ORLANDO, Fla. – One of the biggest shows on the Orange County Convention Center’s annual schedule rolls into Central Florida this week with organizers of MegaCon Orlando expecting 100,000 pop-culture fans,
Fans who often dress as superheroes, zombies, wookiees or other Star Wars figures also must wear a face-covering this year, organizers said.
Masks are mandatory, according to MegaCon Orlando’s website. It also advises, “If you’re not feeling well, stay home.”
“We’re actually taking every possible precaution,” said Oriane Gurland, a spokesperson for the event, set for Thursday through Sunday. “It’s going to be a fully masked event. We will have hand-sanitizing at basically every corner of the room, in the middle and everywhere we possibly can.”
But infection concerns abound as the seven-day average for daily infections in Florida swelled Saturday to 19,250, the fifth straight record high.
The convention center lost four scheduled shows last week, three set for this month, as Florida and the county battle a resurgence of COVID-19 with record numbers of new infections and hospitalizations. The four canceled gatherings were expected to bring more than 17,000 attendees combined.
But Mark Tester, the convention center’s executive director, noted that two canceled groups are medical professionals — the Association of Operative Registered Nurses and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons — who may be too busy fighting the pandemic to get away now.
The National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers and the Electrochemical Society also called off their conventions.
“We understand the business decisions of each organization as the nationwide pandemic continues to change how different industries are individually impacted,” Tester said last week in an email. “We remain committed to the safety of our employees, clients, attendees and exhibitors and continue to adhere to the CDC’s guidelines and our comprehensive health and safety protocols in our Recovery and Resiliency Guidelines.”
Tester said the convention center still has 52 events scheduled through Dec. 31 with an expected combined attendance of 550,000 people.
Visit Orlando, Central Florida’s tax-supported marketing arm, estimates the events will pack an economic wallop of $1 billion for the region.
A dozen of those conventions, trade shows and sporting events have relocated from other venues.
Both June and July were blockbuster months for the convention center, which hosted 33 events, including the Amateur Athletic Union’s annual junior national volleyball championships, which drew more than 135,000 attendees over 12 days in June. The event is not only the largest staged at the convention center, but the largest held at any convention center in the U.S., said Nadia Vanderhoof, spokesperson for the International Drive venue.
In July, the convention center hosted 19 events with about 153,000 attendees.
Vanderhoof said the venue has hosted over 100 face-to-face events since July 2020.
She said no other convention center has hosted as many, crediting collaboration with Orlando Health and county and state health officials.
Tester said organizers are requiring or recommending attendees wear facial coverings indoors.
“The absolute trend has been people are wearing them,” he said. “MegaCon’s position is if you don’t want to wear a mask, come next year.”
The giant show was canceled last year because of the pandemic.
The convention center was at the time being used as a drive-through site for COVID-19 testing then later for vaccination.
Some shows and venues are demanding more of attendees.
The annual DEFCON Hacker conference held Aug. 5-8 at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino required masks and proof of vaccination.
While a meeting of about 4,000 cardiologists at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center handed out three types of lanyards to attendees, depending on their comfort level with COVID-19 precautions, according to the Boston Globe. A green lanyard meant any greeting was good; yellow preferred an elbow bump over a hug; and red meant keep your distance.
Tester said the convention center, which reopened before its rivals in Las Vegas and Chicago, was among the nation’s first large venues to earn accreditation from the worldwide cleaning association’s Global Biorisk Advisory Council for cleaning, disinfection, and infection prevention strategies.
“We did prove safe as the first convention center to really, really re-open that if you come in and you wear a mask and you follow our other protocols ... that you can have an event safely,” he said.
MegaCon Orlando, the convention center’s second-largest show behind the AAU volleyball tournament, attracts fans of comics, science fiction, horror, anime and gaming genres who come to be seen and to meet celebrity stars of the films, TV shows and games they love. This year’s extravaganza features appearances by John Stamos, Bob Saget and Dave Coulier, stars of 1990′s sit-com “Full House;” enough of the cast of “The Office” to shut down Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton operation; and Star Trek icons William Shatner and George Takei, who played helmsman Hikaru Sulu on the original series.
For more details on the show, visit fanexpohq.com/megaconorlando.
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