Draft:Kingvention

Kingvention is a convention about American entertainer Michael Jackson held in London, England. It is produced by British author Pez Jax under Sixteen11 Media Group Limited and fully named "Kingvention: The First European Michael Jackson Convention".

History and organisation
The idea for the convention was formed in 2013 by Pez Jax and Mayah Thomas after attending various Michael Jackson events across Europe and seeing an opportunity to bring together all the elements they had experienced to create a Michael Jackson UK fan convention. The name Kingvention was established the following year.

The first Kingvention was held on September 12, 2015, in London and due to its success, Sixteen11 Media Group Limited has continued to organise the event.

The event typically consists of special guests who worked with Jackson participating in a Live Interview on stage with Pez Jax, Various exhibitions, A Screening, Merchandise stands, a Meet and Greet, and an after-party.

The convention operates on a not-for-profit basis and relies on ticket sales, sponsorship and donations. All the staff are volunteers.

Kingvention also showcases UK talent, providing the opportunity for artists to perform on stage during the opening of each event. Batala London, a Brazilian Samba Drumming band opened the 2015 edition. London International Gospel Choir (LIGC) opened the 2016 edition. SupaFresh Street Dance Movement based in London opened the 2017 edition. Otis Phoenix "The Kid of Pop", a ten years old Michael Jackson impersonator and Funk of the Future, a London-based Dance Group opened the 2019 edition.

In 2019, after three years at the Park Plaza Victoria, the convention moved to the Pullman London Hotel to accommodate the increasing demand for tickets.

A planned 2020 edition marking the 25th Anniversary of HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I and celebrating Jackson's five decades in entertainment was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kingvention 2015
Kingvention 2015 was held at the Park Plaza Victoria in Central London, UK on September 12, 2015, in front of over 250 Michael Jackson fans.

Theme: HIStory 20 –  Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I

Guest Speakers:
 * Rob Hoffman, Engineer on the Michael Jackson HIStory Album.
 * Diana Walczak, Sculptor of the Statue from the Michael Jackson HIStory Album cover.
 * Jonathan Morrish, Former VP of Comms at Sony Music Europe.
 * Eddie Wolfl, Photographer. Kingvention 2015.jpg

The 2015 edition included:
 * Diana Walczak Collection: For the first time in Europe, the bust of Michael Jackson used to create the HIStory Album Cover was displayed, alongside documents and photographs of Walczak creating the statue.
 * Behind The Scream Gallery: An exhibition of Eddie Wolfl's pictures of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson during the filming of the music video of "Scream" released in 1995;
 * The Making of Moonwalker: An Exhibition of story boards from the Michael Jackson Movie "Moonwalker";

The convention opened with a live performance of Michael Jackson's "They Don't Care About Us" by Batala London, a Brazilian Samba drumming band.

Kingvention 2016
Kingvention 2016 was held at the Park Plaza Victoria in Central London, UK on September 10, 2016 in front of over 300 Michael Jackson fans.

Theme: Dangerous 25 –  Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Dangerous

Guest Speakers:
 * Dan Beck, former SVP Marketing & Sales Manager at EPIC/SONY.
 * Thom Russo, Technical Engineer: Dangerous Album.
 * Yuko Sumida Jackson, Dangerous World Tour Dancer.
 * Jonathan Morrish only appeared on the Q&A panel.

The 2016 Edition included:


 * Captain Eo: From page to Screen", an Exhibition of the Disney's 4D movie's story boards;
 * The Making of Moonwalker: An Exhibition of story boards and props from the Michael Jackson Movie "Moonwalker".
 * Steven Paul Whitsitt Gallery showcasing images of Jackson on the set of You Are Not Alone, Childhood, Scream and the HIStory Teaser taken by Photographer Steven Paul Whitsitt.
 * The convention opened with a live performance from the London International Gospel Choir (LIGC) interpreting some of Michael Jackson's songs.

Kingvention 2017
Kingvention 2017 was held at the Park Plaza Victoria in Central London, UK on September 30, 2017 in front of over 320 Michael Jackson Fans.

