Bringing Comic-Con Energy to Healthcare Conferences

Above: Jamey Hardesty with renown pop culture illustrator Dave Perillo at Comic Con New York

The biggest on the East Coast is the New York Comic Con (NYCC). Over four days, more than 200,000 people pour into the Javits Centre, spilling out across Hudson Yards and Hell’s Kitchen. Crowds of cosplayers. Die-hard superfans. Endless lines. Chaos. Or at least that’s the expectation. What’s striking, though, is how inclusive and joyful it is. You’re just as likely to find women as men, and the crowd is more diverse than you’d expect with multi-generational families exploring the con together. This mix of ages, genders, and backgrounds creates an energy that’s impossible to fake.

Every corner sparks curiosity or connection. From the creativity and costumes to the panels, celebrity moments, and shared excitement that make you feel part of something bigger.

And somewhere between walking that floor and heading home, a question formed:

What if healthcare congresses felt like that?

Scene 1: Arrival

Step off the escalator and into a space alive with energy. Not polite energy. Real energy. The buzz doesn’t come from badge scanners or branded coffee bars; but from people genuinely excited to be there.

Clinicians, researchers, and advocates laugh, connect, and share stories. Art and conversation line the walls. There’s music in the background and food trucks out front.

This isn’t a trade show. It’s a culture show. One that celebrates discovery and human connection as much as data and science.

Scene 2: The Floor

At Congress-Con, booths become worlds. Still compliant but bursting with creativity. 

Imagine stepping inside the mechanism of action for a new therapy or solving a diagnostic mystery as an interactive experience. Picture a patient lounge that feels like a living room, a space for real dialogue, not podiums.

Even giveaways evolve. Instead of tote bags, attendees earn digital passportstied to sessions and experiences, building their own “origin stories.” These become mementos of belonging, shared proudly both on lanyards and LinkedIn alike.

Scene 3: The Panels

Forget fluorescent ballrooms and droning monotone voices over PowerPoint slides. At Congress-Con, sessions feel like live tapings.

A short film opens the main stage. Science told through emotion. Researchers become storytellers. Clinicians share discovery moments that shaped their work.

Breakout sessions blend science and storytelling, think talk show meets lab bench. Data visualisations move. Questions fly. People stay not because they have to, but because they want to.

Scene 4: The Culture

Comic Con thrives on subcultures: cosplay guilds, gamer clans, collectors, critics. It’s connection through identity. Healthcare has those too, and at Congress-Con they are finally visible. 

You might see early risers lacing up for the 5K for Rare Cancer Awareness. A Pop Culture Trivia Night packed with oncologists who suddenly become fiercely competitive about Star Wars canon. A Wellness Zone where clinicians swap fitness playlists, and a Storytellers’ Stage for five-minute talks from researchers, nurses, and patients about resilience and what keeps them inspired.

These aren’t distractions from science. In fact, they humanise it. When people find common ground outside of work, collaboration comes naturally.

Culture isn’t built in sessions; it’s built in the spaces between them.

Scene 5: The Takeaway

Comic Con isn’t really about superheroes. It’s about belonging. It’s about finding your people, the ones who share your curiosity, your language. 

Healthcare could use more of that.

We talk about driving impact, but feeling is what drives behaviour. When people feel connected, to each other, to purpose, to possibility, they act, share and remember. 

Imagine every healthcare congress ending not with a closing slide deck, but with a sense of community that travels home with its attendees. That’s what Congress-Con could be: a place where science meets culture, and where the power of gathering lies not just in the knowledge we exchange, but in the people, we become when we do.

Author is Jamey Hardesty, SVP, senior strategy director, Jack Health