Bestselling author, entrepreneur, and renowned pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes hosts the biennial MegaFest in Dallas from June 28 – July 1 at the famed Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas. The internationally-acclaimed four-day faith, film and family festival is returning to Dallas for its third year. With the family favorite festival’s continued growth and popularity, this year’s event estimates to draw over 100,000 attendees from all 50 states to attend panels, workshops, special screenings, performances, activations, and competitions among a variety of engaging events.
“MegaFest is uniquely spectacular,” Bishop Jakes said. “It fills so many needs in people’s lives today — whether getting over your past or claiming your future ahead. It’s healing, it’s inspiring, it’s exciting, it’s entertaining — it’s an experience with something for everyone.”
Recognized as the world’s largest multi-day family festival, the event attracts a diverse collection of influencers, professionals and experts in their respective fields ranging from TV/film, Sports, Music, Ministry, Authors and Business.
Some of this year’s featured motivators, speakers, panelists and moderators include: Bishop T.D. Jakes & Serita Jakes, DeVon Franklin, Cicely L. Tyson, Brian White, Romeo Miller, John Singleton, Angela Simmons, Laz Alonso, Blair Underwood, Kim Fields, Monique Coleman, and mother of NBA All-Star Kevin Durant, Wanda Durant.
The full list of featured participants and speakers can be found here.
Joining MegaFest’s beloved four core program tracks (MegaInspiration: Woman Thou Are Loosed, MegaYouth, Fire Code, MegaKidz Destiny World, Alive Dance/Mime Conference, MegaEntertainment: A Time to Laugh Comedy Show, International Faith & Family Film Festival, Celebrity Meet & Greets, MegaEmpowerment: Business Talk, Financial Talk, Health Talk, Tech Talk and more, and MegaCommunity: Career Corner, MegaFit, College Corner, Fashion Show, Health & Wellness) this year include:
- The LEGENDS Awards – This invitation-only luncheon recognizes a Hollywood legend that has been victorious, purposeful, and impactful in their career and industry. This year’s recipient of the inaugural LEGENDS Award is award-winning actress, advocate and humanitarian Cicely L. Tyson.
- MegaFutures – In collaboration with the University of North Texas and inspired by the Emmy Award-winning TV show “Shark Tank,” this competition is open to forward-thinking students in grades 6 through 12 to flex their entrepreneurship skills by giving them the opportunity to pitch their ideas for any prize sum up to $50,000 while simultaneously making like-minded friends and receiving feedback and guidance from a expert panel of judges. MegaFest is accepting online submissions until the end of business day on Monday, June 12, 2017. For more information on eligibility requirements and submissions please visit: http://megafutures.org/megafutures-at-megafest-entry-form/
- Youth Robotic Exhibition & Engagement – Attendees are invited to witness live demos of the latest robots in action, build and program their own working robot and attend motivating sessions covering topics such as saving, investing and wealth creation.
- The MegaFest Choir Experience – Local church choirs from the Dallas-Fort Worth area perform on stage for one of the biggest audiences in the country during the worship portion of the conferences for Woman Thou Art Loosed (WTAL) and ManPower (MP).
- MegaFest Anthem Challenge – This is an opportunity for all choirs, singers, gospel rappers and spoken word artists to perform on the main stage during MegaFest 2017.
- MegaCrawl – The Cedars neighborhood has teamed up with MegaFest and will be keeping its local restaurants, bars and coffee shops open late night for all attending the festival. For a list of participating businesses visit: http://www.mega-fest.org/megacrawl/
MegaFest 2015 brought over 91,000 visitors to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with an estimated economic impact of more than $59 million.
About MegaFest
Since its inception in 2004, MegaFest has been a meeting place for diverse audiences from Atlanta, Ga., to Johannesburg, South Africa, and has reached nearly 1 million people. Visit www.mega-fest.org for more confirmed talent and special event updates, and stay connected via Twitter by following @tdjmegafest, @wtalconf, @wtalmovement and @mpconf. This year’s list of events includes Woman Thou Art Loosed (#WTAL17), ManPower, International Faith & Family Film Festival (#IFFFF17), A Time to Laugh Comedy Show, ALIVE Dance/Mime Conference, MegaYouth presents Fire Code, and MegaKidz presents Destiny World. General admission tickets for all events can be purchased by visiting www.mega-fest.org. (#MegaFest17)
About Bishop T.D. Jakes
Bishop T. D. Jakes is the charismatic founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House, a global humanitarian organization and 30,000-member church located in Dallas. Named “America’s Best Preacher” by “TIME Magazine,” Jakes’ voice reverberates globally through extensive charitable works and an empire that spans film, television, radio, best-selling books and conference series. Bishop Jakes made his presence felt in Hollywood with the release of “Jumping the Broom,” an award-winning romantic comedy that debuted as the #1 comedy and grossed nearly seven times its budget in 2011, “Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day,” released in 2012 as well as the über popular “Heaven is for Real” and “Miracles from Heaven.” Celebrating 35 years of marriage, Thomas Dexter and wife Serita Jakes are parents to five children and eight grandchildren.
