This week, the Carlsen Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is working with the California State University Entertainment Alliance (CSUEA), Twitch Student, and UCI Esports to host a five-day virtual Esportspreneur Expo.  

The free virtual event is open to all students, higher education professionals, and the general public. Events start May 3 and will continue daily from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., until May 7. Recordings for each event will be available on the CalStateEsports Twitch account for anyone unable to attend the live events.

According to the CSUEA website, “Esports job platform Hitmarker saw an 87.03% increase in new jobs between 2018 and 2019, with California seeing the most growth, demonstrating significant new employment opportunities. This expo aims to create connections, elevate innovation, and inspire engagement in our growing esports communities.”  

The week of virtual events began on Monday with, “Esports 101 and Entrepreneurship,” which invited esports and gaming experts to explore the basics of esports with viewers while sharing their own stories on how they were able to create such successful enterprises and also demystifying stereotypes about the industry.

Each day also includes a portion on esports wellness by AimStrong. Discord user Shiro Kusanagi, who is a part of the SSU Esports discord server, expressed an interest in the Esports Wellness segments writing, “The stereotype of a gamer is a 20 something teenager locked in parents’ basement subsisting on snack foods so hopefully that can prove it wrong.”  

Tuesday’s event, “Monetizing Through Streaming,” provides insider tips on how to best monetize content and successfully develop individual brands.

On Wednesday, participants are invited to join with industry leaders in conversations on how to combat online toxicity and “…ways we can improve our communities through mental and physical wellness to create inclusive and healthy spaces on campus for everyone,” reads the CSUEA Esportspreneur Expo schedule.    

For Thursday’s event, “Path to Pro and Careers,” San Francisco Shock, a professional Overwatch team, will share personal experiences on what it is like to be professional esport athletes while providing advice on how to beat the competition and build a successful career in esports.

To wrap up the week, Friday’s “Event Management” program will give viewers a chance to, “Hear from specialists like professional esports team Envy’s VP of Events, Justin Rojas, pro NBA2K player Brent ‘Lord Beezus’ Aasgaard, and Boise State’s award-winning Head Coach, Dr. Haskell, along with a variety of backgrounds and perspectives on what it takes to put on a successful event,” as stated on the schedule.

Discord username Liam, who is also a part of SSU Esports, wrote, “I was most interested in the panel on event production, because esports event production seems like a discipline for which there are not a ton of textbook examples. This is especially true when esports are compared to other conventional sports, which have had far more time to mature and distill an ideal formula to attract as many spectators as possible. The infrastructure and dedicated staff required to put on something like this definitely dwarfed my expectations, so the scarcity of opportunities to host events on the scale of something like a “CS:GO” major makes me value that panel more than some of the other panels and seminars.”