2017 will possibly be the final year that CEO will be hosted in Orlando, according to organizer Alex Jebailey
A staple of the Orlando fighting game scene for the past several years, Community Effort Orlando, more commonly known as CEO, has grown exponentially throughout the years, and has grown out of the current venue, the Windham Hotel in Orlando. Jebailey commented about the situation on his Facebook page:
This year we absolute hit the limit and I couldn’t have been prouder of everyone that’s been helping me since day one create something special for the Florida FGC and everyone outside of it. As soon as CEO 2016 had ended this year I literally started hunting around almost EVERYWHERE in Orlando for a bigger and better venue. The sad reality is, Orlando has become the most sought after destination for conventions and events in the past couple of years to the point places like the convention center can get corporations to book everything up with no limited budget.
The organizer is currently in negotiations with the city of Daytona to bring CEO to the Daytona Beach Convention Center, which is an hour away from Orlando.
It’s in the heart of Daytona right across from their pier, boardwalk, plenty of hotels for all budgets, places to eat, water park next door which I already discussed renting out until 2 am just for a party and much much more that would make it another premier destination and fun spot for a fighting game event.
This venue is a place I know I won’t fill up for a few years which will have a comfortable environment for players to do what they do best and that is to compete. All within the same building is a 93,000 sq ft Exhibit Hall and a 9,300 seat Arena literally across a single hall making this for an all in one stop for attendees to enjoy all weekend. Also has ballrooms for panels and more I can do to expand the CEO experience. If we hit big numbers we can easily host every single game finals in the arena over the course of the weekend so they all get equal treatment. Did my research on other things such as internet, food on site and the like and this is a very suitable spot I would proud of as an organizer and a player to be apart of.
According to Alex, while CEO itself may be leaving Orlando after 2017, CEOtaku, the anime tournament he hosts will stay in Orlando for the “forseeable future.”
Source: Alex Jebailey on Facebook
