Intel FutureGen 2024 Take On ESI London

Intel FutureGen 2024 cohort member, Edie, took on ESI London - here's what she had to say:

Thanks to Esports Insider, NSE and Intel I was able to attend ESI on the 13th June! ESI is a huge esports event here in the UK. This was my first time being able to attend an event like this and it was truly an eye opening experience!

This year, ESI was hosted in Boxpark Wembley, in London. With it being my first esports event, I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but ESI absolutely smashed it with the venue. There were various stands in the space all talking about new exciting concepts in the esports industry, such as new games involving AI, which my friends and I thought was especially cool. If you’ve been to Boxpark you’ll know there’s loads of food stalls around the place, and ESI were super generous in giving us an awesome goodie bag with pens, chocolates and food vouchers to use throughout the day, which was really awesome on their part.

There were loads of panels to attend throughout the day, which were engaging and kept a nice variety going for attendees. From a student perspective, the talks were especially useful, as it meant I could really focus on what was important to me, networking and learning new things, and it meant I knew what or who to be watching out for. The panels covered a range of topics from esports in education, esports in football, and even going really in depth with games and viewership online. I also found the app that ESI had to be really helpful with finding my way to all of the talks. I could plan what I wanted to see and organise to meet with people who I wanted to network with. My friends and I thought this was really innovative! Our favourite bit of the day had to be the amazing gaming space where attendees could chill and try out some CS2 together, with casters and a big screen to make an immersive professional gaming experience, it felt how I imagine playing on a huge stage might feel and was a lovely touch by ESI.

Then, once the excitement of networking and listening to the talks was over, we had the amazing Evening with GeT_RiGhT to look forward to! I believe this is new to ESI this year, and it was really well received by everyone there. Christopher Alesund, or “GeT_RiGhT,” is one of the biggest ex-pro CS:GO players in the scene, and we had him to ourselves for one evening in Wembley. He talked all things about his career and his time playing for different esports orgs. My friends and I were all totally starstruck to be able to see such a huge esports star in the flesh, and even get the chance to try to beat him in a 1v1 and win a gaming chair.

It was another opportunity to see my Intel FutureGen cohort too, and we all had a really amazing time! We all also received tickets to the BLAST Premier Spring Final at the Wembley OVO Arena the next day, which was incredible. I was lucky enough to be able to sit very close to the stage, and the energy in the arena was absolutely electric. It was amazing to attend the event and get to watch esports giants like Astralis, FaZe, Virtus Pro and Vitality battle for the chance to win their share of £450,000. The players entered the stage under spotlight on a rising platform, which gained huge appeal with the crowd. The teams played well, and it was absolutely nail biting throughout the show, but great to see the close matches.

Overall this was such an incredible weekend, all made possible through NSE, Intel and ESI. We had the most amazing time and I cant wait to come back again next year to do it all again.

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