Dava Fills the Room at VidSummit 2026 for a Third Straight Year

What the session covered

Every short form creator hits the same wall. Millions of views, a real audience, and a nagging sense that none of it is turning into a business. The advice they get is always the same: go long form. Nobody tells them how.

David and Vale's answer was that the skills that make a creator good at Shorts are the exact skills long form rewards — hooks, pacing, retention. What most creators are missing is structure, and the session walked through the structure the largest long form channels use to plan, package and publish every week.

The talk closed on the same idea it opened with: you don't need to start over. You need a plan.

What attendees walked away with

• Exactly what makes YouTube push a video — and what quietly kills distribution.
• How to structure long form content people actually finish, using the hooks and pacing they already know from Shorts.
• The formulas the largest long form channels use to plan, package and publish every week.
• How to turn an audience already built on Shorts into real long form growth.
• For long form creators: how to break a plateau without starting over.

Three days at the Dava booth

Between sessions, the Dava team ran a booth on the expo floor for all three days, reviewing creators' channels and thumbnails on the spot and walking through what a dedicated editing and thumbnail team looks like day to day. Hundreds of creators stopped by, from first-time uploaders to channels with millions of subscribers.

The most common conversation was the same one from the workshop: creators who know they should be posting long form and don't know where to start. Many of them left with a plan — and a call booked with the team.

Three years at VidSummit

VidSummit is one of the largest creator conferences in the world, gathering YouTubers, editors, brands, managers and production teams for three days of sessions. Dava has now spoken three consecutive years — first on thumbnail design, then on brand deals, and now on long form strategy — and in 2025 VidSummit named Dava its official editing and thumbnail partner.

Three straight invitations from one conference is not a booking. It is a standing seat.

Speakers

David Ruvalcaba

Co-founder, Dava · Leads production

David Ruvalcaba is the co-founder of Dava, the content production company behind the long form video of some of the biggest creators on YouTube. Since 2019, Dava has produced thousands of videos that have brought in billions of views, and its work has been featured in Inc. and Business Insider. He leads a team of more than 50 editors, designers and producers creating content full time for creators and brands worldwide. Having built the production behind hundreds of channels, David has seen up close what separates creators who keep growing from creators who plateau.

Vale Diaz

Co-founder, Dava · Leads growth

Vale Diaz is the co-founder of Dava. Since 2019, Dava has produced thousands of videos that have brought in billions of views, and its work has been featured in Inc., Business Insider and on Dr. Phil. He leads growth for a team of more than 50 editors, designers and producers. Vale has spent years on the business side of YouTube, working with creators at every level from first-time uploaders to household names. He knows how attention becomes income, and why most creators never make that jump.