What is MEGA?

MEGA Cincinnati is a biannual networking and collaboration event designed to unite the city’s top creative talent from across the entertainment and tech industries. From game development and animation to film production, voice acting, virtual reality, and motion design, MEGA brings together professionals and aspiring creators to foster new opportunities, job connections, and project collaborations.

How MEGA Started

In 2018, Cincinnati’s startup culture was thriving, and various industry-specific communities were drawing large, engaged audiences. However, a recurring issue became apparent—December posed a scheduling challenge for creative and development-focused groups that typically met monthly. Events often overlapped, leading to split attendance and missed connections.

Recognizing this, I worked with community leaders across multiple industries to create a single, unified event where all these groups could connect in one space, eliminating silos and fostering cross-industry collaboration. The goal was simple: bring people together, help them find new projects, and create career-defining opportunities.

Why MEGA Works

MEGA fills a crucial gap in the local creative scene. Too often, a film production team needs a motion designer, a motion designer needs a voice actor, and a voice actor dreams of working in video games—yet they rarely cross paths at the right time. MEGA provides that missing link, bridging the gap between Cincinnati’s many creative disciplines and enabling professionals to meet the right people at the right moment to move their careers and projects forward.

Expanding MEGA’s Impact

The overwhelming success of the first MEGA event led to it becoming a biannual tradition:

• December MEGA: A year-end celebration, bringing together professionals to wrap up their projects, network, and plan for the new year.

• June MEGA: Designed to help students and emerging talent gain experience, connect with mentors, and find summer projects, internships, and co-op opportunities.

With each event, attendees shared success stories of forming new teams, securing job leads, launching startups, or landing co-op positions—all because they found the right connections at MEGA.

MEGA's Success & Growth

Despite working with a minimal budget, we partnered with a local restaurant to host MEGA on a traditionally slow day in December. The event attracted over 70 attendees in its first run and continued to grow in participation and impact over multiple editions.

Creative Communities Involved

MEGA has brought together members from a diverse range of groups, including:

• IGDA Cincinnati (Game Development)

• Cincinnati Production Meetup (Film & Video Production)

• Cincinnati Motion Group (Motion Graphics & Animation)

• Cincinnati VR Meetup (Virtual & Augmented Reality)

• Cincinnati Animation Network (2D/3D Animation)

• Cincinnati Film Society (Filmmaking & Storytelling)

• Black Cincinnati Cinema Collective (Black Filmmakers & Creators)

• Cincinnati Area VO Talent (Voice Acting & Audio Production)