MegaCon Orlando 2022 Convention Summary

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MegaCon Orlando: May 19-22, 2022

 

I applied to MegaCon Orlando at the beginning of the year when the opportuity presented itself. A few months went by with no contact from them, so I assumed that my application was rejected and the first convention of the year would be in July rather than May. Then, during my Monday DnD game, I checked my email. A notice had arrived: my MegaCon table payment was accepted. My shout of, "WHAT!?" ruptured the eardrums of the other players as I checked for any prior notifications that I may have missed. Nothing was missed. My notice of acceptance came just three days before the start of the event. I had a lot to do and not much time. Monsters, which had been delayed because of other business, wasn't even ready for sale yet.

MegaCon is a four-day event and Thursday began at 2pm. On Thursday morning, I was still finishing some last-minute preparations. I managed to arrive just in time to set up my table before guests showed up. Once everything was situated, it was time to look around.

I knew that MegaCon was big but, even so, I was not prepared for just how big it is. The scale of the artist alley, even without venturing toward the vendor space, is large enough to be disorienting for a first-time experience. It's a significantly bigger event than MetroCon, the largest convention I've been to until now. That may be in part due to a broader audience, as MegaCon isn't a predominantly anime convention; it covers many fandoms and the artist alley had a diverse range of creators. There wasn't enough time to take in everything during my brief walks, but I was able to meet some people from previous events before returning to my table.

During the setup time, other artists had mentioned how busy they expected it to be, with crowds of people filling the walkways. I wondered how much of it was exaggeration, or how many people would make their way to our tables near the back of the artist alley. Thursday had a hectic start but it ended well. On Friday, I started to see more of a crowd\

On Saturday, when the largest crowd arrived, I got my answer. While all convention crowds come in waves, as some leave for different panels throughout the day, the busiest times of MegaCon saw nearly-endless lines of people walking by. People that regularly go to large events like this are probably used to it, but it was entirely new to me.

By the end of the weekend, despite walking across the artist alley a few times, I don't think I even saw half of the people that were there. I never even made it to the vendor hall. It was big, it was busy, and it was a lot of fun. I hope to go back next year.