Author: Laarni Jane

Music and Beauty. A glimpse of my simple life.
BTS Virtual Concert Experience Pt.1 – BANG BANG CON: The Live!

BTS Virtual Concert Experience Pt.1 – BANG BANG CON: The Live!

by Laarni Jane ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Note: I decided to split this post into parts because I had a lot more to say than I originally thought haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this and please stay tuned for part 2!

“Ayo ladies and gentlemen, 준비가 됐다면 부를게 [If you’re ready, I’ll start] yeah!”

-Lyrics from Dope by BTS

Despite the pandemic-stricken state of the world, BTS fans (also known as ARMY) were able to enjoy live performances from the South Korean septet. And yes, I was one of the ARMY that attended BANG BANG CON: The Live.


What is BANG BANG CON: The Live?

“BANG BANG CON” is an online BTS concert series (with BANG BANG referring to the band’s Korean name, Bangtan Sonyeondan) that was launched after the postponement of their 2020 Map of the Soul world tour. On June 14, 2020, the live instalment of the series took place and was streamed on Kiswe (BTS’ label, Big Hit Entertainment recently partnered with this American video technology start-up for the live streaming for future events). Kiswe’s technology facilitated audience engagement through live commenting and multi-views.

Live commenting is not new to the BTS ARMY community as it is used on other platforms such as V Live and YouTube. However, what really made this virtual concert unique was the multi-view function; which allowed users to switch camera views to their liking (or view all of them at once).

My screenshot from the event, featuring the multi-view function and chatbox.

Getting my “Ticket”

Tickets for the event were sold on Weverse, which is the official online store for Big Hit Entertainment artists and those under affiliated labels (i.e. GFriend, Seventeen, and TXT). As an official ARMY membership holder, I was able to purchase my ticket for at a discounted price of $26.09 USD (non-members pay $35.10 USD).

Ticket to BANG BANG CON: The Live included:

  • Admission to the live event
  • Streaming on up to 2 devices
  • Virtual personalized ticket (emailed after the concert)
  • Video On Demand streaming of the concert (so you can rewatch it again and again!)

After purchasing my ticket, I had to log in to the event website with my Weverse account to choose a nickname for the live chat box.

Event homepage featured a countdown to the event and a link to purchase admission.

My First Virtual BTS Concert Experience!

The concert was scheduled to begin at 6 AM KST, which meant that I had to wake up at 5 AM to catch the event (since I’m in Canada). Nonetheless, it was totally worth the lack of sleep as the boys put on a phenomenal show!

After scrambling to find batteries for my ARMY Bomb light stick, I turned on my laptop and logged into the event website. I was immediately blown away by the diversity of my fellow ARMYs as they all commented their country and their excitement for the show in the event chatbox. At the bottom of the screen was a button to connect the light stick to my computer via Bluetooth so that it synced with the songs. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to connect my light stick (the button wasn’t working for me for some reason). With only 5 minutes left until the concert begins, I gave up on connecting my light stick and wake my sister (Whew, almost forgot!) so she can set up her laptop too (admission allows streaming on up to two devices!).

With my oversized Koya pillow by my side and ARMY Bomb in hand, I was finally ready for BANG BANG CON: The Live!

Did you attend BANG BANG CON: The Live? Let me know in the comments!

Please stay tuned for part 2!

-LaarniJane♡

Intro: Music Memories

Intro: Music Memories

by Laarni Jane ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello! Bonjour! Kamusta! 안녕하세요! こんにちは!

Welcome to my blog series Music Memories, in which I’ll share my concert experiences and fangirl ramblings. As you can probably guess from my intro, I believe music transcends language, and anyone can appreciate the emotions expressed in melodies. You don’t need to be fluent in a language to enjoy the music! I hope you all enjoy this series, and please feel free to share your experiences as well!

-LaarniJane♡

A Day in the Life of a Digital Marketer

A Day in the Life of a Digital Marketer

by Laarni Jane ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Journal 1 – MARK 1024

Last Thursday, my classmates and I had the opportunity to hear from GBC Alumni Asta Schouten (Social Media and Brand Strategist), Natasha Burtenshaw-deVries (Digital Marketing Specialist), and Jordan Veenstra (Social Media Coordinator) about their experiences at George Brown College and in the digital marketing field.

As an aspiring digital marketer, it was important for me to hear what they had to say about the field, as well as what they liked (or disliked) about their jobs. Asta Schouten shared her journey from being a graphic designer to now working in brand and social media strategy. As well, she also shared some tips on how to craft resumes and prepare for interviews:

  • Design your resume
  • “Pull words” from the job description
  • Referrals go a long way
  • Take advantage of LinkedIn Learning to gain basic graphic design skills

“If you can hit 75% of what the job poster is looking for, you should go for it. If you are a good fit they are likely to let you learn on the job.” -Asta Schouten

Next, we heard from Jordan Veenstra and Natasha Burtenshaw-deVries. Notably, both of them are graduates from the Digital Media Marketing program! As a postgrad student currently taking that program, I really wanted to hear how they managed to land a job and what tips they could give for a future jobseeker like myself.

While they both graduated from the same program, they work in very different settings; Jordan works for a large marketing agency while Natasha works in a smaller agency. In a larger marketing agency, you work in teams, assigned multiple accounts and are given larger budgets. On the other hand, working in smaller agencies means you are working with a tightly-knit team (or in some cases independently) to serve your clients. Natasha mentioned that she was initially hired as an assistant and was promoted 2 months later to handle the SEO all on her own. As a newbie in digital marketing, I’d prefer working for a larger agency first so that I may work in teams (with peers that I can look up to as mentors) and gain experience working on a variety of accounts.

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Image by Coffee Bean from Pixabay

Marketing During the Pandemic

It was interesting to hear how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their jobs. Like many of us, they were all working from home and had to make adjustments like setting up a home office, getting the right equipment, etc. But there were many challenges as well with panellists mentioning reduced workload, layoffs, and even budget cuts as a result of the pandemic.

Tips for the future!

All panellists highlighted the importance of skill-building and networking. As future digital marketers, we should expect ourselves to be constantly learning (whether it be new software, platforms, techniques). Google Adwords and Facebook Blueprint were just some of the certifications the panellists strongly recommended us to complete.

“Its not about what you know, but who you know.”

Given the current pandemic-stricken state of the world, it is going to be tough finding a job quickly without establishing connections in the industry. As an introvert, I will need to “get myself out there” and continue networking with my peers to help with my impending job search.