MegaCon
MegaCon, short for Mega Convention, is a large speculative fiction convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, RPG, and gaming communities, often occurring in spring at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The convention is the largest fan convention event in the Southern United States and second largest in North America with an attendance of 160,000 recorded in 2023. History

Founding 
The first comic book convention held in the Orlando area was OrlandoCon, held annually from 1974 to c. 1994. Regular guests included C. C. Beck, Floyd Gottfredson, and Hal Foster.. Prior to the founding of MegaCon Orlando, the name "MegaCon" was used for a convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. MegaCon was founded by James Breitbiel and first held in 1993 at the Orlando Expo Center (Now the UCF Center for Emerging Media). The convention was acquired by the Tampa-based publisher CrossGen in 1999, with Elizabeth Widera brought on to run the show in 2000. (Breitbiel became CrossGen's Marketing and Distribution Director.) During this period, from 2000 to 2003, MegaCon heavily promoted CrossGen products and creators, to the frustration of some other exhibitors and attendees, although the show itself grew and thrived. After being the venue once in 1997, the Orange County Convention Center has since 2001, been the host of the convention. From 2001 to 2019, MegaCon was the location of the long-running "Paranoia LIVE!" LARP, based on Mongoose Publishing's Paranoia. 2003 introduced after hours entertainment at the convention. This expanded to offsite locations in 2006. In late 2003, Widera purchased the convention from the failing CrossGen, which was restructuring (the publisher went bankrupt in 2004). Widera, who is a board member of the comics charity The Hero Initiative, currently runs the show along with her daughter Christine Alger. In 2007, MegaCon hosted the first live presentation of the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. In August 2008 MegaCon announced that it would host the first inaugural Project Fanboy Awards ceremony, awarding authors, writers and publishers with honors voted on by Internet users on the Project Fanboy website. The Project Fanboy Awards are now an ongoing event. In September 2008, MegaCon headquarters moved from Safety Harbor to Live Oak, Florida, although the actual convention remains in Orlando. In 2009, in addition to the main show, held February 27–March 1, convention organizers produced a "mini-MegaCon" held August 22–23 featuring a number of actors from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show. Fan Expo

On April 7, 2015, it was announced that MegaCon had been sold to Informa. The con now operates under the auspices of Informa's Fan Expo group, although it has maintained the MegaCon branding. Following Megacon 2015 it was announced that for the first time Megacon will be extended to 4 days in 2016. as well as another mini-MegaCon event, "MegaCon Fan Days" in November 21–22, 2015. Shortly after Megacon 2016, Megacon Tampa Bay was announced for October 28–30. MegaCon Tampa last happened in 2018 and has not returned since due to the increasing sizes of convention rivals Tampa Bay Comic Con and Metrocon as well as the size limitations of the Tampa Convention Center. Stan Lee made a surprise appearance at MegaCon Tampa Bay 2017, his last at MegaCon, to raise funds for those affected by Hurricane Irma weeks prior. Post-Covid
The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially planned to be held April 16–19 and June 4–7, it was replaced by a smaller "limited edition" "mini-MegaCon" restricted to 25,000 in attendance with the next main event to be held on March 18–21, 2021. These dates were also cancelled with the next date, August 12–15 being a return to operations, though masks were mandated. The 2021 event was plagued with many guest cancellations due to pandemic-caused filming conflicts affecting many including Elijah Wood, Brendan Fraser, and James Marsters who were to be among the headline celebrities of the event. 2022 featured a return to normal operations with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd, the Hobbits of the Lord of the Rings, reuniting on stage as well as Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes of the Jay and Silent Bob show, Brendan Fraser, and Gina Carano being other highlight guest appearances. MegaCon inaugurated FanExpo's partnership with virtual auction site WhatNot, featuring a Virtual MegaCon with virtual celebrity signings, comic artist sketch streams, and streams of cosplay contests, as well as a WhatNot booth. Numerous traffic issues in the surrounding areas due to record attendance reached local news headlines. Several tiers of tickets including family packages and youth tickets were sold out on Saturday. Surpassing Comic Con International's attendance cap of 130,000, MegaCon became the second most attended fan convention in the United States after New York Comic Con. The last day of the 2022 convention hosted a memorial service for the late comic artist George Perez, who was a frequent guest at the convention. 2023 introduced advanced paid parking from several parking lots as well as shuttles to the convention as a way to alleviate traffic issues. A Wednesday pre-launch party was added to the afterhours party line up at ICON Park. The floor plan also took over the entire North/South concourse for the first time. Tickets for the 2024 event went on sale the day after the 2023 event ended, a change in tradition from tickets going on sale 5–6 months prior to the event. Dates and guests

