Our attendees provide a wonderful and wacky world of fandom for you to explore, with topics as diverse as Cosplay Chess, Steampunk, Para Para dancing, Dollfies, Maid Cafes, and anything else they come up with!
Panels are scheduled throughout the entire weekend of Animazement. They are discussions, lectures, show and tells, or rants about any and all parts of anime fandom, J-rock groups, or Japanese culture.
If you have a specialty and want to talk about it, an area of expertise in anime fandom, or just an obsession with a certain anime series and you want to share it with the con, we’d love for you to submit a panel for consideration.
You want to host a panel at Animazement? Fantastic!! Thank you for your interest. To be eligible to be considered to host a panel, you must submit a Fan Panel Request form and have pre-registered for Animazement. Make sure to read all the rules and policies before submitting your application.
We appreciate all ideas, no matter how small or big, but if your panel has logistical needs, please indicate it completely on your form. We will try our best to accommodate your panel. However, it is advisable to have a back up presentation plan in case the logistical needs cannot be met or they are unavailable.
This is a commitment you are making. So if you decide to submit a Panel Request form, please make sure that you CAN present the panel. Once we make the schedule, we are depending upon you to show up on time and run your panel. If anything happens and you cannot make your panel, notify us immediately.
Also, if you’re not really comfortable speaking in front of people, then chairing a panel may not be for you. Remember, the normal length of a panel is 50 minutes, so we’d like to stress the need for outgoing people with a good base of knowledge to draw from.
We strongly encourage you to have a back-up plan because regardless of how well you or we plan, there will inevitably be something that goes wrong.
Fan Panel applications will open on January 7th. All Panel Request forms must be submitted by March 31st.
Preparation goes a long way. Be sure you complete your request form completely and accurately. Check to ensure that your topic is relevant, your descriptions accurately match your panel’s title and content, and show us that you have put a great deal of thought into your presentation. Be prepared to answer questions from the panel committee if needed.
Panels should reflect an aspect of anime, manga, or Japanese culture. Animazement does reserve the right to reject panels if we feel the material is not appropriate for our convention.
Make sure your panel is Animazement-appropriate material. We pride ourselves on being family friendly, which means that your panel is not demeaning, rude, embarrassing, or derogatory to anyone. With that in mind, during later hours we do allow 18+ content and attendees must have 18+ bracelets.
Guest panels have priority. Because scheduling for these panels can be erratic and take up much of ‘prime-time’ programming between Noon and five pm on Saturday and Sunday, being flexible on your scheduling increases the chances we will find an acceptable time-slot for your panel.
Notify us immediately of any changes or problems as soon as they arise.
It is the responsibility of the panelist to meet with the AV team at the convention at least an hour before their panel starts if they wish to use computers or other devices in their panel. Please note that Animazement does NOT provide laptops and there is NO Internet access available in the panel rooms.
Be respectful to Animazement staff, Animazement volunteers, and the other panelists.
Panelists are not allowed to rearrange the panel tables or any equipment.
Start on time and end on time. All panels should end in enough time for you to clean up and remove your materials so the next panel can start on time.
Be a pre-registered attendee at Animazement. Panelists do not receive a pass for the convention, but you will receive a discount for the following year.
Animazement will notify all panelists if their panel has been accepted by May 1st with a tentative time and date. The normal panels rooms can hold approximately 200 people. The dojo/dance room and large ballroom are reserved for guests and Animazement events only, so fan panel requests for those areas are inappropriate. You can make a special request to use the larger panel rooms, but approvals will not be finalized until shortly before the convention.
Every attempt will be made to ensure that the Panelist(s) will be scheduled for their preferred day and time, and Animazement will also attempt to avoid scheduling the Panelist(s) for any major events that they may have an interest in attending, though no guarantees can be made. Make sure to note any event that you do not want to miss on the Panel Request Form.
Animazement will provide AV support, within reason. Please note that laptops are NOT provided. Also, there is no wi-fi in the panel rooms. We strongly encourage you to have a back-up plan because regardless of how well you or we plan, there will inevitably be something that goes wrong.
If you have any questions please contact the Panels Coordinator.