Keele Esports are May's society of the month! They were selected for Society of the Month because of all their hard work putting on a varsity vs Staffordshire Stampede.
We asked Keele if there were any individuals to shout out who made the whole experience go smoothly?
"Everyone in Keele Esports helped make the Varsity event unforgettable but in particular, I have to highlight Marcus (themac), Max (mkL) and Marcus (Icarus).
themac
At the time of the event, themac was our Social Secretary and is now the upcoming President of Keele Esports. After being able to help out with the broadcast of Salford’s World Esports Day LAN event, he was very keen to make sure that Varsity this year was not only in person, but was a big stage experience that none of the members of Keele or Staffordshire would forget.
themac started the entirety of the event planning, engaging contact between the universities and rallying together all the teams playing for both. Almost every detail, from the setup, ruleset, timetable and broadcast was planned out months in advance, to make sure that almost everything that could have gone wrong was accounted for. With his experience working in esports broadcast, he was also able to recruit a number of talented casters and observers, many of whom were able to cast in person, almost all for the first time. In addition to being there at the event all the way from the beginning of the setup on Friday to the packup and collection on Monday. He also hosted the broadcast, helped the producer, managed the teams and players during the event. He's currently scheming up more potential LAN events with some other universities… so keep an eye out!
mKL
mKL is Keele Esports' Secretary, ex-President and one of our society veterans, who helped out with an incredible amount of boring administrative work that no one else wanted to do. Sorting all the equipment, booking the venue, making sure all the IT and network stuff was working prior to the event, double making sure we had emergency backup equipment, sorting out our risk assessments, food for the players and so on. Any request themac threw his way was sorted almost immediately, even whilst juggling the 4th year of his medical degree. Not only this, but he was also there every day of the event, setting up and packing away equipment as necessary. (Shoutout to Gabe and Cal for staying till 3am helping out set up the venue!) Extra points for being an emergency taxi service for one of Keele’s players too!
Icarus
Even though he is a first-year, he made it onto the committee very early on as our Marketing Manager. Being a very talented graphic designer with previous experience working in esports marketing and org management, he helped launch the rebranding of the Keele Krakens this year. He was given the task of sorting out all our marketing material for the event which included posters, social media adverts, broadcast talent lineups and more. Furthermore, he made all of our graphics for the broadcast, custom making an overlay for every single game being played, and screens for every potential caster and intermission scenario, whilst making it intuitive, easy to use and easy to edit when needed.
Not only this, but he did all this whilst on holiday, taking time out of his break to make sure that we got everything on time, even staying up for 24 hours straight working after disaster struck and our animated screens broke during the rendering process. Even after an entirely sleepless night, he stayed up and helped us moderate our chat for the entirety of day one. Icarus is incredibly talented and we’re really excited to see what he’s able to produce next year! See some of his great work below:
- themac
Some great shots of the event below:
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