Notability Guidelines for listing guests

Actors and voice actors are to be listed. Comic guests may be listed only if listed on MegaCon website or noted to have attended pre-2000. Youtubers may be listed only if they have reached the 100,000 subscribers eligible for a Silver Creator Award. Music performers may be listed if on MegaCon website as a guest. Book Authors may be listed only if on MegaCon website as a guest. Cosplay guests, tattoo artists, other artists, and retailers may not be listed. '90s and 2000s

Early Years and CrossGen

Widera

2010s

Pre-Informa

Four days and Tampa Bay

Post-COVID

Show Layout and Events

Exhibit Hall

MegaCon since 2012 has had an exhibit hall sectioned into many different sections listed below:
 
Ticket Hall: The ticketing hall is where attendees pickup their badges required for attendance or buy new tickets. The lines are separated by ticket type. Past the ticketing booths is the show waiting area where attendees await the show's opening hours. The Megacon store is in this area and sells convention themed merchandise as well as convention exclusives. Retail: The retail section is home to shops numbering in the hundreds. This section is often subdivided into comics and anime sections. A small section "Tattoo Alley" is home to several tattoo vendors. While a majority of the businesses are small, some larger vendors also appear with more frequent ones including NASA and Dragon's Milk. Artist Alley: A section where several hundred artists are given a booth to sell their wares. This section is surrounded by a ring of comic book guests ranging from independent publishers to writers for DC and Marvel. Community: The community section is home to life-size replica exhibits from many fan organizations including the 501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Daleks of Florida, the 405th, and the Delta Fleet. These groups often raise funds for local charities via voluntary donations or paid photo ops. Celebrity: Actor guests of MegaCon have booths in this area. The booths form a ring that is empty in the center to allow for longer lines for the more popular stars attending the convention. A separate area adjacent is used for photo ops of more popular celebrities. Food Courts: Multiple areas of the show floor and lobbies contain food courts with food options provided by the convention center. Cuisine options often include: Chinese, Papa John's, barbecue, Starbucks, Häagen-Dazs, and Tex-Mex. Events and panels 
Outside the exhibit hall, the show has many events in the convention center lobbies and panel rooms. Panels: MegaCon is host to panels of many genres relating to cosplay, anime, gaming, and world building among many other subjects. Celebrities attending MegaCon may also star in their own panels. Gaming: Several RPG games are hosted at MegaCon including Dungeons & Dragons living campaigns, Living Forgotten Realms, Pathfinder Society and Legends of the Shining Jewel. Non RPG gaming is also hosted at MegaCon ranging from the card-based Magic: The Gathering to strategy games. E-gaming arcades are available and tournaments are held at the event for games like Super Smash Bros.
Cosplay Contest: Since 2018, MegaCon has been host to the FanExpo Masters of Cosplay Grand Prix Sunshine Qualifier where dozens of cosplayers display their talent in costume construction. Family Zone: The MegaCon family zone is hosted in a large panel room with activities directed towards preteens and younger. Activities include a kids cosplay contest, a sorting hat ceremony, and padawan training. Afterparties: MegaCon has been host to afterhours entertainment since 2003. These events grew to include offsite locations in 2006. Since 2010, Moshi Moshi Productions has handled offsite after hours events with a kickoff party in the Icebar Orlando on Thursday, and themed parties on Friday and Saturday at the Rosen Plaza and Rosen Centre respectively. In 2023, a Wednesday afterparty was hosted at ICON Park. References

External links
 
 Celebrity guests
 Show events
 Mobile app
 

Multigenre conventions
Comics conventions in the United States
Science fiction conventions in the United States
Fan conventions
Events in Orlando, Florida
Recurring events established in 1993
Conventions in Florida
1993 establishments in Florida