METROCON is a gun-free zone in our rented spaces.
There is a security bag-check at every building entrance, where they will not only be checking for firearms, but also other weapons, and other dangerous or illegal items. If it does not adhere to our costume/prop policy, or it is an item of questionable legality in any way, leave it AT HOME.
Tampa Police Department and Convention Center Security will be enforcing these policies throughout the weekend.
METROCON discourages gifts of any kind for safety reasons, as all gift packages must be thoroughly inspected, however this is generally up to the individual guest as to what they will or will not accept from fans. We do specifically disallow food or drink gifts of any kind, homemade or storebought, and these will be confiscated or thrown away prior to meeting the guest.
Many guests may require that your autograph be personalized with a name or message like “To ___, thanks for being a fan! (Signature)” to ensure that the autograph is directly for the fan they’re interacting with or someone to receive as a gift. METROCON does not allow or condone the autographing of bulk items (especially Pop! figures in recent years) for resale, and both METROCON and the special guest reserve the right to limit the number of items you may have autographed, or refuse to autograph items without personalization.
Yes, absolutely! Many guests will have headshots, photos, or other items available to be included with the purchase of an autograph on that item. In an effort to avoid scalping and resale of autographed items, many guests may require that your autograph be personalized with a name or message like “To ___, thanks for being a fan! (Signature)” to ensure that the autograph is directly for the fan they’re interacting with or someone to receive as a gift. METROCON does not allow or condone the autographing of bulk items (especially Pop! figures in recent years) for resale, and both METROCON and the special guest reserve the right to limit the number of items you may have autographed, or refuse to autograph items without personalization.
Many guests will offer to do photos (selfies) with fans, voice recordings, or other small interactions, sometimes for an additional fee. These are at the discretion of the individual guest and their comfort level/availability/pricing.
Autograph prices are set by individual guests and vary from year to year. When we are provided with autograph pricing in advance, we will include it with the guest information on the Celebrity Guests page. Beginning in 2021, METROCON will no longer provide a guaranteed complimentary autograph for certain guests. Most, if not all guests, will charge for autographs and other interactions. The common pricing for our industry guests ranges from $20-40 each, but may be higher for exceptional or large-draw celebrity guests.
We have a cutoff for the con guide printing, but all approved panels will display on the website in their designated room and time slot, and all approved panels that are scheduled by the cutoff date will be included in the printed convention guidebook.
All panels are one (1) hour in length minimum on paper. However, we ask that you be ready to only run 50 minutes in order to give that last 10 minutes for room changeover.
Panels are typically limited to this one (1) hour time limit, to incorporate variety in our panel schedule. Certain panels may get an exception to this rule. Please do not plan on running the same panel multiple times throughout the weekend – the schedule gets packed, and other people have panels they want to run as well.
Whoa there partner! While we’re glad for your enthusiasm, we hate to inform you that the Special Events Ballroom is not available for panel placement. Only regular panel rooms will be on the option list when submitting and only METROCON Staff can place a panel/event into certain other rooms, such as the Special Events Ballroom, Guest Track, Video Rooms, and Main Events. Also, only certain events with specific criteria will be considered for the Special Events Ballroom. If you think your group or panel deserves to be in the Special Events or Main Events room, we’re certainly willing to hear you out and you should contact us, but we want to preface that the schedules for those rooms are usually very full of content we provide and our in-house shows.
When submitting your panel information, you’ll be prompted to submit a category and a preferred day/time. Our panel staff will do their best to place your panel on the schedule at your preferred time (Friday Afternoon, Saturday Late Night, Thursday Evening, etc. – they’re generalized) and in the tracked room that corresponds to the category of your panel.