Theme: Access All Areas –  A Celebration of Jackson's concerts and greatest live performances

Guest Speakers:
 * Dorian Holley, Vocalist: Bad, Dangerous, HIStory Tour, Vocal Director: This Is It.
 * Eddie Garcia, Bad World Tour, Dangerous World Tour Dancer The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Speed Demon: Short Film Dancer.
 * Steven Paul Whitsitt, Personal Photographer: HIStory Era.Kingvention 2017.jpg

The 2017 Edition included:
 * The Making of Moonwalker: An Exhibition of story boards and props from the Michael Jackson Movie "Moonwalker", including the Moonwalker Robot Bust.
 * The Live Gallery: An exhibition of photography of Michael Jackson Live on Stage.

The convention opened with a live performance from SupaFresh Dance Movement.

Holley also performed a selection of Michael Jackson's songs live on Stage. On September 29, Garcia held a masterclass, teaching the Thriller choreography to around 40 fans at the Rambert dance school in South London.

Kingvention 2019
Kingvention 2019 moved to the Pullman London Hotel & Shaw Theatre in Central London, UK on September 21, 2019 in front of over 400 Michael Jackson fans.

Theme: Michael - The Man, The Music, The Legend

Guest Speakers:
 * Larry Stessel; Senior Vice President and Head of Marketing for Epic Records and responsible for the worldwide marketing of Michael Jackson's albums and singles including for "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and "BAD".
 * Darryl Phinnessee, Vocal Director / Vocalist – Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, This Is It.
 * Siedah Garrett', Singer/Songwriter – I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Man In The Mirror, Keep The Faith, Dangerous World Tour.

The 2019 Edition included:
 * Forever Neverland: An informative exhibit on Neverland Ranch. First-hand interviews, fact displays, a timeline and stunning images getting guests who walked through the re-created gates of Neverland.
 * Behind The Mask: When Michael Jackson turned into his Moonwalker robot, the design team were set the challenge to make Michael a living movie robotic superhuman. Through never before seen Polaroids and images and the return of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker Robot Bust, Behind The Mask looks at the creative process, direct from the studio images.
 * Former colleagues and guest speakers also pre-recorded messages for all attendees.

The convention opened with a live performance from Otis Phoenix aka "The kid of Pop" & Funk of the Future, a London base Dance group. The Event also featured the premiere of Extended Mix Video of "Man In The Mirror" from YouTuber S.W.G.

Kingvention 2020: KV:GLOBAL
Due to the Coronavirus COVID-19, the plans for an event which celebrated the 25th anniversary of Jackson's HIStory album were scrapped. Instead, the event took place digitally under the name KV:Global

The special 3 hour program featured:
 * A live performance of Liberian Girl by Eddi Goma
 * An exclusive interview with Engineer Jean-Marie Horvat
 * A Special taping of 'The Hector Barjot Show'
 * Clips from Kingvention 2019, 2017 and 2016
 * An exclusive interview with Bill Bottrell
 * Moonwalker: Origin Story
 * A live performance of Billie Jean by Dorian Holley

KV:Global originally streamed on YouTube on Sunday 6th December 2020 at 8pm

Kingvention Presents: Burn This Disco Out (2021)
With the ease of COVID restrictions in the UK, Kingvention organised a celebration of Michael Jackson Birth Day on August 28, 2021. Named "Kingvention presents Burn This Disco Out", the event played 100% of Jackson, The Jackson 5 and The Jacksons' music for over 6 hours by DJ Wiz and took place at Patch East, a bar/club situated in central London. Over 100 fans attended the event.

Kingvention 2022
Kingvention 2022 edition took place at the Pullman St Pancras London and Shaw Theatre on September 16, 17 & 18, 2022 with special guests Lavelle Smith Jr., Kevin Dorsey, Bill Bottrell and Allan Scanlan.

The Event included a Dance Masterclass by Lavelle Smith Jr, Live interviews on stage, exhibitions and merchandise stands.

