Animazement

Panels are scheduled throughout the entire weekend of Animazement. They are discussions, lectures, show and tells, or games about any and all parts of anime fandom, Japanese culture, or convention life.

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 that you want to share with the con, we’d love for you to submit a panel for consideration.

You want to host a panel at Animazement? Fantastic!! Animazement couldn’t exist without the content we get from you!  We appreciate all ideas, big or small, but before you scroll down to complete your application, there’s a few important things to talk about.

To be eligible to be considered to host a panel, you must submit a Fan Panel Application and have pre-registered for Animazement. Make sure to read all the rules and policies before submitting your application. While we appreciate all the submissions we receive, submitting an application does not guarantee we will accept it.

Before submitting your panel application, please read the following instructions and tips.

1. Fan Panel submissions will open on January 22nd.  All submissions must be in by March 31st. 
2. Panels should reflect an aspect of anime, manga, Japanese culture, or convention life. Animazement does reserve the right to reject a panel if we feel the material is not on topic or is otherwise inappropriate for our convention.
3. You must be pre-registered for Animazement to submit an application. You will be asked for your registration number as part of the application process. If you are a volunteer, artist, dealer, or other special case, please email us directly using the contact form at the bottom of this page to receive a registration number.
4. Be sure you complete your application thoroughly 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. Present us with enough detail to give us a clear picture of what you're planning. Be prepared to answer questions from the panel committee if needed.
5. Make sure your panel is Animazement-appropriate material. Your panel should not be demeaning, rude, embarrassing, or derogatory to anyone.  Panels featuring adult material should be designated as 18+ panels.  Panel titles and conbook descriptions should be appropriate for all ages, even if the content of the panel is not. 
6. Notify the Panels team as soon as possible if your plans or availability change after you’ve submitted your application. 

Please understand that space is at a premium in the RCC.  Regular panel rooms seat just over 200 people while large rooms seat just under 400. The large ballroom is reserved for guests and Animazement events only, so fan panel requests for that area will not be honored. You can make a special request to use the larger panel rooms, but time slots are limited and we may not be able to accommodate such a request.

There are a few things that will increase your chances of having your panel accepted:

1. Having a wider availability - While we work hard to make sure to schedule everyone according to their availability, we’re more likely to find room for you if you’re available for most of the convention rather than just “Saturday afternoon.” 
2. Submitting a panel for pre-con - We are ALWAYS looking for good, fun pre-con content for Thursday evening, but we rarely get many offers. If you’ll be here on Thursday, consider making yourself available for a pre-con panel!
3. Fully Describe Your Panel -  We don’t need a minute by minute run down, but panel applications that provide us with a clear picture of what to expect are more likely to be accepted than applications that give us only a line or two.  
4. Giving us something NEW! - We are always on the lookout for new topics and ideas! There are always fan favorite panels we’ll accept every year, but having a panel that hasn’t been seen at Animazement before is a plus! 

If your panel is accepted and scheduled, you will have the following responsibilities. 

1. 1. Be available and open to communication with the Panels staff. We may need to reach out to you with questions or schedule changes, so please be ready to respond in a timely manner. 
   2. Check in at the Panels check-in table at the convention prior to your panel.  Make sure we know you’re here!
   3. It is the responsibility of the panelist to meet with the AV team in your assigned panel room half an hour before your panel starts if you wish to use computers or other devices in your presentation. Please note that Animazement does NOT provide laptops and there is NO guaranteed Internet access available in the panel rooms.
      
   4. Panelists are not allowed to rearrange the panel tables or any equipment.
   5. Start on time and end on time. There is a 30 minute block of free time between each panel. All panels should end in enough time for you to clean up and remove your materials so the next panel can start to set up on time. Ending on time also means making sure you have enough content to last the length of the panel time you requested.
   6. Follow the Animazement Code of Conduct.
   7. Be respectful to Animazement staff, Animazement volunteers, other panelists, and attendees.

Animazement is dedicated to helping our fan panelists succeed! If we accept your panel, we commit to the following responsibilities.

1. Animazement will notify all panelists if their panel has been accepted by May 1st with a tentative time and date.  We will do our best to avoid having to contact you with a change in schedule, but sometimes things happen beyond our control.  If we do contact you about a schedule change, we promise to be as accommodating as possible in helping you help us!
2. 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.
3. Animazement will provide AV support, within reason. Please note that laptops are NOT provided. While the RCC does offer public wifi, we cannot guarantee it will be reliable enough to suit your needs. We strongly encourage you to have a back-up plan because regardless of how well you or we plan, there’s always the chance something will go wrong.
4. Animazement will have staff available at all times to help with any needs you may have (within reason). If there are disruptive attendees in your panel, please alert us so that we can remove them from the room. 

For panelists whose submissions are accepted, Animazement will provide the following panelist rewards:

1. A discount code for your ticket to next year’s convention
2. Placement of your badge(s) at the Will Call table so you can skip the line

If you have any questions please contact the Panels Coordinator.