is the songwriter behind Soyu and Junggigo’s massive hit “Some”! We definitely recommend coming by to say “hello”!

 

SUNDAY, JUNE 24th

Ready for day 2? We bet you are! There’s still plenty of ways to be inspired and learn a thing or two for your future in K-Pop! Even if you don’t want a career in K-Pop there are loads of interesting topics from a variety of fields to hear from!

 

11:00 PM – 12:00 PM: Meet & Greet: Eddy

Becoming a YouTube star is officially a new potential career path for those who want to break into entertainment! Meet Edward Avila, a Beauty and lifestyle guru who began his YouTube career nearly a decade ago, and who has now officially expanded into the world of music through his collaborations with Trophy Cat. If you’re thinking of a career in YouTube or just want to meet the effortlessly witty, Edward Avila, swing by!

 

11:30 PM – 12:30 PM: The K-Beauty Craze: Why Everyone’s Talking About K-Beauty

K-beauty is loved by Beauty influencers and Beauty lovers across the globe, and is influencing how many of us perform our skincare routines. In this panel moderated by Stevie Chong of Glow Recipe, featuring panelists Devon Abelman, Joan Kim, Caro Malis, and Sarah Han, you’ll get an insiders opinion of why K-Beauty has been exploding this year (not that it hasn’t already exploded these past couple of years!). And, stick around to hear how they got their careers started in the K-Beauty industry.

 

12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: The Art of K-Pop Music Design

If you want to learn what goes into the art of creating K-pop music look no further! Andreas Oberg is a songwriter/producer that has experience writing & producing songs for many of the biggest K-Pop idols such as EXO, TWICE, Super Junior, SHINee, Red Velvet, Girls Generation, (f)x, NCT, TAEYEON, TVXQ, VIXX, MONSTA X & many more! Jim Wolf, who is also a singer and songwriter, had one of his own songs land #29 on the MNET K-Pop chart and. Join this panel if you want to know how a K-Pop song is made.

 

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Behind the Scenes with Saga Entertainment: YG Entertainment’s Live Bands!

Whether you’re a K-Pop fan or just a fan of music in general, you know that live performances are truly cherished experiences, and more often than not there’s band right there behind your favorite idols making it all happen. Gil Smith is the founder of Saga entertainment and is a sought-out American music director, producer and arranger who has played an intricate role in creating some of the highest grossing K-Pop tours. Get the behind the scenes scoop with Gil and the rest of panel of talented musicians who have toured with YG artists!

 

 

This itinerary is just a taste of what KCON has to offer, but we hope it offers a guide to those who are either considering a career in music or are just curious about the industry! Check out some of the programs we highlighted and explore the rest for yourself!  Make sure to check out the full Convention Schedule.