Vandie was nominated for Esports Personality of the Year at the Australian Games Awards (AGAs) a few weeks ago. She is best known as a Twitch streamer and as a Commentator for games such as PUBG and Fortnite. She recently spoke with Gamers Classified about her reaction to her AGA nomination and how she prepares for an assignment.
GC: What was your reaction to being nominated?
V:I felt very humbled and then also really excited. I feel like I achieved a lot of goals that I set out for myself this yar and this completely blew me away as it was quite unexpected but happy surprise.
GC: How do you prepare for a casting assignment?
V: Casting preparation can vary from game to game but it has the same fundamentals. I like to do a lot of research into latest metas, patches, playstyles, picks, player news- anything that might be of interest to viewers and help us weave a narrative. There's a lot of data gathering, sorting and analysing in this step. Then there's also watching endless hours of vods to pick any past broadcasts I've done apart and see what I can do better (I hate this part because you have to listen to yourself speak which all commentators dread). Lastly I like to also practice casting replays or muted vods to feel confident about delivery especially if it's been awhile since my last casting event.
GC: Do you have any tips for successfully engaging with an Esports audience either in-person or online?
V: Be yourself, be confident and be succinct. These tips sound easy but I definitely struggle with them them at times, when you're able to do all three successfully you're going to have a quality broadcast.
GC: Is there anything else you would like to add?
V: I'd love to thank all of the people and organisations that have either reached out to me or let me reach out to them about commentating and given me a chance. ANZ Heroes, Gamestah, PUBG Online, Blizzard, ESL, ZIMO, Doublejump Communications to name a few off the top of my head thank you for including me in broadcasts! I'll strive to continue working hard and to keep improving even more but this has given me a huge rush to strive to be the best I can be.
Vandie is active on Twitter and Twitch. Follow the Australian Games Awards to see if she is crowned Esports Personality of the Year on December 19th 2018.