The 2022 Edition included:
 * Forever Neverland: An informative exhibit on Neverland Ranch. First-hand interviews, fact displays, a timeline and stunning images getting guests who walked through the re-created gates of Neverland.
 * 2000 Watts: a 3D Stereoscopic experience
 * Lavelles Smith Jr’s GHOSTS masterclass
 * Thriller 40: The Album through the years
 * Wall of Fame: All Kingvention’s special guests on picture.
 * Burn This Disco Out, the after-party of the convention

Kingvention 2023
Kingvention 2023 took place on October 28 & 29, 2023 at The Glaziers Hall, London. Special guest announced were Nicholas Pike, music composer who worked on Michael Jackson's GHOSTS, Rupert Wainwright, who directed Michael Jackson's HIStory Album Teaser, Cindera Che, dancer on "Smooth Criminal" music video and Craig Lamont Parks who was Michael Jackson body double. The event celebrated Halloween with Michael Jackson's GHOSTS and the 35th Anniversary of MOONWALKER. The event had over 400 attendees.

The 2023 Edition included:
 * Screening of Michael Jackson’s GHOSTS
 * Screening of Michael Jackson’s MOONWALKER
 * Premiere of the Documentary ‘Walking On The Moon’
 * Is It Scary & Club 30’s After-Party
 * Propstore exhibits: Michael Jackson's Pepsi 'New Generation' Commercial Jacket and Michael Jackson's 'Spike' costume
 * Michael Jackson & Japan: Nobuyuki Momose to showcase some of his amazing Michael Jackson items directly from Japan
 * HIStory Teaser Exhibition
 * In The Neverland Library: Discussion session
 * Moonwalker Exhibits
 * Janet Jackson special Exhibits

Kingvention 2024
Kingvention 2024 edition will take place at the House of Cocotte in the Art District of Los Angeles on October 12, 2024.

Kingvention 2025
Kingvention 2025 is planned to be in London, UK.

Exhibitors
A number of Exhibitors related to the pop star are present every year at Kingvention.

Exhibitors have been from the arts with home made Michael Jackson Dolls by Mary van der Heijden and Elke Diehm, English painter Daniel Brooks, Canadian artist Renee Paul.

Also present, authors such as French author Brice Najar who has released numerous books on Michael Jackson, French author Isabelle Stegner-Petitjean, The Ultimate Collector Book Series from Sixteen11 Media Group Limited, British author Mike Smallcombe and British author and publisher Pez Jax.

Music magazines are also present such as Echoes Magazine and Iconic Magazine, a Michael Jackson Fan Magazine.

Merchandise stands are mostly represented by King of Shop which offer thousands of Official Michael Jackson merchandise. Secret Dreamers Society offers original pins in the effigy of the pop star. Some of the guest speakers has/had stand like Siedah Garrett.

Since 2016, Danilo Calendar UK premiered the Official Michael Jackson Calendar at the convention through King of Shop.

Social Media Influencers within the Michael Jackson Fandom are also present such as French YouTuber Fabrice Ancellet known as Hector Barjot.

Sponsors
Since the creation of Kingvention in 2015, sponsorship is playing a huge part in the process and success of the event and throughout the years, the sponsors have been:

London Audio Visual; Park Plaza London Victoria; HMV; Pyramid International; Rapidity; GB Posters; Helms Briscoe; King of Shop; Danilo Calendars; Tech AV; Ripley's Believe it or not; Madame Tussaud London; Thriller Live; The Pullman London.

Donation
During Kingvention 2015, 2016 and 2017, Kingvention collected for and donated to The Mayhew Animal Home, a charity for domestic animals in London.

For the first time since the creation of Kingvention, the organisers asked for some help in 2019 to create a 3 storey-high Michael Jackson mural in front of the Shaw Theatre. Despite the target of donation not being met, the mural was created with an image of Michael Jackson during the Thriller short film.

Trademark
The term and name "Kingvention" was trademarked in 2015 securing the idea and name across Europe.

Trademark number: UK00003128061.

The original logo, an artistic redrawing of Jackson's eyes, was changed in 2017 at the request of the Michael Jackson Estate. The current logo uses a gold crown, symbolising Jackson's status as The King Of Pop.