A visitor at you2016 Berlin

When I shared with the teenager in the house my intention to visit You2016 Berlin this year, the announcement was received with irony and a discouraging speech followed: I am far beyond the average age of the participants, there is nothing of interest for me, all the beginner teenagers will have a lot of fun of me. Etc. Etc. But it is hard to discourage me when I have an aim, in this case, my curiosity to understand the market for this age segment plus, eventually, got more glimpses into the YouTube mania in Germany. Somehow, I succeeded to have a look at the fair, but gave up the YouTube part, as I decided it was already too much for me. As for the audience, no one forbade me or made fun of me and surprisingly, there were new more than one mother with baby too.

The ICC Hall, plus the yard, were full with activities and teenagers jumping back and forth in all directions. Expect loud music - party mood - and some shootings at the Mädchen stand. Knowing something about the passion of teenagers nowadays for as much make-up as possible, I was expecting more beauty companies, but it wasn't the case. Instead, henna tattoos made by Indian ladies were beautiful. One day, I will got one too.

There were a lot of competitions with various prizes, and those areas were usually very crowded. Maybe too enthusiastic too.

Some competitions were more serious, like the Battle of Schools, aimed to display the best graffiti work.

As in the case of make-up, fashion was underrepresented. At the sports area, there were more shoes and sport suits options.

The manga fans had a small corner with colourful and exotic items.

Japanese sports praticed by German experts were neighbouring some serious boxing matches, with bells and hard hits. Even for a couple of seconds, it was my first boxing game. Not sure if I would fancy to repeat the experience though. 

A big hall was dedicated to jobs offers for teenagers. Army, Police, Customs, insurance companies, were some of the options. Bundeswehr - Army Forces - invited the youngsters to have a look inside a PA 200 Tornado.

Outside, teens are fighting paintball or shoot some laser weapons. Indoors, some basketball training was going on. I left with a lot of ideas of what I should keep in mind for a growing up boy. As a once in a lifetime experience, it was useful. And not all the teenagers are really mean actually.